Naughty Dog, the developers behind Jak II: Renegade, have named themselves inappropriately, because they’ve been anything but naughty. They redefined the platform genre with the wonderfully entertaining, challenging and enjoyably frustrating Crash Bandicoot (which I completed within a few weeks, much to the chagrin of my friend who had been trying to beat the tougher levels for months!) Whilst other developers went on to create more of the same with largely uninspiring sequels, Naughty Dog went on to redefine the platform genre for a second time with the legendary and classic Jak & Daxter. Then Insomniac Games created a whole galaxy for us to explore with Ratchet & Clank, a game that evolved and outclassed the Jak & Daxter experience by providing a range of planets to travel to and all manner of weapons and gadgets to use.

Whilst Ratchet & Clank has been the perfect fare to tide us over, Naughty Dog has been working long and hard on Jak II and it’s been worthwhile – they have succeeded in redefining the platform game genre for a third time (surely a feat unparalleled by other developers), because Jak II is no longer just a platform game; it’s now a massive, sprawling action adventure with bucket loads of variety, a very strong plot and more larger than life characters than you can shake a talking monkey parrot at (I’ll explain later, don’t worry!)

I'd like to re-emphasise what I said just now: Jak II is not a platform game. I don't care if you hated Jak & Daxter (surely impossible) and you don't like platform games, every PS2 owner needs to play this. It's revolutionary in every way and manages to succeed where the admirable but sadly unpopular Haven: Call of the King failed. You see, Jak II has it all - platform action, high-speed chases in hover cars, weapons, special moves, dark powers, puzzles, mini-games, challenging missions and the all-important comedy sidekick, who gets to flex his action muscles a little in this long-awaited sequel.

When we last saw Jak, Daxter, Samos (the wise old sage of Jak's village and the brains behind their operation) and his daughter Kiera (the feisty engineer who created Jak's various toys), they had unlocked a massive Precursor door, from which a bright light of unknown origin shone out. Although what was behind this door is not explained, we can gather that a Precursor artefact was found and recovered, because the game begins back at Samos's hut where our heroes are about to activate it. However, the artefact turns out to be a portal of some sort from which strange and vicious enemies fly out and in his haste to avoid attack, Jak sends the pod everyone is sat in flying into the portal. Speeding into oblivion, the pod is destroyed and Jak and Daxter are separated from the others. The next thing they know they're in a big city surrounded by strangely dressed guards, who seize Jak as Daxter flees helplessly away. Two years later and Jak has been through hell, subjected to torturous experiments and imbued with the power of dark eco. The man behind these abominable tests is Baron Praxis, the power crazed and desperate ruler of this futuristic city, who is attempting to develop dark eco warriors to defend against an innumerable enemy known as the Metalheads, who are gathering their forces for an all-out assault on the fortified city. Daxter finally arrives to rescue Jak and the two of them escape. But Jak is changed, a darker version of his former self, much like the world that he now inhabits.

Gone are the sandy beaches, jungles and islands of the first game and in its place a sprawling metropolis bigger than anything from Ratchet & Clank. This massive city is divided into a number of sectors, most of which are off limits at the beginning due to Jak not possessing the necessary passes to get through the forcefields subdividing the city. But wherever you go the city is bustling with life as dozens of pedestrians walk around on their daily business and dozens more fly overhead in an assortment of hover cars and bikes. The city is also rife with the Crimson Guard, which has armed hover bikes and tanks too, so you must avoid contact with them or the alarm will be raised. As you walk around and the hover cars fly overhead, a prompt appears on the screen. Press the triangle button and you leap into the air and hang onto the vehicle overhead. Press it again and you throw the driver of the vehicle to the ground and take control of it for yourself. This addition to the game world is pure genius. The city is so huge that traversing it on foot would be time-consuming and seriously dull, so being able to grab any vehicle from the constant flow, hop into it and fly off wherever you like is just fantastic.

Now astride a speedy hover bike, you can fly around the city. Hover vehicles have a switch that allows you to change between ground level and upper level, allowing you to duck and weave your way around the many pedestrians and vehicles. Knocking over pedestrians (who always attempt to dive out of the way) isn't a big deal, but knock over a Crimson Guard and the alarm will sound. The music changes to become more dramatic and loads of troops home in on your location. Standing and fighting isn't an option as more and more come in, but if you're smart and you fly away to a quieter area and hide somewhere, after a minute or so the alarm is switched off and it's safe to come out again. You can collide with other vehicles but this damages them and in time your vehicle will explode if you smash into too many things. Getting a big, tough car and smashing into innocent hover bikers is such great fun, as they go flying through the air and explode on impact with the ground or a wall. It's not so much fun when the Crimson Guard does it to you, though!

The graphics in Jak II are absolutely outstanding, I've rarely seen better on PS2 and they surpass that of Jak & Daxter and even Ratchet & Clank. The character rendering is superb with silky smooth, natural animation on everyone, from the random pedestrians to the many quirky characters you become involved with in your quest for revenge on Baron Praxis. Jak & Daxter themselves look superb. Jak looks a little older and his hair is darker, plus he's sporting a cool little goatee. Daxter is even better than before and although the moments where Daxter robot dances, moonwalks and pirouettes in celebration of getting a power cell are sadly missed, this is more than made up for by the frequent cut scenes that further the plot whilst providing plenty of comedy moments thanks to Daxter. Surely one of the greatest game characters ever created, he has all the best lines and a superb range of comic faces, the subtle nuances of the animation rivalling any mainstream cartoon on TV.

Meanwhile, the backgrounds, locations and scenery for this game are stunning, looking grandiose and gorgeous wherever you go. In the city alone there is a high-tech area with a river running through it, the old quarters where buildings are ramshackle and look hastily built, the shanty town where unstable looking huts sit on rickety piers, the gardens where bizarre alien looking plants are watered by huge machines, the port, the quaint looking market town and more. Seriously, it's massive! Outside the safety of the city lie the ruins of the old city, now abandoned, desolate and crawling with predatory Metalheads and the pumping station, a massive machine that covers an entire island and brings fresh water to the whole city. The forests and canyons are still there to explore, with new Precursor secrets to uncover and they look seriously luscious (the Precursors are an advanced and long-extinct race that left behind some of their ancient technology when they died out). There is a massive dark eco mining operation going on too and you must defend a huge mining platform against invading Metalheads, then go on to sabotage one of Praxis's underground drilling operations and seal open dark eco containers before a swarm of Metalheads overruns the area. You also get to explore the mysterious city sewers, where old secrets await you and there are yet more locations I won't mention, as I want to leave some surprises.

Each location, as well as looking gorgeous, is full of life, collectables and challenges. There are no power cells left in this future world and very few of the egg-shaped Precursor artefacts, which you'll find hidden away here and there but not on the scale of the first game. They can also be earned by completing side quests. However, Jak as I said is a changed man and can harness the power of dark eco, which he now collects from crates and dead enemies. When his dark power is at full he can transform into a pasty-skinned monster with sharp claws and an unstoppable rage, where all his kicks and punches are imbued with purple energy that crackles and envelops all enemies in his path. These rampages are tremendously satisfying and as you collect Metalhead skulls the Oracle of the first game gives you new super powers, the first of which creates a massive shockwave that instantly destroys everything in its extensive blast radius. Jak's transformation and the dark eco energy and attacks all look amazing.

Then there are the weapons - it's the future, so of course there are guns and you get hold of one that (in time) provides four different but equally kick-ass weapons - a futuristic shot gun with a wicked looking shock blast, a blaster with pinpoint accuracy and long range, a Vulcan cannon that has an incredibly fast firing rate and decimates everything in its path and… well, I won't go into details but the final upgrade is more than worth the wait. Each weapon looks awesome; the firing effects and explosions are superb and the gun itself and the way it transforms from one mode to another is very Ratchet & Clank. Daxter gets to hold the massive gun when Jak is driving too, which has great comedy value.

The story gradually unfolds in quite surprising ways, as a number of plotlines develop and intersect with each other. After escaping from Baron Praxis, Jak joins the Underground, a group of people who are plotting the downfall of Praxis, who is a dictator more concerned with his own selfish interests than the welfare of his people. It is here that you meet Torn, one of the key members of the Underground, second in command to the mysterious leader known only as The Shadow. Jak runs a number of missions for Torn to earn his trust and use his connections to strike back at Praxis. He also meets up with Krew, a massively obese petty criminal and smuggler who is based in a seedy bar at the port and flies around in a hoverchair with his spindly stick legs hanging through the seat! He runs various errands and missions for Krew in return for rewards such as weapon upgrades. Then there is the mechanic, a woman who sounds strangely familiar (yes it's Kiera behind the curtain although Jak doesn't realise this until later in the game). Jak runs missions for her too and in time earns a hoverboard, which he gets to keep after using it on a dangerous quest. From hereon in you can use the hoverboard anywhere and it can hover over water or dark eco, plus it's faster than walking if there are no vehicles to hand. You also enter highly competitive and dangerous hover bike races, which are superb fun and set in massive arenas with cheering crowds all around as you race at death defying speeds.

For those worried that Jak II doesn't have enough platform action, fear not - it has bucketfuls and every level is brilliantly designed, looks amazing and provides a strong and engaging challenge. Rarely will you complete a level without dying at least a few times; the difficulty curve is spot on and gives just enough challenge to make your success feel rewarding without driving you crazy from frustration. The variety of missions Jak goes on is tremendous and he's not just on his own this time. As well as solo missions, such as solving puzzles and negotiating tricky platforms, moving ledges and so on to collect an artefact, some missions involve other people. In one mission you must go with Krew's best warrior and cover his back whilst he takes out the big Metalheads infesting the pumping station. In another you must protect three of Krew's men as you go into the sewers to recover a lost statue and the treasure within. You get to race against an arrogant speed bike champion through half the city and there are all manner of timed missions, where you must escort resistance fighters to new hideouts (via high speed chases) without getting them killed, rescue lurkers (creatures from the first game, now enslaved by Praxis) and more. Other missions require you to chase down speedy Metalheads on your hoverboard, collect and deliver packages and destroy cloaked Metalheads. And this doesn't even scratch the surface of what's packed in here.

There are entirely new mini-games and challenges in Jak II, including various timed events where you must reach an artefact within a tight time limit, a quick reactions game where you must push the shape buttons on your controller as they whiz out of a blind soothsayer's pot (!) and several situations where you are inside a mini-tram with a powerful cannon that you must use to destroy Metalhead eggs and flying Crimson Guards in jetpack suits, these parts being from a first person perspective. The first hoverboard section teaches you how to do tricks and, whilst obviously lacking the depth of the Tony Hawk series, it's a good enough game engine to have a lot of fun with and the tricks are stylish to watch and satisfying to pull off. The speed bike racing is also a game that stands in its own right. There are even a couple of levels where you get to play Daxter solo, I won't reveal too much about them other to say that in the first Daxter is in constant peril and the way he runs and flails his legs as he leaps through the air is a joy to behold. I was happy to die a few times in those sequences, just to watch Daxter some more!

Whilst the sound and music are sometimes neglected in games of this type, they excel here as expected. All of the sound effects are spot on, the voice acting is fantastic and often laugh-out-loud funny; the lip-synching is spot on too, really bringing the myriad of characters to life. The sound of guards calling for back up as their laser blasts whistle past you and the sound of your own weapons, the explosions, the alien noises of Metalheads and other foes, the distinctive whir of every hover engine (the sounds of which vary), it's all here. And the soundtrack is great - although there are only a couple of themes for the city (which vary depending on whether you're on foot, hoverboard or in a vehicle) every area outside the city has its own distinctive and extremely catchy theme that perfectly complements the feel of the location and the action at any given moment.

There is so much more to tell you about Jak II (indeed, I almost forgot mention the blind, mute soothsayer, a strange old woman who guides Jak on his quest and communicates through a talking creature that's a cross between a monkey and a parrot and is surely the result of a similar accident that changed Daxter into the furry ferret we know and adore). However, you must see the rest for yourself, as this is one game that has to be experienced before you realise just how amazing it truly is. The only criticism I could raise is that in some levels you must complete large sections without dying and whilst this is definitely a good thing most of the time (too many continue points would have made it too easy) occasionally it can be extremely frustrating when you keep falling to your death and have to repeat parts over and over. Also, flying around the city to get from one location to another might eventually get a bit repetitive but there is so much to see and it's so much fun driving around bumping into other hovercars that this is hardly an issue.

Any flaws that do exist are compensated for by the complete lack of loading times. That's right, you heard me - no loading times. In a genius move, the game has been designed to create parts where little is happening and the loading is done behind the scenes. For example, when leaving the city you must enter an airlock, which takes a few seconds to open, or a lift that takes a few seconds to get to its destination. During this time the gameplay is uninterrupted and the next section loads in whilst you watch the complex airlock door unlock or the lift descend. The most you will ever wait is five seconds to restart a mission and this is rare. Even though this is one of the most complex games in terms of the graphical detail and amount of moving characters and objects, there are no loading times. Other developers take note, because we're fed up with having games broken up by rude breaks all the time (particularly in FPS games like Red Faction 2, Mace Griffin and Half-Life, which surely aren't as complex as this.) This design, the overall presentation and the various amounts of secrets, extras and cheats to unlock, are the final strokes of perfection.

Jak II: Renegade is quite simply one of the best games ever made. It's taken the platform genre to new levels with incredible game variety, weapons, hoverboards, futuristic hover car chases and an almost endless list of loving touches and innovation. The graphics, sound and music are cutting edge, there are no loading breaks, the story is strong with great characters and a few twists along the way and the gameplay itself is such a satisfying blend of genres that this is one of the most entertaining and enjoyable games you could ever hope to play. This is a strong candidate for the best PS2 game of 2003 and those Christmas releases will have to pull some pretty amazing rabbits (or in this case, ferrets) out of their collective hat to beat it. Get this now. You won't regret it.

Reviewed by Geoff Holland for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).