Jak & Daxter Collection for PlayStation 3 Reviews by Gamers

I liked Jak & Daxter on the PS2 a lot, but that was back before I played a lot of games. This collection showed me that my good memories of the past were sometimes colored by lack of real experience.

To be fair, the first game in the series is excellent, and holds up for what it is. That game is a solid 9 in my book. It is a basic 3D action-adventure platformer, so don't expect anything revolutionary, but it is solid.

The second game is where things start to get bad. That game ranks a 5 in my book. What would happen if you tried to take the edginess of Grand Theft Auto, and add it to a kid friendly platformer, amplifying the negative aspects of that union and forgetting what makes any of the 2 fun? You guessed it, you get what Jak II would have been if it was more fun. I remembered all the frustrating parts from years past, but just saw them as annoying now.

The third game, Jak III, took what was bad in Jak II, and added bad racing components, with a story line reeking of foreshadowing throughout. This actually surprised me, since I remember playing this one 2-3 times on the PS2 (and I'm not one for replay too often). Very little of the story was memorable here, and I'm guessing I'll have forgotten is by the time the next game shows up.

Yes, I did finish the games, but it was more out of a sense of duty to the memory I had of this series.

On the flip side, playing this series lets me forgive Naughty Dog for leaving the Jak & Daxter series for Uncharted (another series I've been disappointed by, if I compare it to the hype). At least we still have Ratchet & Clank and Sly Cooper (my other beloved series from PS2 that actually live up to my memories: even if Sly's gameplay has turned into Cole McGrath/Infamous)

If you want great PS2 3D action-adventure platforming, stick with Sly. If you want updates to the PS2 3D action-adventure platformers, stick with Ratchet & Clank or Infamous.