New Infos & screens:
OMG!! This is amazing stuff!!!!!!!!
Why should people be excited about Jak II: Renegade?
Naughty Dog always tries to push the character action genre forward with each new release. Jak II does this in a few key areas. First, we move away from collection as the basic motivator for gameplay, and move towards story and tasks instead. The pick-up of yesterday has been replaced by tasks specifically linked to furthering the plot. No random farmer asks you to collect his cows. Each person you meet is specifically linked to a greater plot and sends you on tasks that relate to your moving the story forward.
Second, we have integrated everything. In the character action games of yesterday you were given a specific ability in a specific level. When you get hold of a gun, you can take it anywhere and never have to give it back. When we give you a hover board, you can take it out anywhere and at any time. It might be stupid, but you can do it. And when Jak gains 'dark' abilities, we let you decide when to use them. This is very different than putting you in a biplane on level 32, or letting you use magnetic boots on very specific flooring. You have to experience this to see how much more adventurous and less forced Jak II is.
Third, the tone of the game has changed. Jak is seeking revenge. Important characters (good and bad) die in the course of the game. Jak is put in prison and experimented on and his attitude reflects this. When has Mario sought revenge? When did Crash lose a friend? When did Sonic go to prison? This isn't your little brother's character action game. And fourth, there's have more variety, and more re-playability, and more cool stuff than any game we've done to date. Jak II is the game Naughty Dog has wanted to make for 8 years. I've never said that before.
First time around you produced a truly original free-roaming platform game - what innovations do you have in store for Jak II?
Jak II has a city 24 times the size of the biggest Jak level
Does Jak II pick up where the Precursor Legacy left off? Where will the new story take us?
The intro to the game starts right after the end of the first title. We find out what was behind the blinding white light at the end of the first game, but then within 30 seconds we are teleported away to an entirely different time and place. The scenery in Jak II is very different from the first game. Hopefully the player will feel both nostalgia for the first title, and the novelty that they experienced when first playing a Jak game, at the same time.
When the Precursor Legacy was released it was praised for its phenomenal visual achievements. Graphically, how much has Jak II improved in comparison?
Jak II's engine is greatly improved from the one in Jak And Daxter. It is the first game using the Naughty Dog engine version 2.0. I am confident that at its release, Jak II will have the most powerful engine in its genre... on any system. Having said that, Jak II is still on PlayStation 2, rather than new hardware, so you certainly won't see the 100x performance leap you saw from Crash 3 to the original Jak And Daxter. We hope the player will be amazed at the added detail and rendering style of the backgrounds, and the vastly improved quality of the foreground characters.
Are you introducing any new main characters? If so, will any of them be playable?
The only characters from Jak And Daxter: The Precursor Legacy who return in Jak II are Jak, Daxter, Samos, and Kiera. But there are some surprising changes to these characters. There is also a cast of 20 additional characters. The models for these characters have been boosted from 3000 polygons in the first title to 12,000 polygons in Jak II. Tons of surface effects have been added as well. I am really excited about the look of our cast for this game. Yes, there is another playable character besides Jak, but only in a few places. Really, this is Jak's story.
fondly remember the Zoomer bike - what kind of new vehicles will be at our disposal in Jak II?
The Zoomer Bike itself does not return, but a dozen or so new vehicles do exist. And they all interact with each other (using a brand new rigid body physics engine) in a city 24 times the size of the Zoomer level in the original Jak. Zoomer fans will not be disappointed!
t new locations and environments can we expect the game to take place in?
The areas in Jak II are darker and bleaker than those in the first game. They range from sewers to towers, strip mines to forests, mountains to underwater ship graveyards and so on. Of course, there's also the city: a sprawling mega-level that acts as the center of your quest and contains a third of the tasks in the game.
e the game dynamics changed? Will we still be collecting power cells and scout flies?
Collection has been minimized as a gameplay element. There are no power cells. There are no scout flies. Tasks are not completed with simplistic collection. Instead, players will find themselves blowing open entrances, returning water to parched areas of the city, transporting cargo for 'the underground' and fighting against invading armies of metal heads. There is a reason for everything that the player is asked to do. If the player fails to do the task, then they will understand why the plot cannot move forward. Every task is introduced and concluded with a story element.
ently, PS2 game sales have been dominated by 'adult' games like Grand Theft Auto. Is there still a place for character-action games like Jak II?
This is a tough question. The landscape of gaming has changed. There is no doubt that character action games no longer dominate as they did in the 8 and 16-bit eras. Part of this is due to the industries slow realization that times change. This year a dozen or so 'animal with attitude' and 'wacky human' games came out... and they all failed. The days of this type of character making an impression on the mass market may be over. But I don't believe that character action gameplay is dead. Certainly, it has shown itself to be incredibly addicting and rewarding. With Jak II we try to both satisfy the character action fanatic as well as target the game for the 2003 audience. We hope that it will work.
OMG!! This is amazing stuff!!!!!!!!
