Jak 3
Naughty Dog sets out to prove that lightning can indeed strike thrice.
Published: May 3, 2004
For all the hoopla surrounding the semi-recent announcement by Naughty Dog co-founder Jason Rubin of his exodus from the games industry, you wouldn't know it by the looks of both the man himself and the people that bustle about the frankly palatial office environs in a swanky clump of buildings in downtown Santa Monica.
As a couple dozen game editors were herded into a central office eclipsed on three sides by massive Sony plasma displays (the one at the front weighing in at a cool $20K all by its lonesome), and the metallic walls (affectionately referred to as the "blast doors" by Naughty Dog staffers) slowly closed to begin the presentation, little emphasis was placed on the admittedly high-profile departure, and all the attention was lavished on the presentation of Naughty Dog's final chapter in the Jak 3 trilogy.
The Jak storyline had always been sculpted – directly or indirectly – with the idea of rounding out the whole shebang out in three parts. Taken as such, the Jak & Daxter trilogy spans not only the evolution of Jak himself from an innocent youngin' to tortured, revenge-driven 'roid rage poster child to his eventual closure as an outcast because of his newfound powers, but the evolution of the world as well.
Those who played it will probably remember the original world of Jak & Daxter as a varied one, but still rather basic in most respects. Most things were carved from nature, save for the mysterious Precursor ruins and artifacts that seemed infused with the land itself. Jak II sent the young lad and his tag-along orange-furred partner into the future, and further tied Jak and the mysterious substance known as eco together. In the third game, still further changes will have taken place. In the wake of the destruction of the second game's source of tyrannical rule, general anarchy has broken out, and three major factions have risen up to seize control of the city. Jak, a virtual freak because of his dark eco experimentation, is cast out into the wastelands beyond the city, left to fend for himself.
The over-generalized wrap up of the events leading to the start of Jak 3 don't really do the game justice, since there are simply too many upgrades to the overall presentation to recount. The introductory cinematic pours out all the basic info needed to get you up to speed (though those who digest the series as a true back-to-back trilogy will definitely feel more caught up), but it's the more subtle additions to the presentation that really hammer home how much Naughty Dog is perfecting their craft. The accompanying music undulates and flows with dialogue and expressions of each of the characters that finally puts games in line with the kind of reactive, personalized scores that are found in modern animated film, and indeed with movies in general.
Even the dialogue itself seems to have matured to a cinematic level, an upgrade that has plenty to do with the addition of Crystal Dynamics alum Amy Hennig, who was the driving force behind most of the Soul Reaver-era and on Legacy of Kain games' storyline and dialogue. The addition of Hennig as Director and her talent in crafting a Hollywood-level script played no small part in Naughty Dog's effort to present Jak 3 as their opus, a way of wrapping up the bits and pieces of the Precursor legacy and tucking all the strands and flyaways in the Jak trilogy into a neat little bundle that should bring things to a close.
Chiefly among those moves to tie things up is addressing concerns from the previous games. As Evan Wells Jak 3's Design Director explained at length, the team took the criticisms of fans and press alike to heart, focusing on addressing the major voiced concerns of see-saw difficulty and backtracking (among many other things), but wanted to continue to evolve Jak and the universe that housed his exploits.
To avoid difficulty issues, dynamic adjustment of things like enemy behavior were paramount. In fact, plenty about Jak 3 will adjust depending on what's needed. The addition of more varied mission types and a reduced reliance of the hub-based system that the second game still employed to a degree should add more variety to the gameplay. The hands-on demo that we played features a handful of levels that ranged from vehicle-based item-snatching runs (featuring wheeled vehicles – a first for the series) to the usual platforming gameplay of the first two games and the promise of search and rescue missions
All this is pointless if the game itself doesn't play right, and as we discovered after a few hours of solid play time, Jak 3 is indeed a blast to play. While some of the levels still needed a little difficulty tweaking, the improvements to the overall gameplay were more than apparent. Jak II's weapon system got a major overhaul, with 12 new gun mods that turn the existing weapons into more varied methods of attack. Weapons now boast multiple modes that deliver more powerful (and ammo-eating) attacks. Upgrades to the already-familiar weapons included ricochet, radial explosion, lightning, and homing mods. There was even an upgrade that included little dispatchable satellites that would seek out and attack targets.
The core technology, while largely unchanged saw a few more subtle changes. To coincide with the game's focus on Spartis, the wasteland island (which, incidentally, is only about half the game, and already weighs in at 4 to 5 times the size of Jak II's city – which you'll also revisit, only to discover the results of the toppling of power at the close of the second game), the graphics engine has gotten a slight kick up in draw distance to help usher in the more expansive and open feel. Cloth dynamics on things like cloaks and, surprisingly the ethereal wings that Jak dons when he transforms into Light Jak, the new, more angelic offset to his Dark Jak persona (complete with healing spells and the ability to glide on the wings, and plenty more undisclosed powers).
At the core of the bigger environments was the better memory management that came part and parcel with the teams growing familiarity with the PlayStation 2 hardware. Naughty Dog's acquisition by Sony Computer Entertainment no doubt played a part in this, but the designers themselves have made considerable leaps in progress while dealing with implementing new technology, and arguably the most impressive of these additions is the ragdoll animation system. Rather than having canned death animations, enemies now crumple to the ground realistically, and react even to late blows like, well, a lifeless lump of flesh would, limbs flailing and the body itself contorting to fit with the physics of a blow. It's a subtle yet utterly impressive upgrade to the visuals that really does add an impressive level of wow factor for those obsessive enough to pay attention.
Jak himself has aged well, gaining a few subtle upgrades to the usual combat system. While Naughty Dog didn't share too much about how the new moves would be implemented, they did reveal that all of the old movesets would be built upon, allowing players familiar with Jak's repertoire to immediately start busting out fancy new moves to impress the ladies (y'know for all those girls wowed by your gaming prowess), but more specifically to add slow upgrades to Jak himself.
There's plenty we'll be talking about in the coming weeks leading up to and through the Electronic Entertainment Exposition this May, but as the exiting public persona of Naughty Dog put it, the developer isn't "trying to make a game, they're trying to make an experience." Judging by the "I want more" responses nearly everyone invited to check out the game had, they seem to be doing just that.
As a couple dozen game editors were herded into a central office eclipsed on three sides by massive Sony plasma displays (the one at the front weighing in at a cool $20K all by its lonesome), and the metallic walls (affectionately referred to as the "blast doors" by Naughty Dog staffers) slowly closed to begin the presentation, little emphasis was placed on the admittedly high-profile departure, and all the attention was lavished on the presentation of Naughty Dog's final chapter in the Jak 3 trilogy.
The Jak storyline had always been sculpted – directly or indirectly – with the idea of rounding out the whole shebang out in three parts. Taken as such, the Jak & Daxter trilogy spans not only the evolution of Jak himself from an innocent youngin' to tortured, revenge-driven 'roid rage poster child to his eventual closure as an outcast because of his newfound powers, but the evolution of the world as well.
Those who played it will probably remember the original world of Jak & Daxter as a varied one, but still rather basic in most respects. Most things were carved from nature, save for the mysterious Precursor ruins and artifacts that seemed infused with the land itself. Jak II sent the young lad and his tag-along orange-furred partner into the future, and further tied Jak and the mysterious substance known as eco together. In the third game, still further changes will have taken place. In the wake of the destruction of the second game's source of tyrannical rule, general anarchy has broken out, and three major factions have risen up to seize control of the city. Jak, a virtual freak because of his dark eco experimentation, is cast out into the wastelands beyond the city, left to fend for himself.
The over-generalized wrap up of the events leading to the start of Jak 3 don't really do the game justice, since there are simply too many upgrades to the overall presentation to recount. The introductory cinematic pours out all the basic info needed to get you up to speed (though those who digest the series as a true back-to-back trilogy will definitely feel more caught up), but it's the more subtle additions to the presentation that really hammer home how much Naughty Dog is perfecting their craft. The accompanying music undulates and flows with dialogue and expressions of each of the characters that finally puts games in line with the kind of reactive, personalized scores that are found in modern animated film, and indeed with movies in general.
Even the dialogue itself seems to have matured to a cinematic level, an upgrade that has plenty to do with the addition of Crystal Dynamics alum Amy Hennig, who was the driving force behind most of the Soul Reaver-era and on Legacy of Kain games' storyline and dialogue. The addition of Hennig as Director and her talent in crafting a Hollywood-level script played no small part in Naughty Dog's effort to present Jak 3 as their opus, a way of wrapping up the bits and pieces of the Precursor legacy and tucking all the strands and flyaways in the Jak trilogy into a neat little bundle that should bring things to a close.
Chiefly among those moves to tie things up is addressing concerns from the previous games. As Evan Wells Jak 3's Design Director explained at length, the team took the criticisms of fans and press alike to heart, focusing on addressing the major voiced concerns of see-saw difficulty and backtracking (among many other things), but wanted to continue to evolve Jak and the universe that housed his exploits.
To avoid difficulty issues, dynamic adjustment of things like enemy behavior were paramount. In fact, plenty about Jak 3 will adjust depending on what's needed. The addition of more varied mission types and a reduced reliance of the hub-based system that the second game still employed to a degree should add more variety to the gameplay. The hands-on demo that we played features a handful of levels that ranged from vehicle-based item-snatching runs (featuring wheeled vehicles – a first for the series) to the usual platforming gameplay of the first two games and the promise of search and rescue missions
All this is pointless if the game itself doesn't play right, and as we discovered after a few hours of solid play time, Jak 3 is indeed a blast to play. While some of the levels still needed a little difficulty tweaking, the improvements to the overall gameplay were more than apparent. Jak II's weapon system got a major overhaul, with 12 new gun mods that turn the existing weapons into more varied methods of attack. Weapons now boast multiple modes that deliver more powerful (and ammo-eating) attacks. Upgrades to the already-familiar weapons included ricochet, radial explosion, lightning, and homing mods. There was even an upgrade that included little dispatchable satellites that would seek out and attack targets.
The core technology, while largely unchanged saw a few more subtle changes. To coincide with the game's focus on Spartis, the wasteland island (which, incidentally, is only about half the game, and already weighs in at 4 to 5 times the size of Jak II's city – which you'll also revisit, only to discover the results of the toppling of power at the close of the second game), the graphics engine has gotten a slight kick up in draw distance to help usher in the more expansive and open feel. Cloth dynamics on things like cloaks and, surprisingly the ethereal wings that Jak dons when he transforms into Light Jak, the new, more angelic offset to his Dark Jak persona (complete with healing spells and the ability to glide on the wings, and plenty more undisclosed powers).
At the core of the bigger environments was the better memory management that came part and parcel with the teams growing familiarity with the PlayStation 2 hardware. Naughty Dog's acquisition by Sony Computer Entertainment no doubt played a part in this, but the designers themselves have made considerable leaps in progress while dealing with implementing new technology, and arguably the most impressive of these additions is the ragdoll animation system. Rather than having canned death animations, enemies now crumple to the ground realistically, and react even to late blows like, well, a lifeless lump of flesh would, limbs flailing and the body itself contorting to fit with the physics of a blow. It's a subtle yet utterly impressive upgrade to the visuals that really does add an impressive level of wow factor for those obsessive enough to pay attention.
Jak himself has aged well, gaining a few subtle upgrades to the usual combat system. While Naughty Dog didn't share too much about how the new moves would be implemented, they did reveal that all of the old movesets would be built upon, allowing players familiar with Jak's repertoire to immediately start busting out fancy new moves to impress the ladies (y'know for all those girls wowed by your gaming prowess), but more specifically to add slow upgrades to Jak himself.
There's plenty we'll be talking about in the coming weeks leading up to and through the Electronic Entertainment Exposition this May, but as the exiting public persona of Naughty Dog put it, the developer isn't "trying to make a game, they're trying to make an experience." Judging by the "I want more" responses nearly everyone invited to check out the game had, they seem to be doing just that.
