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Jak series or Ratchet & Clank?

R

Ristamar

Member
Alright, I just picked up one of the new PS2s, and I've been looking into picking up some titles I haven't been able to play on my GC or PC. Both the Jak trilogy and the R&C trilogy seem to have garnered good reviews, for the most part. However, I'm a little hesitant to grab either of them since the media I've seen makes them look more like 3rd person shooters than platformers. Regardless, I'd like to hear some opinions. Which series would you recommend and why?

Also, feel free to chime in with your other favorites. I'm not intimately familiar with some of the lesser known titles of the PS2 library, so please enlighten me, GAF.
 
R&C is excellent all-out action platforming.

The Jak series, I feel, does a better job of telling a story in addition to the platforming.

Plus the Jak series animation slaughters anything else out there.
 
The original games in both series are more focused on platforming than the sequels. I rather liked the gameplay variety in Jak 2 & 3, though.
 
I would suggest Ratchet & Clank if only because I ate crow upon playing the demo.

Initially I was thinking, "Oh yeah, another inane Dingleberry & F@ckwit - two, two, two is better than one!" platformer for the PS2. Unlike Jak & Daxter, whom completely offended my aesthetic sensibilities from the get-go, I was just indifferent towards the design of R&C.

Then I played the demo at EB a couple of years ago and was fairly impressed.

R&C is definitely more action-y than your Super Mario games, but I'm more of an action gamer, and Super Mario 2 (Better offensive capabilities!) was my personal favorite for that series, so it's all good.

Jak just strikes me as a Crash Bandicoot game with uglier characters, and a sidekick. Naughty Dog has a pretty rigid design rule book and it beats you over the head with it in J&D.

I'd go with R&C hands down.

Although having recently finished R&C2, I can say that I had a better time with R&C1. R&C2 just crammed too many really garbage sub-games into the game. I don't recall feeling as frustrated, or annoyed playing the original R&C as I did with R&C2. I was so annoyed by R&C2 that I've decided against purchasing R&C3 any time soon. I am told that R&C3 eliminates all the stupid sub-games, so that's a good thing; but my frustration has lead to EXTREEEEEME INTOLERANCE!
 
The Take Out Bandit said:
Jak just strikes me as a Crash Bandicoot game with uglier characters, and a sidekick. Naughty Dog has a pretty rigid design rule book and it beats you over the head with it in J&D.

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No, the gameplay in J&D is nothing like Crash, at all. It plays much closer to Banjo-Kazooie. Sly Cooper is much more similar to Crash, with its linear level designs.
 
Doom_Bringer said:
Buy Jak & Daxter and all three R&C games!
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This is truth. Anyone who recommends Jak 2 or 3 is insane and/or tasteless. And crazy.

More focus on story like ManaByte said, yeah, but it doesn't make up for the crap city design (that you're forced to move in pretty much all the time), boring and useless GTA-style additions and shitty shooting (due to poor controls, crowded levels and annoying camera control). R&C is far superior in all said aspects.
 
Never played Jak + Daxter but did pick up RC3 thanks in no small part due to this board.

The fps style controls option in RC3 works very well, and surprisingly enough I can still make certain jumps despite how weird the button mappings work out.
 
Ratchet shits all over Jak.

The R&C games are enjoyable, enthralling, and fun all the way through. Jak 2 & 3 are just shitty frustration fests.
 
The Take Out Bandit said:
Although having recently finished R&C2, I can say that I had a better time with R&C1. R&C2 just crammed too many really garbage sub-games into the game. I don't recall feeling as frustrated, or annoyed playing the original R&C as I did with R&C2. I was so annoyed by R&C2 that I've decided against purchasing R&C3 any time soon. I am told that R&C3 eliminates all the stupid sub-games, so that's a good thing; but my frustration has lead to EXTREEEEEME INTOLERANCE!
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What was frustrating about r&c2?
 
Ratchet and Clank ranges from mediocre to good.

Jak and Daxter on the other hand is nothing but pure crap.

Daxter is the video game equivalent of "poochie" from The Simpsons.

Now I'm a loyal PS2 owner, but sometimes I'm ashamed to be one when I see the pure garbage my fellow PS2 fans will consume.
 
Just to tell you I own all 6 games in the series.

Ratchet and Clank - total action and tons of platforming. Buy all three

Jak - 1- has great scenery and platforming action. 2- very hard game and the city layout sucked, much less platforming. 3- almost no platforming compared to the other games, not as hard as the second and more enjoyable imo.

Buy order ( if you want platforming )
Jak 1
R&C 1-3

Buy order ( if you want a mix )
R&C 3, 2
Jak 3
R&C 1
Jak 1

Skip Jak 2 unless you're buying all six. In the end I hated it and traded it in. Re-bought it though just to complete the collection.


oh yeah... Don't forget Sly Cooper 1-2 if you're into the genre. Both great games and cheap now.
 
I liked the first Jak & Daxter... but I hated 2. I tried 3 for about an hour and it was just ok.

All the 3 Ratchet & Clank's have been great!!!
 
Jak series is good
Ratchet series is great
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Agreed.

Jak 2 in particular was the worst of all 6 games. Its mission based and a lot of times you have to go across a huge city to continue. And then there's these puzzles that are somewhat long a difficult and if you fuck up, you start all over again.

Jak 3 refined Jak 2's gameplay, but there was less focus on platforming. But there seemed to be more continue points, and distance between missions was small.

Ratchet and clank was awesome all around. I only disliked the second ones spaceship missions.



Where could I get Sly 2 cheap? Everywhere I've seen it its $40.
 
One more vote for Ratchet & Clank. No tearing! :P

Overall R&C just seems like tighter design to me, where J&D, in comparison, seems slightly less polished.
 
The best PS2 platformers I've played are Sly Cooper, Sly 2, Ape Escape 2, Jak and Daxter, and Ratchet and Clank 2. Avoid the last two Jak games, they're terrible.
 
What was frustrating about r&c2?
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Mainly the flight sections. There was no sense of depth or space. The HUD was useless, look - a radar! It doesn't display pertinent information like the enemy being below or above you. Etc.

The flight sections were really badly designed, to the point that I'd rather being playing with The Ron Popeil Home Vasectomy Kit.

There were other niggling aspects that weren't as intolerable as the flight sections that also contributed to my intolerance.
 
I've also played all 6.

Personally I'd say get Jak 1, Ratchet 2, and Jak 3.

Ratchet 1 felt kinda generic and boring
Jak 2 was annoyingly hard and felt like one huge fetch quest
Ratchet 3 didn't really add much to 2's gameplay.
 
Hands down, the R & C series over Jak series. Even though I admire the Jak series for trying to inject some kind of a continuing story into the game, R & C destroys it where it really counts.

I liked the original R & C but I always felt as if there was something missing, or something hadn't been realized yet. Then when GC came out, I really saw what Insomniac could do with the game. The strafe button and the great weapon upgrades. The effects on the weapons are gorgeous as well. Also, it is the little things that count as well like some of the subtle nuances that are carried throughout the series and the humor is great as well. I liked the flight combat in GC and really missed it in UYA but I did not miss the hoverbike races and the hoverboard races. The flight combat was extremely simple but it served as a nice distraction. UYA expands on everything that GC set into place. The inclusion of Lock-Strafe mode and the five level weapon upgrades are my favorite additions and theyserve to make the game feel much more like a witty action game.

The problem with Jak 2 and 3 is that they try to be something they're not. I loved the format of J & D and the level design was great but converting it into an open-world that really doesn't do much but artificially lengthen the game was another knock against the aim. Also, the horrible lock-on of the weapons. At least give me the option to aim them manually if I need to hit a swtich or an enemy at a distance.
 
R & C, definitely.

Since you asked about other games, let me also recommend Maximo vs. Army of Zin. One of the best 3d action/platformers this gen, and you can find it dirt cheap nowadays. :)
 
I liked the first J&D better than the first R&C, but have yet to play the others in each respective series. I recently bought part 2 of each so I'll give them some playtime this weekend. Personally, though, from what I've seen and played, I like the Sly series best overall over these other two. It just oozes with style.
 
The first J & D is pretty much equal with the first R&C, if not a slight bit better.

Going Commando > Jak 2

Jak 3 > Up your arsenal (but frankly both are equally great and worth owning)


Unless youre really want to get he full Jak story or whatever (lol), skip Jak 2....but all the rest is worth playing, and arguably, owning.
 
Ratchet & Clank: Great game. Buy it.
Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando: Excellent game. Buy it.
Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal: Great game, but buy it if you can go online.

Jak and Daxter: Fun platformer. Recommended
Jak II: Avoid like the plague.
Jak 3: I dunno.
 
ProgramFighter said:
I liked the first J&D better than the first R&C, but have yet to play the others in each respective series. I recently bought part 2 of each so I'll give them some playtime this weekend. Personally, though, from what I've seen and played, I like the Sly series best overall over these other two. It just oozes with style.
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Yeah, Sly & Sly 2 are already on my list. A few others I plan on getting in the near future (non-platformers): Baldurs Gate: Dark Alliance 2, Demon Stone, Disgaea, Winning Eleven, Transformers, and Mercenaries.
 
Ristamar said:
Yeah, Sly & Sly 2 are already on my list. A few others I plan on getting in the near future (non-platformers): Baldurs Gate: Dark Alliance 2, Demon Stone, Disgaea, Winning Eleven, Transformers, and Mercenaries.
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Despite the "NO MULTIPLAYER" complaints about Demon Stone, I really liked it. Some of the levels looked incredible (especially the jungle level).
 
wait didn't we already do this?

I enjoyed all three Jak games but only own the first one.

Played R&C and liked it. I'd get all three if they were released in a 3 pack a la Crash Bandicoot on PSone.
 
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