Jak 3 [PS2]

The best and worst thing about trilogies is that they all must end. The story that began in Jak and Daxter comes to a very satisfying conclusion in Naughty Dog's Jak 3. With the main character's growth comes a wholly pleasing disc full of enhanced action platforming, well-tuned vehicles, and level designs featuring gameplay that seems endlessly varied. In short, Jak 3 is among the best action-adventure games to grace the PlayStation2.

We open in the desert. Jak is banished to the outback, where he and Daxter deliriously stumble into the Thunderdome. Two men enter, one man leaves! Actually, that's not exactly it. After being forced out of Haven City for allegedly abetting the Metal Heads, the pair are taken in by a ramshackle city in the desert, beginning the final stage of Jak's adventure. This is easily the best-written of the trilogy, and the performances are uniformly great as well. Daxter is funny as hell, and the peaks and valleys in the tale make it more compelling than either of the previous games.

It's true that Jak 3 has more action than platforming, but that doesn't mean the game's roots are forgotten. There's still quite a bit of jumping to do, and some of the surface hopping is even done via auto. For example, the dune hopper buggy can leap across the islands of a broken archipelago, opening the way to a volcano. Once inside, enjoy some Prince of Persia-style acrobatics. Note the nearly invisible auto save feature, which makes restarts near immediate and provides enough respawn points that the most demanding platforming is rarely frustrating.

Pole-jump up to the mountain's summit, where you'll find a glider waiting. When Daxer's "Sweet!" is timed to coincide perfectly with players exclamations, you know something's really working in the level design. And indeed, Jak 3 has some of the best we've seen in an action game. Tasks like climbing, driving, hover boarding, and wild shooting flow one into the other. Nearly invisible load times keep everything streaming, even in the gigantic Wasteland. This sucker is seamless.

Complementing the level design is a superb collection of offensive options. Insomniac has kept the basic spin and punch moves, which continue to work surprisingly well. Jak's Dark Eco powers are more under control, this time also balanced by Light Eco powers which allow him to deflect attacks and slow time. And then there are the guns.

The hero has four basic weapon templates, each of which gets three significant upgrades. The D-pad conveniently switches between them all; push down to get the basic blaster, down again for the richochet upgrade, and so on. Each basic weapon type uses a different kind of ammo, but players will rarely be strapped for shells. There's no hard and fast target lock, but simply point Jak in the general direction of a foe, and nine times out of ten the aim will be dead-on.

While the weapons themselves are great, it's the balance that makes everything work. Those who favor a certain approach can use it almost exclusively. Ammo is plentiful, as are globs of eco to recharge Jak's powers. Those who enjoy Dark Jak can rely on him to a great deal, while even the basic melee attacks are viable throughout a surprising amount of the game. Once in a while something will pop up that requires specific tactics, but otherwise this is very flexible stuff.

Item collection has been minimized, but a few things still must be gathered. Precurser Orbs, while not as important as in the past, are used to buy secrets, which include damage upgrades, new abilities, and some silly game modifications. But enough orbs are found in casual play to secure the essential secrets; the hardcore can hunt and peck so as to afford the Big Head mod.

Poking into every corner of the game in search of treasure is a pleasure, however, thanks to the fantastic graphics engine and sound design. Naughty Dog has built upon the impressive work done for the last game, refining the already fantastic character models and cutscenes. Every environment is larger here; the Wasteland is gigantic, with small desiccated settlements, and the first trip back to Haven is impressive. Implementing progressive scan and widescreen offers joy for HDTV owners, though there are a few strange scan "rolls" that only seemed to pop up in that mode.

The only conceivable complaint to levy against the game is that much of it feels like an upgrade from Jak 2. But the only possible response to that is to point out that Jak 2 was adventurous and forward thinking, but not a lot of fun to play. This sequel represents all the good ideas from last time done right. It's a game that's compelling and addictive, and far more fun that we'd have expected after slogging through the confounding Jak 2. This is the action platformer refined to perfection.