
Not even Naughty Dog likes Jak II: Renegade, and for good reason β it's absolutely atrocious. As such, we're not entirely sure why budding Australian artist Jordan Stewart-Herlihy has decided to remake the divisive second instalment, but his work is still worth sharing β even if the sight of those sliding electrical traps makes us want to punch a wall.
The upgrade's being built in CryEngine 3, and it does look more suited to Crytek's first-person shooter series, but the attention to detail is at least meticulous; we love the weather effects. Either way, the thought of playing this pseudo-open world sequel again has left us coming out in cold sweats, so we'll skip on this well intentioned overhaul, ta.

[source youtube.com]
Comments 26
i want it, I WANT IT NOW
No way Jak II is the worst, Jak I is all about platforming and Jak III put a lot of focus on the racing, Jak II is the most difficult but also has the most balanced gameplay of the 3 games.
The visuals are very good, I just don't like the engine, for me Crytek is generic and that's why I don't like Crysis series.
@BLPs this^
i hope you guys realise how stupid you're making yourselves look with silly articles like this and the new mkx trailer.
Must admit, by and large all I've heard for 2 was praise, particularly at the time of the original release. Never played it myself though so can't say myself yet! It's in the backlog along with the rest of the trilogy so I'll get to it at some point
@get2sammyb I kinda have to agree with what @viciousarcanum and @BLPs are saying despite the fact that I agree with you guys that Jak 2 isn't particularly great.
Why is it that I liked all of the Jak and Daxter games, and have been waiting for a new one since PS3? Daxter may not have been a great one, but it was enjoyable. The Original Jak and Daxter was my favorite...reminded me of playing a classic Mario adventure, which is why I kind of thought the next 2 were like a Ratchet and Clank title. I would definitely purchase a new one if they made it for PS4.
@BLPs I'm not so much concerned about the opinion of the whole thing, more about how the opinion was stated in the report.
There should have just been a link to the interview where ND allegedly says they don't care for Jak 2 much anymore and left it at that.
I mean, I'd pretty much write exactly what Sammy has if it were an opinion piece, but it's a news report, even if PushSquare has the luxury of being more lax about professionalism than most.
I like Jak 2 and I prefer it to the 3rd game.
I loved Jak 2 as well, and 3. Great games!
That video was awesome though. They got that area spot on!
What are you guys smoking lolol. Jak 2 was awesome. Baron praxis was awesome. In my opinion jak 1 was worse OK jak + GTA may have not worked 100% the control were slightly doge and shooting wasn't great but the characters were awesome I would love a remake on ps4 just like ratchet and clank is getting
I liked Jak II. It may have been jarring to switch from something lighthearted to the more mature tone that Jak II had, but I thought that if they just kept going with the collect-a-thon platformer style it wouldn't be as good as it is now and probably be as dead as Rare games are.
I personally liked Jak II as much as TPL, haven't played 3 so I can't say about that, but overall I think it's a great game, if a bit dated. I think the risk paid off.
I'll respect your opinion, Sammy. Although I'll admit the way it was written caught me off guard. Must have left some bad memories.
@BLPs Those reviews are astounding. I'm not sure what people were smoking!
Glad y'all like it more than me, though - was obviously exagerrating a teensy bit in the article.
@get2sammyb Coulda fooled me. The way it was written made me think Taylor Swift dumped you and made her next song about you or something.
I can understand the dislike though. The game does have it's flaws for sure. I personally hated traveling with the zoomers. I thought traveling around the city with them stunk, but I enjoyed doing so with the jet board.
Is Renegade an EU subtitle b/c I cant for the life of me ever recall it being called that. And Ive followed the series a lot, Jak and Daxter is my favorite game, Jak 2 does indeed suck compared to the first but as its own game its ok, 3 I just refer to as 2.5 b/c its just more of the same. Jak X, just why? Last Frontier is an abomination and Daxter, well its called Daxter, not Jak, so its its own thing.
Um what?
Since when was Jak II hated, this is news to me as Jak II was my favourite of the series and from what I've seen online that seems to be the general consensus.
Yeah... I'm with pretty much everyone else. Jak II was my favorite J&D game.
I actually played it before I ever played the first, and I think some of the people who were sore over Jak II just loved the original so much that the new darker mood ruined it for them.
However, for me the tone was awesome, and I even loved it that you could explore a bit, despite the limitations. It did have flaws, and some of the gameplay was extremely difficult, but I always found it very rewarding when I overcame the various challenges the game gave me.
For example I even liked the very fast speeder like cars in the city. It could be so frustrating to hit something and blow up on your way to a simple mission, but at the same time when you nailed a speedy run, it made you feel like a complete badass.
The hover board was even better though.
One of those games that actually wasn't too easy and didn't coddle the player constanly. One of my favorites from PS2 as well. Jak III was great too and had some awesome aspects I wish were in II, but still not as good overall in my opinion.
Sorry, rare miss for me on this Article, Push Square.
@BLPs In print it's libel.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XscaGDxuQqE
Jak 2 is atrocious? I must've not been playing the game right because I thought it was pretty damn good. Certainly better than 3 and I'd even say better than the orginal. The first was a great game but I liked the way they second was a bit more open.
I bloody like Jak 2, far more that the first one.
@get2sammyb
You're a big meanie!
Jak in Mortal Kombat X confirmed.
Wow Sammy is getting his collar felt for that opinion.
I haven't played much of jak 3 so can't really comment on that but I found jak 2 much more boring than jak and Daxter, less colourful and didn't like the new seriousness of the series or jaks voice.
@BLPs Bruce Straley talks about his disdain for the game here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdr7THH0zo8&feature=player_detailpage#t=1713
I'd love to see true HD remasters/remakes of the Jak series.
Though what I'd want more than anything is another new game...
Yeah, in my opinion, Jak II is the weakest entry in the series. Jak 1 was an amazing platform game with great atmosphere, awesome (yet dated) cartoonish visuals and fun gameplay. Jak 3 had a better story, a nice mix in gameplay, and great replay value.
Jak II, while a good jump into the more gritty games, just wasn't evenly balanced. The difficulty was unfair, the story was.....eh and the mission based gameplay was okay. But with that being said, Jak II is still fun.
If this is an actual remake of Jak II, I hope they fixed the things I hated while keeping all the things that worked.
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