Jak II is the best platformer on the PS2. I cannot recommend it highly enough.
The original Jak and Daxter was a cute, good-hearted collection based game. The story featured impressive cutscenes and a vastly animated world, with dialogue and humour that usually fell flat. Though the game wasn't bad by any means, it certainlly wasn't anything new. Jak II however, took a cue from the grim n' grit of succesful games such as the GTA series to produce a truly new kind of game.
Jak is no longer the free spirited youth we saw in the original game. Instead we see him as a gruff rebellious young man, with a Clint Eastwood like sneer and desire to be a hero. The story unfolds in beautifully done cutscenes, with some of the most expressive facial designs I've ever seen, and jokes that actually had me laughing. The story is great, the animation superb, and the voice acting spot on - but all that would mean nothing if the gameplay wasn't as great as it is.
Jak has all his moves from the original; the Bandicoot spin, the straight punch, the jump and dive etc. But he's got another trick up his sleeve: firepower. Though there are only a total of four guns (which may seem like nothing if you are familiar with the Ratchet and Clank series) they are all great to handle and feel like they pack a punch. Players will most likely pick a favourite quickly (yellow, personally) and have loads of fun blowing baddies away. There is no lock on feature, which is a minus for some players, but not much of a burden really.
The soundtrack in Jak II varies, with some levels featuring truly epic music rising from the background, and others quite simpler, boring tunes. However, either way it got the job done, and was never so bad as to be noticeably irritating. The sound effects are great, and as said earlier, the voice actors do a great job, and they don't have a bad script to work with either.
Jak II should last you around 12 hours, and the difficulty can get high enough as to even cause frustration. Some levels may take a couple of tiring retries, but never so many that you should feel the game is unfair. It's a challenging difficulty that just makes the game more entertaining. Afterall, I'd rather redo a hard level than zip through an easy one.
In the end, Jak II is undeniably reccomendable to platformer fans. However, the gameplay is varied enough as to be reccomended to many video game fans out there. Wether that be for the free roaming aspects, the gunpower, or the terrific cutscenes; everything in Jak II comes together to produce one of the best games on the PS2.