Jak and Daxter Collection or Sly Cooper Collection?

[Johnny Novgorod]

I'm thinking of purchasing either of these games.

Jak and Daxter Collection - contains Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy, Jak II and Jak 3.

The Sly Collection - contains Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus, Sly 2: Band of Thieves and Sly 3: Honor Among Thieves.

Each collection is an HD remastering of the first three PS2 games in each series. Same deal, same cost.
Which should I go for? I'm a little more inclined towards Sly Cooper for the stealth thing but I'd like to hear out your opinions.

 

[scorptatious]

Hmm... Tough call.

I too am more inclined towards the Sly series. So I'd go for that.

 

[Casual Shinji]

I never played Sly, though they might have the better controls. Only basing this off the inFAMOUS games (same developer) which in my opinion had the best controls of the previous generation.

Jak and Daxter is kinda... eh, I don't know. Not bad games I guess, but they're frustrating as all hell, especially Jak 2. The gameplay feels like a lesser version of Ratchet and Clank, and the game has this overall tone of "teenage" edginess (skateboard, goggles, goatees) that I really didn't go for.

 

[Frezzato]

I've only briefly played one of the Jax games but I've finished the Sly Cooper Collection, got platinum on all but the last. The Sly collection is good, but the games are all set in somewhat limited areas that could be considered large villages. Really, some of the areas are very large and provide great exploration opportunities. But if I had to criticize the collection, it would be how most platformers of the PS2 era seem to unnecessarily punish the player. There's no better way for me to put that.

Some areas of the three games require precision movement, which is not the most ideal for a 3rd person platformer. Really, it sounds worse than it is, but these small moments really stand out, like in Spyro 2 (PS1 era) when I lost 9-10 lives in a row trying to get back from an area that took some precision timing to get to in the first place. I wasn't getting killed by enemies, it was just a pointless hoop for me to jump through. Those are the moments that I remember from the Sly Collection; the times I died it was mostly because of a platforming section, not due to enemies.

Other than that minor "criticism", the games were great. The story developed very well across all three games, and I genuinely liked the characters. Oh right, and one more very, very minor issue: the gang in Sly Cooper consists of a raccoon, a turtle, and a hippo. Three animals that can definitely swim (except maybe not all turtles), but not in the games. I think in the first game if you land in water you die. I think they improved on that in #2 (definitely in #3), where you lose a little bit of life if you fall into water.

 

[scorptatious]

I've only briefly played one of the Jax games but I've finished the Sly Cooper Collection, got platinum on all but the last. The Sly collection is good, but the games are all set in somewhat limited areas that could be considered large villages. Really, some of the areas are very large and provide great exploration opportunities. But if I had to criticize the collection, it would be how most platformers of the PS2 era seem to unnecessarily punish the player. There's no better way for me to put that.

Some areas of the three games require precision movement, which is not the most ideal for a 3rd person platformer. Really, it sounds worse than it is, but these small moments really stand out, like in Spyro 2 (PS1 era) when I lost 9-10 lives in a row trying to get back from an area that took some precision timing to get to in the first place. I wasn't getting killed by enemies, it was just a pointless hoop for me to jump through. Those are the moments that I remember from the Sly Collection; the times I died it was mostly because of a platforming section, not due to enemies.

Other than that minor "criticism", the games were great. The story developed very well across all three games, and I genuinely liked the characters. Oh right, and one more very, very minor issue: the gang in Sly Cooper consists of a raccoon, a turtle, and a hippo. Three animals that can definitely swim (except maybe not all turtles), but not in the games. I think in the first game if you land in water you die. I think they improved on that in #2 (definitely in #3), where you lose a little bit of life if you fall into water.

If you thought the Sly games were punishing, then you haven't played enough of the Jak games. (well except the first one, that one is relatively easy)

2 in particular is insane. Sparse checkpoint placement, the ridiculous races, the obnoxious escort missions (the last one in particular is ridiculous, but not because of the escort), Jak 2 is a damn difficult game. Jak 3 had it's hard moments as well, (fucking pac man section) but Jak 2 really takes the cake.

 

[Maximum Bert]

Completed Jak 1 and 2 and never touched the series after that Jak 2 was a game I did not enjoy it was around the time GTA3 blew up and so everygame was trying to be GTA3 with equally bad if not worse results Jak 1 was good fun except that frankly pathetic blink if you miss it 100% completion bonus while 2 was one of the most frustrating and unrewarding games I have played if I was playing it now I would not bother completing it I was just more stubborn back then. Not sure on Jak 3 as I never played it.

I have the Sly Cooper collection and have finished the first one and am near the end of the second gotta say I though Jak and Daxter 1 was better than Sly Cooper one but Sly 2 is way better than Jak 2 although it still has its faults and a fair bit of filler which is why I still havent finished it yet as it just burns me out waiting for the good stuff to happen.

If you are determined to get one collection though I would go with Sly Cooper with Jak and Daxter get the first game and ignore the rest.

 

[klaynexas3]

I'd say Jak and Daxter, though I've yet to beat a Sly Cooper game. To me, Jak and Daxter was kind of my childhood. The universe is unique and interesting and so many different things that you never see today(you can imagine my disappointment in Naughty Dog that now they only make games set in this world). Yes, Jak 2 did try to copy that GTA vibe, cause GTA, but I'd hardly say it suffered from it. The Jak and Daxter games are truly just amazing and the best games Naughty Dog ever put out, and quite frankly, some of the best games you can get on a PS2. I suppose you should ask someone that's played both trilogies all the way through for a full opinion, but still, I'd say the Jak and Daxter collection.

 

[GloatingSwine]

Sly 2 is the best Assassin's Creed game ever.


Overall though, Jak & Daxter collection, Sly 1 is a bit meh and although 3 is good it kind of drowns under its many minigames at times.

 

[Edl01]

Hah, all this hate for Jak 2. Not that I've beat it, I gave up around 70% when it just got completely ridiculous.
I have 100% completed Jak 1 though and I will however fully endorse Jak 3 as being a excellent game. The gameplay has more variety and the difficulty is mroe forgiving, which makes the game much less frustrating to play. Plus I feel 3 isn't trying quite as hard to be Dark and Edgy as 2, but maybe it just seems funnier to me because I'm not spending half of the game trying to break my controller.

So to summarise:
Jak 1: Yes, a bit easy but Okay.
Jak 2: Can be fun, but can be really cheap making it frustrating as hell.
Jak 3: A much improved version of Jak 2.

I wish I could endorse Sly Cooper, but sadly I've never actually played anything other than Sly 2, which was bloody great.

 

[Randoman01]

I would have to say the Jak and Daxter collection. That one is the best to have in my opinion. I don't know about he Sly cooper one but I would easily go with Jak.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

It seems that we're divided between people who have played both games and prefer Sly Cooper, and people who prefer Jak and Daxter for lack of playing Sly Cooper.

 

[busterkeatonrules]

I cast my vote for the Sly Cooper series.

The first Jak and Daxter game was easily the very best platformer of the early PS2 era, with a rich and diverse game world - which, notably, was rendered in a single solid piece, so you could travel all the way from the heroes' home village to the lair of the final boss WITHOUT encountering a single loading screen! EVER!

Jak 2 went for the 'Darker and Edgier' - approach, with decidedly mixed results. The gritty, repetitive urban environments got really old really fast, and most of the platforming elements were ditched in favor of a GTA - like playstyle which, honestly, felt like nothing but a cheap ripoff. Oh, and there were plenty of loading screens!

I haven't played Jak 3 or any of the spin-offs, but as those are more in line with Jak 2 than the revered original, I can't see any reason to, either.

The Sly series, on the other hand, is consistently good. Each game offers 'more of the same', but with just enough tweaks and new additions to keep the premise from going stale. It is simple, cartoony fun, wonderfully well crafted. Tight controls, a good camera, intricate and well thought out levels - SuckerPunch know what it takes to make a great platformer!

That said, I also highly recommend the latest instalment - Thieves in Time, from Sanzaru!

 

[Arqus_Zed]

...
Am I the only one who actually thinks Jak II is the best game out of all six games we are discussing here?

Yeah, it's challenging, but not unfairly so - the level design is good, the controls are responsive and the camera is very solid for a 3D platformer. I'm sorry, but if you think the game is "too hard", you're just a little crybaby. Have you ever played Contra? Ninja Gaiden? Playing God of War or Devil May Cry on the highest difficulty levels? That qualifies as hard. This? This is just pleasantly challenging.

This is how I see it:

Sly 1: Classic platforming with a stealth injection. It is set up as an old school platformer: various hubs with their own setting all housing a few levels and a boss battle. Short, but very fun.
Sly 2: Cranking up the stealth aspect and introducing the "heist" mindset. Hubs and levels make way for a series of small open worlds. You can now also play with Murray and Bentley, but they're not as versatile as Sly and thus less appealing.
Sly 3: Like all same-platform trilogies that stay within the same genre: refining ideas introduced in the second game. In this case: more side-characters and mini-games.

Jak 1: Classic platforming with an action/adventure injection. It is set up like an old school platformer, with the difference that all hubs and levels flow seamlessly into one another. Very easy, very short, not a whole lot of gameplay variety, looks a lot more dated than Jak 2 and 3, but fun while it lasts.
Jak 2: Has one free-roaming hub leading to several (more linear) levels, combining the best of both worlds. Introducing guns, focused on shooting from the hip instead of using a crosshair (like R&C) to allow more free-flowing combat (kept from the first game). The humor in the cut-scenes is great, there's a ton of stuff to do and there's quite some variety in gameplay (combat, racing, puzzles, platforming). At one point you also get a hoverboard that you can deploy whenever you want.
Jak 3: Like all same-platform trilogies that stay within the same genre: refining ideas introduced in the second game. In this case: more weapons, open areas and eco powers.

I myself had more fun with the Jak series, however, if you're into stealth, then Sly is the obvious way to go.

 

[arsenalabu]

Well, I've played them all except Sly 1, and my vote would go to Jak and Daxter.

With regards to the first Jak game, I'm somewhat blinded by nostalgia, The Precursor Legacy being the game I got with my PS2 on that Christmas morning 12 (12! - makes me feel a bit queasy thinking about it, though I guess it's nothing compared to NES or SNES kids) years ago. I've beaten the game five times in that space of time and still find it refreshingly fun and lighthearted compared to the games I play now.

Jak 2 is a widely unbalanced game, jumping from easy to difficult and back again with little indication. I can't remember getting as angry with any mission in the last five years as I did with the "escort three guys through the sewers" mission from that game. That said, it can be wildly fun once it isn't tripping over itself. You might even get lucky and breeze through the hard missions on luck alone, as I did two years earlier, when I somehow managed to pass all the hard missions in four attempts or less (and I'm a strictly easy mode player).

Jak 3 corrects all the problems of 2, and wraps up the trilogy's overarching story nicely. I remember having a lot of fun with it, but haven't completed it in years - it's quite a big game, and I don't have the time to search for all the optional trinkets I know I'd end up looking for. It also brought platforming back, which was sorely lacking in Jak 2.

I've only played through Sly 2 and 3 once, and seeing as I bought them cheaply at a much later date, they don't hold the same nostalgia factor for me. I will say that I found the third Sly game suffering from difficulty spikes that were comparable to Jak 2's. By the time I got to the shooting section at the end, I was tired of endless restarts and quit after one death. As such, I don't know how that story ends, but the second's story wasn't great, if I recall correctly. Also contrary to the Jak and Daxter games, each Sly game felt like an improved version of the last game, with less of a fundamental change in gameplay, and more a refinement of a formula.

However if I ignored the difficulty spikes in Sly 3, it would probably be the best game on this list. It's funny, ceaselessly inventive and has a great Ocean's 11 vibe going for it.

I've gone a bit off-topic though, seeing as you asked about the HD collections. I only own the Jak one, and have only played Jak 1 and 2 off the disc. Both look great in HD (especially The Precursor Legacy which is very colourful and bright), and work without any noticeable software glitches. I never tried Jak 3 HD, but I expect the same care was taken with it. Having no experience with the Sly games in HD, I don't know if the same care was taken with their transfer. Maybe a review would tell you that.

When all is said and done though, you're going to get a collection of fantastic games. That said, if I wanted to play as Sly again, I'd personally skip Sly 2 (and Sly 1, by extension), and just go straight to Sly 3, whereas if I wanted to play as Jak, I'd go through all three of his games.

 

[Refresh220]

I don't have too much experience with Jak series, but I have played Sly Cooper. I think you should go with that. I enjoyed them more than Jak series. Only problem is that the games are really short, but they are more fun to play than Jak in my opinion.

 

[Kingjackl]

I only played a bit of Jak 1 & 2 and enjoyed what little I played, but I have to cast my vote for Sly as well. While I enjoyed the Jak & Daxter games, I didn't have nearly as much fun as I had with the Sly games, especially 3.

I've been thinking of picking up the HD trilogies for Sly and Ratchet & Clank. I want to get them on Vita since I imagine they'd look really crisp on the small screen, but I've heard they're not as good due to the lack of L2 and R2 buttons. Can anyone who's played them on Vita confirm?

 

[bishopzz]

I have always Preferred the Sly Cooper series. The Sly collection looks really nice ,of course even the original versions visuals still hold up. Most importantly they are just really good games, just make sure you don't take them too seriously.

I only played the third Jak and Daxter game, and I didn't really enjoy it much.

 

[TheOneGuyInNebraska]

Man that's tough:
J&D 1 is alot better then sly 1, but sly 2 is better then J&D 2 and 3, but sly 3 sucks

 

[Littaly]

I remember playing Jak & Daxter a long time ago and liked it OK.

I'm a big fan of the PS2 Sly Cooper games though (never got around to playing the most recent one). Sly 2 is probably the closest a game has ever come to capturing the magic Rareware had going for them in Banjo Kazooie and Donkey Kong 64.

 

[Raggedstar]

Both games are great, and both HD collections are good. It's a real tough call as I adore both franchises, but maybe prefer Jak SLIGHTLY more. Definitely pick them both up at some point, as these are PS2 platformers you shouldn't miss. I will say right now that if you're looking for a stealth game out of Sly Cooper, you should know what you're in for (read in the negatives). Good games, but Sly 1 and 3 I hold as being stealth with a huge asterisk.

A few glitch notes in case it affects your decision:
-Jak and Daxter collection has 1 glitched up cutscene (I don't know if they fixed it, but I've seen a few people report it). It's the only one, but it's a really important cutscene in Jak 2.
-Sly collection can be a bit glitchy. Most of the glitches are benign (like Sly's hat will bugger around during a binocucom conversation), though I remember one mission in late-game that's very easy to break. Froze twice in the same region too.

Anyways, people have given some good explanations. I'll just put some point-form stuff based on my experiences.

Spoiler: +/- of Jak and Daxter

POSITIVES of Jak and Daxter:
-First game is colourful as fuck (and looks AMAZING in HD). Second and third game are greyer/browner, but some areas look really pretty
-Open-world platforming adventure (none of the games have visible loading screens)
-Hilarious
-Animations are smooth with a lot of expression (mostly 2 and 3, because the original being out in 2001 and all).
-Considering how most dark reboots of platformers go (Spyro, Sonic, etc), Jak 2 and 3 is surprisingly good if you don't mind the shift. It's rather faithful to the mechanics that made the first game so good.
-Great voice acting
-Jak 2 and 3 boast a healthy length of about 10-12 hours (counting cutscenes)

NEGATIVES of Jak and Daxter:
-First game is easy (and short at roughly 4 hours), second game can get REALLY brutal, and the third game is a bit more balanced (which is a good thing, because it fixes a lot of things Jak 2 did wrong)
-Jak can get pretty insufferable in early to mid Jak 2
-Controls, while functional, may feel stiff and can make jumping a bit tricky. Jak 3 also has some questionable control choices in the turret sections
-Vehicle controls in all games are kinda meh (especially the cars in 3)
-If you don't like the tonal shift, you're kind of outta luck
-You either love or hate Daxter. He strolls dangerously on that funny vs annoying line. Personally I adore him. I think he only gets funnier in 2 and 3
-Guns don't aim particularly well and Jak doesn't have a strafe. It works, but the auto aim is so fussy
-Jak 2 and 3 are a completionist's nightmare
-The sandbox of 2 and 3 is kinda dull. Don't expect much.

Spoiler: +/- of Sly Cooper

POSITIVES of Sly Cooper:
-Perhaps the tightest controls I've ever seen in a 3D platformer. Even the camera is pretty obedient.
-Easy to pick up stealth mechanics
-Good sense of humor with a lot of personality (if a little cartoony and cheesy)
-If you want a less bloated Assassin's Creed with a raccoon, this is for you.
-The characters are well acted with a lot of chemistry
-Cel shading looks great in HD

NEGATIVES of Sly Cooper:
-Sly 1 isn't really STEALTH if that's what you're looking for. Stealth is more a setting and obstacle theme than a gameplay focus. Basically imagine a more nimble Crash Bandicoot who has to slink by lasers on a linear path. Other than the one hit kills, it doesn't punish you for setting off an alarm. The enemies are just sitting in front of you for you to whack with few chances of ever avoiding them. Sly 2 is the purest stealth game of the franchise.
-Sly 3 was dropped on it's head at some point and forgot it was a stealth platformer. It has a lot more minigames than stealth platforming and I don't really like that design choice.
-All games are pretty short (Sly 1 maybe 4+ hours depending on if you're a completionist. 6+ hours for 2 and 3)
-None of the games ever get that hard (except the last chapter in Sly 1)
-Sly 1 uses lives and it REALLY gets frustrating for that
-Sly 1's time trials and Sly 2's clue bottles suck, but they're not mandatory

Capcha: Get well
Aww, thanks, capcha. I was sick with a cold all week and it sucked.