Sly vs Ratchet vs Jak Series- Nostalgia as a Factor?

[Dioscuri_MEX]

I finally managed to plat the 3 Sly games and I honestly have mixed feelings about the series: 

 

Back in the PS2 era, I never played any Sly game, but I really enjoyed Jak and Ratchet series; so, I bought the Sly trilogy for 3 USD! and decided to give them a chance

 

In the end, I liked some of the Stealth and naval battles elements but as a whole, I found many of the Mission objectives Pointless and tedious, and the dialogues between the characters not that funny or even important. (I ended up hating "The Murray"  )

 

 

I know that the Nostalgia plays a great factor on this remastered Editions, but I would be interested in hearing some opinions of your preferred Ps2 plattform series because I honestly would never again replay Sly collection

 

For me goes this way:

 

1- Ratchet and Clank Series 

2- Jak and Daxter Series

3- Sly Series 

Edited July 18, 2015 by Dioscuri_MEX

[Boooda]

Ratchet is the best, evident by the fact that its still around

[ASSASSIN-987_]

Easily 

1. Ratchet & Clank-Best one for me is either Going Commando, Up Your Arsenal, or Crack In Time

2. Jak & Daxter- Best one is Jak 2

3. Sly- Best one is Sly 2

They're all great series though.

[Neputyunu]

I never played any of the named, because I never had a PS2 and I picked up the PS3 in the end of 2013.

 

But I played the Sly Triology because Sly4 was bundled with my PS3SS and I liked it

I must say, the first game was nice and Clockwerk was fucking awesome! But I havnt liked the third game that much.

 

I got the Jak Triology with PS Plus, the first game was nice. The second one was meh for me... eg because its a completly different genre... Also the setting is somehow really depressing...  But Im going to give it a try again soon I guess.

 

Im also going to buy the Ratchet Triology in some months (PS4 and N3DS have priority atm)... lets see

Edited July 18, 2015 by Neputyunu

[NetEntity]

Well, nostalgia is a factor, but as a person that has no nostalgic connection to any of these trilogies (I've bought my PS2 mere 5 years ago), I can't confirm this in this case. But I sure can grade them.

For me it goes like this:

1. Jak and Daxter

2. Ratchet and Clank

3. Sly Cooper

 

Now, to elaborate:

Of all three, Ratchet and Clank, overall, is the best of the bunch. It looks good and plays even better. But what still elevates Jak and Daxter over Ratchet and Clank for me is, well, atmosphere. I sure don't look forward to plating Jak 2 (because "Destroy Ship at Drill Platform" mission is HELL and I still don't know how I've managed to beat it legit back on PS2), but I still come back to mid-game Haven City from time to time to run around, soak in the rain and listen to Praxis spewing his lies from the numerous street speakers. Or do the Sandover Village glitch and watch the sunset standing on one of the sea cliffs. I occasionally revisit Jak 3 too, but not that often.

Overall tone of Ratchet and Clank just doesn't work for me that well.   

And Sly... the first game was good, but mission format of 2 and 3 tired me out very quickly. Most of them just weren't interesting, and while I've always looked forward to plot development and cutscenes, I sure didn't look forward to the missions. And who can forget the Sly 3's challenges? I've warmed up to series after Thieves in Time, but that's about it.

 

[Potter13579]

You know it's funny how unanimously Jak and Ratchet always come out on top, but to me honestly, I enjoy Ratchet, but I love Jak and Sly more. It's honestly pretty hard for me to rank them since Jak and Sly to me are really neck and neck, but I would put Ratchet at the bottom. I personally felt Jak had the best story, Ratchet had awesome gameplay, but Sly I feel has the best of both worlds having an interesting story, especially as the series went on, but really has unique gameplay. If it wasn't for Jak's story being so amazingly epic (god bless Naughty Dog's name), I would put Sly as the best one, but it's really hard for me to debate.

[markcavan]

For me first Ratchet and a close second to Jak but a VERY distant third goes to Sly.  

 

Having just recently completed Sly 2 I can say its the worst game of all three classic PS2 series.  I've yet to play Sly 3 as I believe its much of the same again :-(

 

Sly 1 was okay but Sly 2 was just beyond awful and I was so glad when I finished it.  None of the Ratchet or Jak games have made me feel like that and I've played them all on PS2, PS3 and PSV.  Yes, Jak 2 is hard and frustrating in parts but its not impossible with some practice you'll get there and is a really fun game.

[Dioscuri_MEX]

I never played any of the named, because I never had a PS2 and I picked up the PS3 in the end of 2013.

 

But I played the Sly Triology because Sly4 was bundled with my PS3SS and I liked it

I must say, the first game was nice and Clockwerk was fucking awesome! But I havnt liked the third game that much.

 

I got the Jak Triology with PS Plus, the first game was nice. The second one was meh for me... eg because its a completly different genre... Also the setting is somehow really depressing...  But Im going to give it a try again soon I guess.

 

Im also going to buy the Ratchet Triology in some months (PS4 and N3DS have priority atm)... lets see

 

Thanks for all your points of view

 

Yes, I think the first Sly game was the best, 2 and 3 lacked story depth 

 

I also have Thieves in time (thanks to ps plus) but Im going to wait some time to try that game 

Well, nostalgia is a factor, but as a person that has no nostalgic connection to any of these trilogies (I've bought my PS2 mere 5 years ago), I can't confirm this in this case. But I sure can grade them.

For me it goes like this:

1. Jak and Daxter

2. Ratchet and Clank

3. Sly Cooper

 

Now, to elaborate:

Of all three, Ratchet and Clank, overall, is the best of the bunch. It looks good and plays even better. But what still elevates Jak and Daxter over Ratchet and Clank for me is, well, atmosphere. I sure don't look forward to plating Jak 2 (because "Destroy Ship at Drill Platform" mission is HELL and I still don't know how I've managed to beat it legit back on PS2), but I still come back to mid-game Haven City from time to time to run around, soak in the rain and listen to Praxis spewing his lies from the numerous street speakers. Or do the Sandover Village glitch and watch the sunset standing on one of the sea cliffs. I occasionally revisit Jak 3 too, but not that often.

Overall tone of Ratchet and Clank just doesn't work for me that well.   

And Sly... the first game was good, but mission format of 2 and 3 tired me out very quickly. Most of them just weren't interesting, and while I've always looked forward to plot development and cutscenes, I sure didn't look forward to the missions. And who can forget the Sly 3's challenges? I've warmed up to series after Thieves in Time, but that's about it.

 

Yes, I think that Jak Story is the best of the 3, but with Ratchet I loved every single cutscene filled with humour and numerous Characters 

 

Sly challenges started to feel more like mini games with no sense or purpose- like the obnoxious winter Buffallo challenges

[Condemned09]

For me is

1 jak and daxter

2 ratchet and clank

3 sly cooper

Jak and daxter is my all.time favorite

[Dioscuri_MEX]

You know it's funny how unanimously Jak and Ratchet always come out on top, but to me honestly, I enjoy Ratchet, but I love Jak and Sly more. It's honestly pretty hard for me to rank them since Jak and Sly to me are really neck and neck, but I would put Ratchet at the bottom. I personally felt Jak had the best story, Ratchet had awesome gameplay, but Sly I feel has the best of both worlds having an interesting story, especially as the series went on, but really has unique gameplay. If it wasn't for Jak's story being so amazingly epic (god bless Naughty Dog's name), I would put Sly as the best one, but it's really hard for me to debate.

 

Thanks for your reply!

 

I always liked how Jak story grew and matured

 

The first one was still a happy easy going platfomer, but since the beginning of 2, I was amazed with the atmosphere changed and background story ( The only Jak game I didn´t played was the PSP one; Last Frontier I guess?

[Jak]

The Jak and Daxter series has always been my favorite. But with this series, I feel people who hate, dislike, or prefer the other 2 mascots (mascot's PS2 trilogies to be specific) never factor in some of Jak's game's other pros and strong-suits, such as the character development, dialogue (both in gameplay and cutscenes), music, animations, character's reaction whether to water, fire, a hit from an enemy, etc, etc.

 

Anyways, ALL of these PS2 mascots have great and enjoyable game series. None of these series are trash, suck, or are bad.

 

On 7/18/2015 at 1:30 PM, Boooda said:

Ratchet is the best, evident by the fact that its still around

 

False. That's an illogical fallacy. (In case you're serious.)

Edited May 2, 2017 by Jak

[Kishnabe]

I have only played the SLY series....even through I have the JAX series on PS3. 

 

Personally liked SLY 3 the best apart from the challenges. Thieves in Time is even more sweeter. 

 

Hoping Jax and Ratchet collections get uber cheap on Vita for me to pick up. 

 

My childhood was just SNES RPGS......SEGA Genesis, and PS1.

 

 

Did not pick up a PS2 since I went with the Gamecube at the time(2002-3ish I think). Picked XBOX for dirt cheap later. Really missed out on the series.

 

Did get a PS2 when I wanted to play Devil Summoner and other Shin Megami games. 

Edited July 18, 2015 by Kishnabe

[Jak]

On 7/18/2015 at 1:46 PM, ASSASSIN-987_ said:

Easily 

1. Ratchet & Clank-Best one for me is either Going Commando, Up Your Arsenal, or Crack In Time

2. Jak & Daxter- Best one is Jak 2

3. Sly- Best one is Sly 2

They're all great series though.

 

In your opinion, yes.

 

On 7/18/2015 at 1:58 PM, Potter13579 said:

You know it's funny how unanimously Jak and Ratchet always come out on top, but to me honestly, I enjoy Ratchet, but I love Jak and Sly more. It's honestly pretty hard for me to rank them since Jak and Sly to me are really neck and neck, but I would put Ratchet at the bottom. I personally felt Jak had the best story, Ratchet had awesome gameplay, but Sly I feel has the best of both worlds having an interesting story, especially as the series went on, but really has unique gameplay. If it wasn't for Jak's story being so amazingly epic (god bless Naughty Dog's name), I would put Sly as the best one, but it's really hard for me to debate.

 

Hmm.. It's true Jak's series has the best story and Ratchet's series has awesome gameplay (not sure about best game-play though, since surperior gun play =/= surperior game play).

 

Now Sly... Sly may have the best of both worlds, but does it mean his story surpasses Jak's and gameplay surpasses Ratchet's? First off, I've personally always found it amazing for one (PS2) game (that's not an RPG) to have specific game-play elements: magical-like powers, guns, and several different melee moves. Most games that have had powers and melee or guns and melee, the melee department always sucked and was lacking (with that one or barely two different melee moves). When it comes down to Jak 3 the gameplay in that game was godly, there is no way Sly 3 could surpass this, and Jak 3 still had a good enough story to be considered great.

 

So going back to my point, Sly's series may do good in both areas (which is nothing unique as Jak 3 pulled this off to actually), but are its areas good enough to surpass Jak's and Ratchet's best respectively? While Sly is a good game series, overall its gameplay does not surpass Ratchet's (or Jak's) and its story does not surpass Jak's (honestly not sure about Ratchet's though). Sly still losses (is inferior) in both main fields, so the best of both worlds doesn't do it any good, since the other series also have the best of both worlds, overall (as a series).

Edited May 2, 2017 by Jak

[ASSASSIN-987_]

In your opinion, yes.

I just felt Jak 2 took the series to a whole new level and was a more solid game than the third, but Jak 3 had a better ending to me. I unfortunately only played about an hour of the first one , so I can't really comment on that.

[Goro]

My poll shows Ratchet & Clank is much favored over Jak & Daxter - https://psnprofiles.com/forums/topic/9220-ratchet-clank-or-jak-daxter/

Edited July 18, 2015 by Goro

[cuckie]

1. Jak

2. Ratchet 

3. Sly

 

Thats my order, but I do love all 3 of them although jak and ratchet are quite far above sly for me.

[Jak]

I just felt Jak 2 took the series to a whole new level and was a more solid game than the third, but Jak 3 had a better ending to me. I unfortunately only played about an hour of the first one , so I can't really comment on that.

 

This is only the case because of the change from the first game. There wasn't too much more Jak 3 could have done, especially since Jak's games was treated as a trilogy and since Jak 3 was given one year of development, to take the series to yet another big level. Like, in general, how many third games do this, without changing characters and the main hub?? Naughty Dog themselves couldn't do it with all 3 of their main series (even though Crash was technically never theirs). The truth is 2nd installments in a trilogy always have this advantage (of being the most different or making the most changes), while the third games are at a disadvantage (and suffer from so much having been put into the 2nd installment - second installments being worked on as if it was the last in some series). 

 

Jak 3 was definitely the more solid game, especially since it was partially designed to have more similar elements and aspects to that of the highly critically acclaimed first game. Jak 3 did a lot of similar things to the first game. This is a huge plus for it, as people heavily loved the first game. Jak II is realistically and rationally the weakest and less solid game in the series: It has the worst camera, has a poorly handled but not broken checkpoint system, a confusing and overwhelming big city (which I had mastered several times, so this is proof of no bias), ridiculous traffic (although is not as bad as most people have claimed it to be), some of the heavier zoomers had bad handling (I compared this to Jak 3 and they tweaked it good enough for it to look bad in Jak II), the game was too long and dragged out especially, which part of this is tied to the main hub's layout, and there were some plot-holes and story elements they didn't exactly fully handle right from the first game. (Jak II is not excused for Naughty Dog originally not having intended for Jak and Daxter: TPL becoming successful enough to warrant sequels. Was pretty dumb for them to think that anyway, considering how great their Crash series did previously. They had 2 years of development for Jak II, they could have avoided some of the plotholes, especially given how they ended the first game.. in a pre-caution kind of way if they were ever to do a sequel in the future.)

Jak 3 didn't suffer from the plot-holes (there was just more vagueness and non-explained phenomenons) and other things as much, because third games in a trilogy are mostly suppose to fix that of what the previous game did wrong or needed work on, which Jak 3 mostly did... improving upon everything: zoomer controls, improved Jetboard all around, better OST (no copy paste certain sections of a main battle track into other tracks.. Jak II was notorious for this no matter how great it sounded and came out), better and more gameplay, character development.. as I said.. everything pretty much. Only thing Jak 3 failed at was having as big a story as Jak II (which isn't a big deal considering this game was the closing and conclusion of the trilogy (Jak II had already put so much in the story) and the story was actually still good, especially with it lighting up some questions and mysteries from the first game), a certain relationship between 2 characters if we're really going to count that, and a certain character's role being too lacking in the game. 

 

 

 

My poll shows Ratchet & Clank is much favored over Jak & Daxter - https://psnprofiles.com/forums/topic/9220-ratchet-clank-or-jak-daxter/

 

Um. Obviously a lot of people have considered some of Ratchet's games on last gen and this gen. That's pretty damn obvious man. And with Jak II having been handled a certain way, not only has Jak 3 been avoided and not played by many people (thus giving Ratchet the favored and unfair votes), but Jak II had enough strong game design flaws (really only the checkpoint system was "that bad" tbh. The lack of straff/aiming is stupid'ish, and the other flaws can be overlooked) enough to make most people not finish it, sell it, and even break it. So there's some unfair advantages here that Ratchet has, so of course he'd be in the league, especially with his immense and incomparable amount of installments.

 

The thread would be more tolerable if it was about the trilogies solely.

Edited July 21, 2015 by Mar

[ZeroXOF]

I think Jak and Daxter is pretty but after playing the superior Banjo and K games, it felt inferior to me. I do hope ND release a number 4 or reboot the series. 

[kdogg_gamer_]

Jak and Daxter is my childhood, I think all of them get better and improve upon the story (I am not counting the last J& The Final Frontier). I have never played Sly or Ratchet (although it is on my backlog), but I just remember buying the J&D series at Walmart and find the first one hard because it was the first game I played that didn't use the D-pad to move, instead it was the analog sticks. It is forever in my heart, and besides Naughty Dog is my favorite game developer of all time. 

[Jak]

Jak and Daxter is my childhood, I think all of them get better and improve upon the story (I am not counting the last J& The Final Frontier). I have never played Sly or Ratchet (although it is on my backlog), but I just remember buying the J&D series at Walmart and find the first one hard because it was the first game I played that didn't use the D-pad to move, instead it was the analog sticks. It is forever in my heart, and besides Naughty Dog is my favorite game developer of all time. 

 

It's Jak and Daxter: The Lost Frontier. I'm not correcting you for personal satisfaction or because i'm some grammar nazi, i'm correcting you so that you and others are talking about a game that actually exist, and for future situations where someone may look up this game (for whatever reasons: research, curiosity, etc), or mention it to someone to buy or whatever (and that other person ends up not finding a game with that name). I'm only a grammar nazi when someone's grammar is unforgivably horrible or when they make crucial mistakes in what seems to be aimed correction in grammar.

 

The main thing I want to briefly state however is that this game actually did improve upon some things the past series didn't or needed to be added. 

 

Improvements:

- While the story was not better as a whole, a game in the series needed to establish and show the location of the actual Eco Core, the thing responsible for Jak using all his eco powers, transforming, and whatever else eco from their world was being used for. The first game came the closest to this with the 4 eco Vent Switches, which were respectively responsible for activating colored eco vents around the world, but it was still not the same-thing or as important as the eco core. This game, Jak and Daxter: The Lost Frontier, finally did this.

 

- Jak's relationship with Eco got immensely better. Alongside the return of colored eco and using and manipulating the 4 different types into various different powers (far, far, far beyond that of the first game-- one power per eco type with the exception of blue having had 2 roles/powers), Jak not only learned how to recover eco over-time - naturally - instead of needing vents and enemies' dead particles to use his eco abilities which this aspect being that of what gave Jak a fighting chance against Ratchet in a hypothetical death battle but he also learned some-thing called Eco skills. Eco skills are abilities that enhance eco powers and gave Jak access to some eco related moves that doesn't even consume his stamina, meaning he can use some eco powered moves that would never drain his eco energy (something else that gave him an advantage in a hypothetical death battle with Ratchet). Some of these powers/skills is a grabbing move (Life Siphon) that allows Jak to drain an enemies' life energy anytime he successfully melees another living thing (with any melee attack), using his default Spinkick, which is powered by blue eco (Spin diffuse), to deflect majority of bullets (because of Jak's default strength plus the added spin speed of the blue eco), and a yellow eco fire ball (Energy punch - yes the actual same yellow eco ball move from the first game) coming from his fist every time he punches (including uppercuts).. just to name a few of many (none of these require his stamina/eco/energy to be used).

 

My personal favorite is recovering eco over-time, as this makes Jak the proper super hero type character he is where he recovers his powers the more he's not in action or battle. This is one overlook and missed character development Naughty Dog failed to implement with Jak in II and 3. With Jak 3 (most) especially, this should have been added.

 

Note: None of these components are associated with the "cheat" features in Jak's series. These are all solid game-play aspects that Jak learns over the course of the game. (I made this known for a reason.. Jak is becoming OP legitimately).

 

- Dark Daxter. As odd an improvement as this may sound, it does make Daxter's character more useful (damn, can you imagine how much more deadly this duo has gotten now?), especially as a sidekick. It also is highly possible that DD is the first Dark Maker who we've seen in their true form, although Daxter is possibly the 1st stage of a Dark Maker before they are evolved into something more full or final over the course of time with the dark eco infused in him). Yes, the dark makers in Jak 3 are not their true form.

 

I'm not saying I agree with this formation and execution, i'm just saying what it did for Daxter's character, beneficial wise.

 

- The Gun-staff. Jak has been getting older, and a staff was the right addition to give to an older character, acknowledging that fact. Samos, Sig, Damas, and other older characters have staffs. This also made Jak's character more badass, as staffs are (most of the time) better weapons than guns, especially when the have fire-power.

 

 

It's possible I may have missed a thing or two, but those improvements listed above are proof of the pro's and welcomed and needed installment of The Lost Frontier into the series. Jak became better and stronger in this game overall. The developers who worked on this game didn't include his transformations, but it was partially explained why he could not transform. In conclusion, The Lost Frontier is heavily underrated, heavily overlooked (did I use this word right?), is an actual essential installment to the series, is not that bad of a game (only is mostly bad in comparison to it's prequels but as a standalone game is a little above ok - reviews agree), and is not as bad as people say as well as not worthy of buying. (I can list the game's flaws and short comings, but that is another topic best not started in this same reply.)

Edited July 21, 2015 by Mar

[wildstwawberries]

 

It's Jak and Daxter: The Lost Frontier. I'm not correcting you for personal satisfaction or because i'm some grammar nazi, i'm correcting you so that you and others are talking about a game that actually exist, and for future situations where someone may look up this game (for whatever reasons: research, curiosity, etc), or mention it to someone to buy or whatever (and that other person ends up not finding a game with that name). I'm only a grammar nazi when someone's grammar is unforgivably horrible or when they make crucial mistakes in what seems to be aimed correction in grammar.

 

The main thing I want to briefly state however is that this game actually did improve upon some things the past series didn't or needed to be added. 

 

Improvements:

- While the story was not better as a whole, a game in the series needed to establish and show the location of the actual Eco Core, the thing responsible for Jak using all his eco powers, transforming, and whatever else eco from their world was being used for. The first game came the closest to this with the 4 eco Vent Switches, which were respectively responsible for activating colored eco vents around the world, but it was still not the same-thing or as important as the eco core. This game, Jak and Daxter: The Lost Frontier, finally did this.

 

- Jak's relationship with Eco got immensely better. Alongside the return of colored eco and using and manipulating the 4 different types into various different powers (far, far, far beyond that of the first game-- one power per eco type with the exception of blue having had 2 roles/powers), Jak not only learned how to recover eco over-time - naturally - instead of needing vents and enemies' dead particles to use his eco abilities which this aspect being that of what gave Jak a fighting chance against Ratchet in a hypothetical death battle but he also learned some-thing called Eco skills. Eco skills are abilities that enhance eco powers and gave Jak access to some eco related moves that doesn't even consume his stamina, meaning he can use some eco powered moves that would never drain his eco energy (something else that gave him an advantage in a hypothetical death battle with Ratchet). Some of these powers/skills is a grabbing move (Life Siphon) that allows Jak to drain an enemies' life energy anytime he successfully melees another living thing (with any melee attack), using his default Spinkick, which is powered by blue eco (Spin diffuse), to deflect majority of bullets (because of Jak's default strength plus the added spin speed of the blue eco), and a yellow eco fire ball (Energy punch - yes the actual same yellow eco ball move from the first game) coming from his fist every time he punches (including uppercuts).. just to name a few of many (none of these require his stamina/eco/energy to be used).

 

My personal favorite is recovering eco over-time, as this makes Jak the proper super hero type character he is where he recovers his powers the more he's not in action or battle. This is one overlook and missed character development Naughty Dog failed to implement with Jak in II and 3. With Jak 3 (most) especially, this should have been added.

 

Note: None of these components are associated with the "cheat" features in Jak's series. These are all solid game-play aspects that Jak learns over the course of the game. (I made this known for a reason.. Jak is becoming OP legitimately).

 

- Dark Daxter. As odd an improvement as this may sound, it does make Daxter's character more useful (damn, can you imagine how much more deadly this duo has gotten now?), especially as a sidekick. It also is highly possible that DD is the first Dark Maker who we've seen in their true form, although Daxter is possibly the 1st stage of a Dark Maker before they are evolved into something more full or final over the course of time with the dark eco infused in him). Yes, the dark makers in Jak 3 are not their true form.

 

I'm not saying I agree with this formation and execution, i'm just saying what it did for Daxter's character, beneficial wise.

 

- The Gun-staff. Jak has been getting older, and a staff was the right addition to give to an older character, acknowledging that fact. Samos, Sig, Damas, and other older characters have staffs. This also made Jak's character more badass, as staffs are (most of the time) better weapons than guns, especially when the have fire-power.

 

 

It's possible I may have missed a thing or two, but those improvements listed above are proof of the pro's and welcomed and needed installment of The Lost Frontier into the series. Jak became better and stronger in this game overall. The developers who worked on this game didn't include his transformations, but it was partially explained why he could not transform. In conclusion, The Lost Frontier is heavily underrated, heavily overlooked (did I use this word right?), is an actual essential installment to the series, is not that bad of a game (only is mostly bad in comparison to it's prequels but as a standalone game is a little above ok - reviews agree), and is not as bad as people say as well as not worthy of buying. (I can list the game's flaws and short comings, but that is another topic best not started in this same reply.)

Wait, are you saying that game was good?

Edited July 27, 2015 by EpicTrollBlox

[Jak]

Wait, are you saying that game was good?

 

I'd say a little above average, since as a late PS2 game made two years after the PS3 was released, it was pretty underwhelming fpr the year it was released. My main point is that this game is not "as bad" as most people claim, and most review support this. It was always the fans who highly criticized this game and gave it very poor scores aka biased. Being the weakest game in the series or an inferior sequel to its prequels doesn't make it the worst (weakest) game in the world, the worst game ever made, or a bad game standalone.

Edited July 27, 2015 by Mar

[MMDE]

I want a Tombi! HD trilogy!

 

Jak and Daxter was great.

Jak 2 was a step in the wrong direction and so much lost potential.

Jak 3 tries to fix up Jak 2, but introduced new issues.

Jak X was garbage with serious memory card glitches.

Ratchet & Clank 1, great game.

Ratchet & Clank 2, even better game.

Ratchet & Clank 3, I think it went in a bit wrong direction here, IMO the weakest of the three.

Sly 1, okay old-school 3D platformer, nothing special.

Sly 2, really good game that really took advantage of it's "heist" genre.

Sly 3, I feel they ruined the story a bit, got more repetitive and more of a chore IMO, but better than the first game.

Edited July 27, 2015 by MMDE

[Elliot]

TL;DR: Ratchet (3, 1, 2) > Jak (1, 3, 2) > Sly (1, 3, 2)

 

This thread is really interesting to read through, almost no-one has the same opinion, which to me indicates that all the games have strengths and compelling reasons to like them, so kudos to Insomniac, Naughty Dog and Sucker Punch for making nine awesome games between them.

 

For me, I think the Ratchet series is the most enjoyable, with 3 being the best, then 1, then 2 - the level and weapon design, controls and story were by far the best in 3, and the level design was pretty weak in 2. 1 keeps it simple and is streamlined and always fun, even if not filled with absolutely killer moments.

 

Next is Jak, with 1 being the best, then 3, then 2. 1 is just pure 3D platforming joy with beautiful art design, 3 has some great level design and the vehicles are quite fun, but 2 was a frustrating game to play through and the atmosphere was distinctly off.

 

Last is Sly, with 1 being the best, then 3, then 2 again. 1 wins for much the same reasons - it's an exquisite 3D platformer, it lasts exactly as long as it needs to, has a brilliant set of core mechanics and some decent mini-games to vary things up. To me, 2 and 3 were too fragmented in their design - you spend hardly any time playing as Sly, and most of the other characters aren't really fun to play at all. 2 and 3 both went on way too long, with 2 taking well over 12 hours to play through, it was just a horrible chore to play through.

 

Of course, all of that is just my opinion, but people have been giving some interesting explanations and I thought I'd add mine to the pile!

[wildstwawberries]

I'd say a little above average, since as a late PS2 game made two years after the PS3 was released, it was pretty underwhelming fpr the year it was released. My main point is that this game is not "as bad" as most people claim, and most review support this. It was always the fans who highly criticized this game and gave it very poor scores aka biased. Being the weakest game in the series or an inferior sequel to its prequels doesn't make it the worst (weakest) game in the world, the worst game ever made, or a bad game standalone.

I'd buy it if it was cheaper