25 Best Video Games Of The 2000s

2. Jak II: Renegade

There's a great moment in Naughty Dog's 30th Anniversary art book, where after mentioning they'd produced a string of Crash Bandicoot titles, had developed something of an isolated work ethic, sticking to their guns and getting their heads down to create the first Jak & Daxter. Then GTA III happened, the gaming industry was irrevocably changed, and they quite understandably "looked up".

That game's influence is still endless, but for J&D they noted how the industry felt like it was growing up. Enter Jak II, their openly GTA-inspired left-field turn that kinda came out of nowhere, but one that thanks to their perfected execution when it comes to animation and level design, injected proceedings with one of the best casts of characters, explorable worlds, ability rollouts and overall spit n' polish that still makes it endlessly replayable to this day.

Now Jak had a voice, he was given a gun (or four), a timeless motive (tortured prisoner looks for revenge) and the whole thing was shifted over to Haven City; a futuristic hovercar-filled hovel of smog and broken technology, the place where amidst the throws of a revolution he'd play a key role. Gameplay was expanded on, you got everything from a Dark Eco 'rage mode' to a Tony Hawk's-style hoverboard, more missions and characters than any of ND's previous games, and a feeling that every inch of the game's world was put together by a group of people at the collective height of their careers.