Jak II/Slums

Mission: Escape from Fortress

Location: Fortress

This is basically a training mission to help you learn the controls and the basics of combat. So Daxter will frequently interrupt you to tell you about performing various moves and actions. In the first few rooms there are no enemies, so take the opportunity to get used to movement and camera controls. If you fall into the pit in the first room you will die, which in this game means that you must start again at the last checkpoint. Press and select Map to view a map of the fortress; it will simplify directions to give them in terms of North, South, East and West.

Locate the boxes under a doorway on the east wall, then hop on top of them. Before going through, follow the ledge left to find the first Precursor Orb in the game. Dexter informs you that these are very rare here. Unlike the previous game though, you don't need to find them to progress through the game, instead you unlock cheats and bonus material with them.

Continue through doorway and turn right. Follow the passage to a hallway, then check on the left for more boxes to scale. Go through the doorway here to a ledge where Daxter introduces you to Krimzon Guard Crates. Hop the platforms north to a ledge where you meet your first enemy, a Krimzon Guard. Follow the ledge right around the room until you reach a gap. Here you must jump to grab onto a horizontal pole, the swing around the pole and jump so you land on the next ledge. Continue to a moving platform and make a hard left to a passage with guards. You then encounter to gaps which you need to use a rolling jump to cross. The first of these has a floor under it but the second only a bottomless pit. Next comes a winding passage where the KG shoot at you from below. Fortunately they are terrible shots and you should be able to get through without much damage. Use a dive attack to break through the floor when you reach the end. Follow the hallway here and break through another floor at the end. You land on a slippery slide and fall into a flooded basement. (There is a difficult to reach Orb in an alcove here; use a combination double jump and kick spin to reach it.) Scale the boxes and ledges on the north wall to find the exit and drop down to ground level.

Mission: Protect Kor and Kid

Location: Haven City (slums)

You are now in a cul-de-sac in the slums of Haven City. Follow the alley to meet an old man with a small boy.

Cutscene: Meeting Kor and the Kid

Jak wants to know where he is but the old man, Kor, tells him that the prison he just escaped from is just part of the larger prison which is Haven City itself. The place is run by Baron Praxis who uses the Krimzon Guard to enforce his rule. Just then the KG appears and tries to arrest everyone, and Kor asks you protect him and the boy until they can make their escape.

Start fighting the guards and after defeating a few of them you become Dark Jak. Though more KG arrive, you should have no problem dealing with them as Dark Jak. (This is the last time you become Dark Jak automatically. From now on use to transform provided you have enough Dark Eco.)

Cutscene: The Underground

Daxter is impressed with Dark Jak's fighting abilities, but there is no time to loiter since more KG arrive, though this time they only want to get you off the street. Kor leaves to hide the child, but before going he directs you to a group of resistance fighters who need your help to defeat the Baron.

Mission: Retrieve Banner from Deadtown

Location: Dead Town

At this point there are few new game mechanics to learn. First, a robot appears to tell you about the city map in the lower right part of the screen. You see a dagger icon now and this points to the resistance HQ. At other points in the game similar icons appear to point you to locations where you can pick up new missions, or direct you to where you need to go to complete a mission once it's been accepted.

You can either walk there, or grab a zoomer to get there faster. There should be a zoomer parked up the alley from where you start, or you can hijack one as it passes overhead. Either way a robotic voice explains a bit about the two levels driving the zoomer. Use the lower level to avoid other zoomers and the upper level to avoid hitting pedestrians and get out of the reach of the KG.

The KG should be in patrol mode now, but if you attack one, or hit one with a zoomer, or hijack one of their vehicles they will go into alert mode. This means they will actively pursue you and attack you on sight. If you can stay out of sight though they eventually give up the search and return to patrol mode. (This system is similar to the wanted stars in the GTA series.)

Follow the icon to the resistance HQ.

Cutscene: Meeting Torn

You ask a blonde woman about Torn as instructed by Kor, but Torn happens to be waiting nearby. Kor has already heard that you want to join the resistance, but refuses to consider it until you've proven yourself. He gives you the task of stealing the baron's banner from a ruined tower to see what you're made of.

The dagger icon on the city map is replaced by an icon of an old building. Follow it to the edge of the city where a gate opens and lets you through to Dead Town, the ruins of an abandoned part of the city.

In case there's any confusion about where you're heading, switch to first person view a look for the golden beam of light that's illuminating the banner in question. It's also shown as a green circle in the area map. From the start, follow the path east and then hop the wooden disks to the south; stay out of the water since it does damage if you touch it. There are easy green reptile enemies to start, and tougher orange ones lager on. Turn right an follow the top of a wall over the water to a small piece of land. Scale the ledges on the far side, then follow more walls and ledges which wind their way east. Scale some more ledges and cross a collapsing bridge to reach the base of the tower. Follow the ledges on the tower right; many of them will collapse soon after you touch them so it's important to keep moving. There are horizontal poles to swing on as in the fortress, but the rest is just hopping ledges until you reach the end. When you've gone completely around the tower you spot the goal, the baron's banner. There is a short cutscene ("Getting the Banner") where you pick it up, but somehow this causes the entire tower to collapse and you land fortuitously in front of Torn who welcomes you to the resistance. Scale the ledges here and retrace your steps back to the area entrance; another golden beam of light points the way. Return to the city to complete the mission.

Mission: Find Pumping Station Valve

Location: Pumping Station

Follow the dagger icon to resistance HQ. Note that there should be a zoomer parked near the Dead Town entrance, and as a general rule there are zoomers parked near most of the level entrances to help speed your way to the next mission. Now that you're in the resistance you can enter the HQ; it's the door with a skull and hammer logo and it opens as you approach.

Cutscene: "Daxter Gets a Mouthful"

Daxter is thirsty after the Dead Town mission, but instead of refreshing water from the faucet he gets a mouthful of brown sludge. Torn says that the baron has turned off the water in an effort to flush out the resistance. He adds that slum dwellers and the resistance will be grateful if you could manage to find the valve in the pumping station and turn the water pack on.

Follow the propeller icon to the northern part of the slums. This is a flooded area with boardwalks constructed over the water. With no streets, it's hard to predict where the zoomers will fly so watch out for collisions. The lower flight level is just above the water, so the boardwalks will block your way if try to use it. Exit the gate at the north edge.

This is a new area and you meet for the first time the main type of enemy for the game, the metal heads. They come in many shapes and sizes, but have one thing in common in that they drop a skull gem when defeated. Collect these when you can since, as will be seen later, you can trade them for additional powers for Dark Jak. Stay out of the deep water here since it's patrolled by a robotic defense system which can kill Jak in one shot. Don't worry about exploring more of the area than you need to now since you will be returning several more times.

Head north from the entrance and use one of the moving pistons to reach the top of a ledge. Roll jump right and follow a series of obstacles including rotating pipes and moving electric fences. Travel north alongside a large plateau and circle around it until you're heading south. The path splits here; follow the upper fork along a ledge which takes you to your goal. There is a short cutscene ("Daxter Rides the Pipes") where Daxter gets sucked into the newly opened pipe and, in a scene reminiscent of a Road Runner cartoon, makes a very painful trip to the spigot near the start. You are returned to a point close to the entrance, so return to the city to complete the mission.

Mission: Blow Up Ammo at Fortress

Location: Fortress

Reward: Red pass (middle)

At this point you should have an icon which leads you to the oracle. This is where you can trade skull gems for new Dark Jak powers. A new mission to visit the oracle appears when you have enough gems to trade, but these don't appear on the permanent log and when you get them depends on how many gems you pick up. So they will be covered in another section of this guide rather than the walkthrough.

You may also notice holographic signs with the resistance logo around. These begin mini-missions to race through rings, quickly locate an Orb, or complete some similar minigame. The reward for these is additional Orbs but they are not part of the main story so they will be covered elsewhere.

Follow the dagger icon to resistance HQ.

Cutscene: "Torn and the Ammo Dump"

Torn thanks you for restoring the water, but still refuses to introduce you to the resistance leader, code named the Shadow, Meanwhile, the underground has located an ammo dump in the Fortress (where you just escaped from 4 missions ago) and he wants you to destroy it. Daxter is somewhat reluctant but as far as Jak is concerned it's worth doing if it hurts the baron.

Follow the castle icon to the Fortress; this time we're entering through the front door on the east side. This game has some difficulty spikes and the next section is one of the most notorious, though by no means the most notorious. Not that it's difficult compared to some of the other missions, but considering its position near the start of the game it will be very challenging and even frustrating for players who haven't mastered the platforming skills needed to get through it.

Go through the doorway on the left; this triggers the large, spiky bulldozer to start chasing you. If it catches up to you then the spikes will get you so you have to keep moving. Meanwhile it points its red laser reticle at you. When the reticle stops moving it means that the bulldozer is about to fire, so dodge or jump to avoid taking damage. While avoiding the bulldozer, navigate the ledges and gaps along the far side of the room to reach another room on the right.

The bulldozer is still chasing you and now you must cross a narrow bridge with laser beams visible near the floor. Hop over the beams as much as possible since every time you touch one it activates one of the turret guns next to the bridge.

Past this are some ledges and a horizontal beam which allows you to reach a higher level. You come out on a catwalk but the bulldozer soon breaks through the wall below you and will take potshots at you. Get the KG crates here since there is a well needed health pack. Beyond are two sets of rotating platforms with an electric field blocking the doorway on the far side. It's not immediately clear what you need to do next but eventually Daxter gives the hint that you need to break the tubes, meaning the glowing tubes at the top of the pillars supporting the rotating platforms. (Apparently Daxter did learn a few things in the two years he spent looking for you.) Do this and the electric field disappears. Note there are more KG crates on the left and one of these has another health pack. If you fall down to the level below the bulldozer will be waiting for you, but in this relatively open area it's easy to dodge its attacks. In this case go back and get to the upper level as before, but more easily without the bulldozer hounding you.

At last you've reached an area where the bulldozer can't reach you. There is a checkpoint here so you won't have to run the bulldozer's gauntlet again. Hop over the moving platforms, defeat the guards, and get through the spiky floor obstacles. Break through the floor to the next floor down, then ride the conveyor belt to a moving platform. Hop over to a ledge and up to a slightly higher level, then follow another conveyor belt to finally reach the door to your destination.

Cutscene: "Metal Heads in the City?"

You spot a security pass and pick it up, This allows you to pass through red checkpoints so you can explore the port and industrial areas south of the slums. Then you witness a meeting between some metal heads and come Krimzon Guards. For some reason the KG are giving Eco to the metal heads. But, as you may have noticed, with all the spikes and moving platforms you were actually circling around toward where you left the bulldozer, and here it is again.

The bulldozer is very easy to deal with here; it's a large area and there is a missile in the middle of the room you can use for cover. The ammo is here so what you need to do now is destroy it. The idea is to trick the bulldozer, which will keep shooting at you regardless, into shooting the ammo crates next to the central structure. But for some reason the ammo crates have been tied in with the missile's cooling system, so then the crates have been destroyed the whole system overheats and you have 10 seconds to get to the exit. If you make it there is a short cutscene ("Fire in the Hole!") where you escape the explosion in bullet time, landing back in Haven City.