Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy is one of the best 3D platforming games ever made.
It's bright, it's entertaining and it's so well designed, that only a legendary game
developer like Naughty Dog could pull it off.
It was originally released in 2001, but now it's on the PS4.
Jak and Daxter are two teenagers who travel to the mysterious Misty island, where they
witness evil going on.
When Daxter falls into a pool of Dark ooze, he's transformed into an Ottsel, which is
a combination of an otter and a weasel.
The quest is then on to transform Daxter back to normal and to stop the evil from taking
over the land.
So the tone always maintains this cheeky, cartoony feel throughout and even though the
end of the world may be looming, it always keeps things feeling lighthearted.
Jak strangely remains mute throughout the game, I guess trying to be the traditional
silent protagonist.
But he makes a stark contrast to Daxter, who usually has plenty to say.
Thankfully though most of his yapping is done just in the cut scenes, so we don't have to
listen to him rattle on throughout the gameplay, which is a relief . Plus it's refreshing that
the other characters in the game seem to find him just as annoying as the player does, so
it's almost like we're in on the joke too and fit in with everyone else in the world
in hating Daxter.
The PS4 version of the game looks great, with 1080p up-rendering.
Plus it comes with all of the trophies and fixes that were done to the PS3 version of
the game.
However other than for die hard fans, there's nothing really new here to warrant purchasing
it again.
But for those who perhaps have never played it or for those who want an easy way to play
it again without having to dust off an old console, I highly recommend trying this one
out.
Essentially most of the game is about exploring a bunch of different areas, each filled with
a series of different puzzles and minigames to complete, in order to earn power cells.
You may have to do anything from fishing, herding cows, racing a zoomer and of course
plenty of platforming.
The gameplay variety here, really is one of the game's greatest strengths, as you never
know what to expect next and never get bored with having to do the same thing too many times.
In order to progress to the next set of worlds, you need to collect a certain number of power
cells.
And there are plenty to collect, so say someone just wants to play through the story, then
they can just do the bare minimum in order to advance.
If you need 25 power cells to get to the next area, then you can just earn 25 and move on.
But for any completionists out there, there is a lot more to do.
As well as the power cells, there's also 7 strange spy flies to collect, plus thousands
of eggs to pick up.
So it does a good job of catering for everyone, no matter how much or how little you want
to do.
If you're not enjoying a particular task, then there's no need to struggle at it, because
there's plenty of other tasks that you can do so you can just skip it and try your hand
at something else.
It keeps the pacing of the game going along nicely, almost as if it's like a sandbox game
where it's kind of up to you when you want to move on and do something else.
This also gives some good incentive to go back and explore older areas, because there's
a good chance that you may have missed something.
In fact, on completing the game I went back to explore and even came across an entire
boss that I had missed the first time round.
Obviously you can't skip everything in the game and that's why there's these targets
put in place, with things like you need 45 power cells to lift a boulder that's blocking
the way.
These targets do actually provide some incentive for you to try a little bit harder than you
might otherwise, especially if you're very close to finishing a task, but not quite there.
For example, if you're only a few seconds away from beating the track record in this
zoomer race, then sure, you can skip it and go on to do something else.
But it makes you think, maybe you're going to be stuck for power cells later on, and
presumably then the trials are going to be harder.
So perhaps it's worth persevering now, seeing as how it may save time later.
As it turns out the levels don't necessarily get much harder, but they do get much bigger.
Stepping into one for the first time is kind of like in an RPG when you enter a new town
and just see hundreds of side quests pop up from all the different townsfolk.
It's like being given the keys to a new playground, with lots different areas to explore and new
jobs to complete.
The characters here that give some of the quests
are all interesting and filled with personality.
The tasks that they give are sometimes interesting, although for some reason too often they simply
want you to give them 90 eggs.
And this happens a lot.
And why even 90?
100 would seem the more obvious, rounded number- I wonder if there is a reason behind it?
Anyway, Naughty Dog did a great job of making all of the different areas feel alive, with
no loading times between them and even a weather and day/ night cycle to make it feel more
like a real environment rather than just a stage in a game.
Judging distances can often be tricky in a 3D platforming game, but here it's made a
lot easier by the use of your shadow as a guideline as to where you're going to land.
Overall, the controls, with your jumping and climbing all feel great- almost like an early
build of an Uncharted game.
The timing of the double jump may take a bit of getting used to and there is the occasional
platform which you feel like you should be able to jump onto, but can't and this is a
little disappointing, because it kind of breaks the immersion, when what works in one area,
for no good reason, doesn't work in another.
Jak and Daxter is a well crafted platformer, that always has you doing something different.
It controls well, making it a world that you want to jump straight back into, even after
completing it- just to collect a few more of those eggs.
And any game that makes you WANT to hundred percent it, must be doing something right.
Until next time, thanks for watching.