Tuesday, September 7
Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy was a game developed by Naughty Dog and published by SCEA in 2001. It is a 3D platformer that follows the story of the primary protagonist Jak, who is silent, and Daxter, who is Jak’s friend. Technically the story revolves around Daxter, but the player takes the role of Jak.
Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy was played on the PS2
- Story -
Jak and Daxter isn’t a game with a predominantly strong story. When the game starts you are thrust into a cut scene without notice and introduced to many characters that will not actually make an appearance until much later into the game. But this does introduce the main characters and actually starts the player onto their path. At the beginning Daxter actually falls into a pit of dark eco (evil energy) and is transformed into a small furry creature (aka Ottsel). Jak and Daxter then return home to get advice from a sage, who is their mentor, on what to do with Daxter. This starts you on a journey across the world to meet some people that may be able to change Daxter back to his former self.
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| Jak & Daxter. If only they looked this good for real |
After that point in the story you are shoved into the role of gaining power cells that you need. Now the player is without story progression for quite some time. This is one of the major drawbacks of Jak and Daxter. The game has very short scenes that move the story forward and then the player is told repeatedly that they have to get more and more power cells. It is not until the very end that they game decides it would like to actually start having a story.
Without the story the game will eventually become sluggish and raise the question of why the player is still… playing. It seems like no progress is being made until far to late and that hurts the story greatly.
-- Story Score = 3 / 10
- Visuals -
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| Unfortunately these are the graphics. |
Being a game from 2001, nobody can expect the highest and most technologically advanced visuals. With that said they are still quite good. No the game doesn’t have wide screen support, but it does actually look pretty nice. It is very clean and the art style works extremely well for the game. Along with that the game touts the fact that there is technically no loading screens. In some areas there are some pauses when passing to the next area (meaning the game doesn’t move, but you can still see it). So there are still loading sections in the game, but they are rare (only a small number are in the game, possibly 2 or 3 times that it happens) and when they happen they only last for many a two seconds, tops.
For the visual quality of the game and the technical performance, the game is just outstanding.
-- Visual Score = 9 / 10
- Game Play -
Jak and Daxter does game play quite good, but not absolutely outstanding in any way. The combat in the game is quite good, with very easy to use controls that are responsive, to a degree. In combat the controls are responsive, but jumping is a slightly different story. For the most part the slight unresponsiveness of the double jump doesn’t affect the game, but there are parts that become frustrating because of it.
One slight problem during game play is the tasks the player has to do. In each area most of them are achieved the same way. It wouldn’t be as bad if the game had some direction, story wise, but since it doesn’t it does become slightly mind numbing.
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| Must collect eggs! |
There are a few different types of game play. For the majority of the game it will be on foot and be plat-forming. And for the most part these are great. To change up the experience of the on foot game play the game even throws in some special powers like fire and lightning speed, and these times are just great. But then there are also vehicle sections. Most of the vehicle sections are fine. At parts of the game you must go from point A to point B and these are timed, in their own way, but are fairly easy and a fun change of pace. But then there is one part of the game world that is vehicle only and is quite possibly the worst section in the game. While the vehicles control fine in a controlled one way space, in the 3D level it just doesn’t work quite as well.
The problems that show up in game play don’t affect enough of the game to make it bad, but it still is bothersome when experienced and depending on the person it could make quite an un-enjoyable experience.
-- Game Play Score = 7 / 10
- Multiplayer -
There is no multiplayer in Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy
-- Multiplayer Score = N/A
- Presentation -
Jak and Daxter presents itself quite well in most of its ways. Everything that is present in the game is quite fantastic, but the game is just lacking in content. The voice acting and sound is a great example. The voice acting in the game is just fantastic, especially from the voice actor of Daxter. However even with the great voice acting of Daxter it falls slightly short when no response comes from Jak… ever. Having Jak be speechless in the entire game makes many of the conversations slightly one sided and do hurt the give and take which would help develop the character we are playing.
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| At least a change in gameplay and scenery. |
This is the same problem with the cut scenes. The ones in the game are great. They are done well, but there needs to be more of them. With the amount there is the story progresses far too slowly.
There is one thing the game just does great. Sometimes when the player, Jak, dies Daxter will talk to you just before the game resets to a checkpoint. Many of the things Daxter says are either jokes, and are funny, or just silly things. The things Daxter says along with the great voice acting almost made me want to keep dieing just to hear them.
Now there is no denying that what the game has is absolutely fantastic. That alone makes this game worth playing at least once.
-- Presentation Score = 7 / 10
Final Section Scoring
- Story = 3 / 10
- Visuals = 9 / 10
- Game Play = 7 /10
- Multiplayer = N/A
- Presentation = 7 /10
While this game is by far my least favorite of the three primary Jak and Daxter titles, it is still quite fun and a necessary game to play prior to the other two. Even with its problems it is still a very enjoyable experience that any fan of 3D platforming can enjoy.
Average Total Scoring
- Average Score = 6.5 / 10
Total Time Spent To Complete Single Player
- Roughly 8 hours
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As a final note I would like to add that the scoring system might not be entirely accurate. It is more in place as a brief overview of my experience, but if you want to fully know what I thought about the game then the actual written portion of the review must be read.
