Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy
PlayStation 2
I first played this game back in 2002. I vaguely remember there being a little bit of gameplay on a demo disc that came with my new PlayStation 2. My initial reaction was amazement, as the game looked a thousand times better than anything seen on the PS1. Compare, for example, a screenshot of Croc or Jersey Devil with a screenshot of this game. You can see that a massive, massive leap in technology had occurred when going from the PS1 to PS2.
I ended up buying this game shortly thereafter. I really enjoyed it from start to finish. I would end up revisiting it and beating it a couple of times over the years. My memories of the game have been nothing but positive. I would play the sequels as well, but I was always lukewarm on them. To me, the original Jak and Daxter has always been the pinnacle of the series.
My last time playing through this game was back in 2012. So it's been a good 13 years since my last playthrough of Jak and Daxter. What better time than now, as I clear out my backlog, to come back to it and add it to my list of games completed and reviewed? Let's dive in.
I've never been overly concerned with the story of this game. You play as Jak. He has a small, annoying companion named Daxter. When the duo venture to an island they've been warned to stay away from, Daxter falls into a pool of "dark ico" and is transformed into a tiny, orange animal that resembles a weasel or an otter. The game's Wiki refers to him as an "ottsel."
Jak and Daxter embark on a journey to find the sage that can turn Daxter back into a human. In order to advance on their journey, they must collect power cells. These power cells power the shield for Jak and Daxter's motorcycle thingie as it races through volcanic territory. At the end of the game, Jak and Daxter must rescue the sages from Gol and Maia - the game's bad guys. Gol and Maia are looking to use the powerful dark ico for their own nefarious purposes.
Once the sages have been freed, they combine their powers to help defeat the bad guys. Unfortunately, the means to turn Daxter back into a human are destroyed in the process. At the end of the game, a mysterious Precursor gate is discovered. I forgot to mention this fact, but the entire game hinges around the idea that there were powerful "Precursors" who used advanced technology, that used to live on this land long before the time of Jak and Daxter.
If you collected all 100 power cells, a secret ending is unlocked where the gate is opened, and a mysterious light shines behind it. If you don't have 100 cells, you are unable to open the gate and the game ends with them just being like "hmm I wonder what this thing is?'
Gameplay:
I was a little hesitant to step back into the world of Jak and Daxter. But very quickly, all concerns over the game "aging poorly" evaporated. This game is a blast. It's easy to pick up and play. The controls are simple. It's fun to look at. It sounds good. The whole experience is just very welcoming. I fell down that rabbit hole so darn fast.
For those unfamiliar with the game, it is a 3D platformer. There is a hub world where you can talk to villagers and turn in collectibles for power cells. For a point of reference, power cells essentially act like stars in 3D Mario games. Branching out from the hub world are the game's individual stages. The transition from the hub world to a stage is seamless. No loading times, no stoppage of play. You just walk right into it. Let's say you are in the village and you notice a little path on the beach. Follow that path and you find yourself in the first stage of the game. Definitely one of the smoothest "hub to stage" transitions I've ever seen in a game - and this game does it multiple times.
Each stage is filled with orbs to collect. You can give these orbs to certain NPCs throughout the game in exchange for power cells. You can also turn them in at these big skull totems for additional power cells. The point is, you want to collect as many of these orbs as possible, and use them to collect as many power cells as possible.
Power cells themselves are scattered throughout each stage. There are generally six or seven of them per stage. Again, they act like stars in a Mario game. You can usually collect one for completing a stage-specific task, or by beating a boss character. Each stage also contains boxes with mechanical flies in them. Collect all 7 and you get a power cell. These boxes act like red coins in Super Mario 64 or the Jinjos in Banjo-Kazooie, if you are looking for further points of reference.
The game itself is pretty quick to play through, and not too horribly challenging. You have unlimited lives, and the game is pretty generous with its save points. So you can play as recklessly as you want. If you see a ledge but you aren't sure if you can make it or not, there is nothing stopping you from attempting that jump. Worst case scenario, you die and come back to your most recent checkpoint, which probably was not too far back.
If I had to offer one criticism, it would be how some of the stage objectives are not very clear. Often, you need to collect a power-up or unlock a way forward before you can advance, and the way to do this is to leave your current stage and move onto another one. It's a common thing in Metroidvania games. You see somewhere you can't get to, so you leave and come back later. But there is no indication in THIS game that you ever need to do that. For example, in the first level, there is a platform that you obviously need to activate to get to the next power cell. But in order to do this, you have to leave the stage, gain an additional power, and come back later. But like I said, the game doesn't indicate this. I wasted soooo much time trying to collect that last power cell, when it couldn't even be done anyway. I ended up leaving out of frustration. When the answer became clear later on in the game, I got slightly annoyed that I had wasted so much time on something that couldn't be done.
Slight camera gripes aside, there isn't much else to complain about regarding this game. I had a surprisingly fun time playing through it. "You know what? This is almost a perfect platformer. I can't think of anything bad to say about this game" was something that crossed my mind multiple times playing through it. Even the areas of the game that annoyed me when I was younger (like the bike racing scenes) I found enjoyable this time around. I was almost never not having fun. And that's a testament to this game's strong design.
Before we move on, I want to say that my five year old son Channing was very interested in watching me play. He did not like the cutscenes and thought they were "boring", although he did enjoy the physical comedy surrounding Daxter's transformation. He fell down the rabbit hole with me, telling me to "go there" and "get that!" Finding power cells and watching the characters dance became his favorite part of the game. It's nice that I am finally able to create some gaming memories with my son, even though he still is not interested in playing them himself yet. This game and Far Cry 4 have probably been his favorites so far.
Graphics:
I'm surprised by how well this game looks in present day. It is very sharp. Very bright and colorful. The detail put into the scenery and the landscapes of the game makes this feel like a real cartoon world. And then the character design and animation brings everything to life.
Sound:
This game has some really solid music and sound effects. The stage music is all very well done. I'd hesitate to call it "great" however, because even though I vibed with the music as I was playing, none of it has stuck in my head post-game. What I remember the most is the little jingle that plays when you collect a power cell. I was a fan of that.
I also like all the little noises that Jak makes. "Hya!!" is probably my favorite. The voice acting is good, too. Daxter's off the wall commentary is amusing, and was enough to prompt the occasional laugh from myself or my son.
Overall:
This is such a good game. It has held up tremendously well over the years. Right off the bat, the game sucked me in and got me hooked on it. It is so easy to pick up and play. And it never ceases to bring the fun and amusement. Gameplay is littered with small side quests, like fishing or riding your bike. It helps break up the monotony of the standard 3D gameplay. Not that the gameplay ever gets monotonous. I love exploring these big stages and collecting everything there is to collect. Like I said before, this is almost the perfect platformer.
There are only a few things that keep this game from getting a higher grade. Number one has to be the length of the game. After just one playing session with my son, I noticed that I was at 25% completion already. And we had barely been playing an hour or two. The camera can occasionally get in the way, too, not that this is a major complaint. There is a bit of a difficulty spike at the end of the game, too. Lots of precise platforming is required. Like I said, the game is generous with its checkpoints, and there are no lives to worry about. So even this seems like a minor complaint.
I don't like how you have to collect every single power cell to see the game's true ending. I've probably beaten this game a good four or five times in my life, and I've only bothered with 100% completion one time. It just doesn't seem that important to me, given that the game's true ending doesn't really reveal anything anyway. It just shows the mystery gate open, and a bright light shining behind it. Nothing else. So it is barely worth it.
But all my gripes are minor gripes. This is a truly fun game. I'll probably be playing its sequels in the near future, but I can already tell you that I won't like them as much as this. I've played both of them in the past (a long, long time ago) and I was very "meh" on both of them. So as much as I hate to say it, I've already seen the pinnacle of the series. But oh, what a pinnacle it is.
THE GRADE:
A-
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