Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy

Naughty Dog, a company that makes games exclusively for the PlayStation 2, delivered a worthy replacement for the loss of their great Crash Bandicoot series with Jak And Daxter: The Precursor Legacy. I own this game and I love it.

Made in the vein of a Disney cartoon, and featuring some good voice acting, led by Max Casella of "Doogie Howser" fame, the story is about Daxter falling into a vat of black eco and turning from the elf-like creature he was into a otter/weasel combination. His strong but silent friend Jak and he must find the only person who can turn Daxter back. So in a game that blows away what Super Mario 64 first brought in (the huge 3D worlds) Jak and Daxter visit many interconnected worlds to find Power Cels that will allow them to get Daxter returned to normal.

The game features gorgeous graphics, complete with changing times of the day. Great voice acting (Casella delivers some hilarious lines), great gameplay, and plenty of fun. The game is easy to play (you get unlimited lives), constantly saves your progress any time (computer gamers always want that) and challenges you without being cheap. Only the music is a weak spot, with much of it sounding too much like Crash's. One great addition is if Jak and Daxter walk by a character, you will hear them talking to themselves about certain things or the characters themselves. Throw in that the Keira character is one of the spunkiest characters ever created (What? Paige Davis in a video game?!?) and you've got a must-buy. ***** out of *****.

Yes, of the games featuring these characters this one is still my favorite of them all. Granted the story is not as dark, however I as a gamer do not necessarily like my games dark all the time. They made the same mistake in the Prince of Persia saga too, trying to cater to the Grand Theft Auto set of people. This game features two buddies snooping where they should not, the one named Daxter soon falls into a vat of something called dark eco and is transformed into a fuzzier version, granted this does not stop his wisecracking which is the highlight for me for the entire series. Jak is the silent protagonist here and I prefer that a bit more to the talker he becomes. Well Jak and Daxter must navigate the world finding the legendary sages so that they might help not only Daxter, but the world from a dark threat looming in the background. The graphics are great as they really show distance very well. At the beginning you go to an island from the island you can see the mainland, from the mainland you can see the island. The game is filled with areas where you can see in the distance where you must go and where you were. The action is performed via standard platform gaming with your jumping and spin attacks on enemies. The controls are simple and for the most part the game is not the type to make you pull your hair out. The environments are great as you navigate tropical locals, snowy mountain tops, and fire filled mine shafts and you get some top notch boss fights too. It is a shame they did not stick to this formula for future games though. Not that the others are bad, but they just do not match this one in fun.

This game is packed with things to do and also a nice introduction to more open world adventure games for kids! It's a family friendly game that I've played as a kid and as an adult and was enjoyable both times!

Jak and daxter is brilliant platformer, it has great controls, visuals, music, acting, cutscenes, pacing, variety, locations and a solid if basic story. The game has a banjo koozie structure where you collect power cells, to progress further into the game and orbs which allow you buy more of them etc. The villains tho are kinda bland and not well developed and not being able to play as daxter is kinda weird to since its called jk and daxter. The vechles control really well and it's challenging but doesn't go to far for first time players, theres no loading throughtout the game to which is impressive and camera is pretty good to. Give this game try and it goes to show that looks can be deceving.

2 Thumbs Way, Way, Way UP! 5 Stars or higher!

This games has it all: Action; Romance; Adventure; and Cute, Fuzzy Creatures that want to eat you. I swear, it's the best Play Station 2 game ever created! I hope they make a sequel, a movie, and another version for Game Cube. What? They did that with Sonic Adventure 2, why not this?