tommy_lop's Full Review: Jak And Daxter for PlayStation 2
I got Jak and Daxter for the PS2 last week at gamestop when I found it for about 8 dollars. I always wanted to give it a spin so I decided to purchase it. Jak and Daxter is a platforming game from Naughty dog and anybody who as ever played Banjo Kazooie should know there is a lot of inspiration from it in this game.
Story.
Samos the sage as study the wonders of a magic called Eko that covers the world for several years. But two boys Jak and Daxter never listen to his advice when it comes to staying away from Misty Isle. When they are attacked by monsters called lurkers during there latest trip Daxter falls into a batch of dark eco and turns into a furry squirrel thing while trying to escape. Now they must journey to the north to find the one sage with any knowledge of turning Daxter back to normal.
While the story is a bit on the lean side there is plenty of humor especially from Daxter. Daxter is never short of an opinion or a wise crack when you meet people and his mean sense of humor will definitely give you a laugh. He also cracks insults when Jak falls down after dying. He says things like “Can I have your insect collection”, and “while your down there can you rub my feet”.
Graphics.
The game is an older PS2 game it does show a bit in the character design, plenty of hard edge characters in the game and models. That said the environments are huge and the surroundings aren’t bad to look at either. What surprised me the most for a PS2 game and an older one at that is the lack of slow downs and load times. Jak and Daxters worlds are huge and there are no load times when you enter a new area. The only times I ran into a lengthy load time was when I used teleporter gates to jump across a long distance in the game. Also the camera angels in the game for the most part also seem to behave themselves for a 3rd person platforming games so there was very few times I died because of the camera.
Sound.
The sound in the game is also good with the music fitting each environment perfectly and being quite catchy to. The voices in the game are ok for a video game, the characters you meet along the road are given ok voices. While the main ones are a bit better, Daxter of course gets the most line out of everyone in the game and he is voiced by an actor who played on Doogie Houser. Is voice can get annoying but then Daxter is supposed to be a bit of an annoying character.
Gameplay.
Jak and Daxter is definitely expired by Banjo Kazooie in the gameplay department as well. But there are enough differences to keep people entertain and not feel like a total knock off. One thing that Jak and Daxter gets right is that they don’t require you to collect as much stuff to get to places in the game.
Basically and each area of the game your mission is to collect power cells by accomplishing missions. Power cells can just be hidden in the corner waiting to be found, or you must accomplish a task for a person in order to obtain a power cell. When you get enough power cell your able to power up a device that lets you move on to the next area. The worlds in this game are huge and there are plenty of areas where power cells can be hidden so you ever fell like your in a small box.
There are also pre cursor orbs litter through out each area and these can be used as money if a person wants to sell you a power cell rather then give you a fetch quest. Other things that Jak and Daxter will come across on there journeys is different color Ecos. Dark Eco will hurt you (it didn’t do Daxter any good), while green Eco will cure you. Blue makes you run fast and can power up objects like doors and jump pads, Red will strengthen your attack, and Yellow will let you shoot fire balls. Each of these ecos can only be used for a short period of time and are used to get past some of the games puzzle. And of course every platformer these days have to have find the certain objects in order to get the item you really need. In this case it’s scout flies there are seven in each area find all 7 to get a power cell.
Occasionally an area will require Jak to get on a zoomer in order to complete a mission. These missions are more like a mortcylce type game with you have to jump off big ramps and chase things down in order to get a power cell.
There are 2 things in the game though that make Jak and Daxter a bit week and that would be the challenge. Don’t get me wrong there are a lot of tricky power cells and getting them all may take a while but the over all game is easy. Dying regardless of where you are only sends you a few steps back. In fact it wasn’t getting to the end of the stages that I found difficult it was getting out of them because after going through some of the bigger stages I had to crawl out of them because there is no return to hub option in Jak and Daxter and just finding a spot to die in doesn’t get you anywhere.
The 2nd is that you don’t really pick up anything new as far has abilities as you go along the way, if your going to do Banjo Kazooie you can at least make Daxter do something other then crack jokes, Kazooie at least could walk Banjo across tight spots. Luckily Jak as plenty of moves to learn when you start off some tricky moves like the upper cut jump, dodge roll long jump, and the double and spin jump take a while to get down pat and there are plenty of areas where you will need to use these abilities in order to get past.
Final recommendation.
Seeing how game stop sells this one for less then 10 dollars it definitely worth it to try this game. Jak and Daxter may not rewrite the book on plat formers but it is a solid platformer for the money.
Jak's the strong, silent type of hero, while Daxter's an obnoxious comic nut. Enjoy their adventure with a wide range of character animation, unique p...More at QVC
from the creator and developer of the acclaimed top-selling crash bandicoot series comes the next generation in interactive entertainment. expect the ...More at UnbeatableSale, Inc.
titles desc. Actual cover may be greatest hits Jak and Daxter 1 Precursor Legacy PS2 New Playstation 2 List Price: $39.99 System: Sony Playstation 2 (...More at eBay
Epinions.com periodically updates pricing and product information from third-party sources, so some information may be slightly out-of-date. You should confirm all information before relying on it.
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.