Jak & Daxter: The Precursor Legacy

Sounding like the name of a major motion picture or the name of a prescription drug, Jak & Daxter offers up the kind of gaming experience that you will never forget. The environments are huge, the graphics are incredible, the characters are believable, and the level designs are well done. Naughty Dog, just like Shigeru Miyamoto of Nintendo, has a reputation for making great games, and their most recent work only reinforces that reputation.

The game begins as Jak and Daxter are frolicking in a forbidden area off of the coast of their island. The two find out why the area is off limits after Daxter lands in a vat of Dark Eco. This ooze is bad news and it transforms him into a weasel-like rodent known as an Otsel. Both of them realize that if this ooze gets into the wrong hands, the world could be in for a heap of trouble.

After the mishap, Jak returns to his village to seek the advice of Samos Hagai, the village Sage. Jak asks him how to return Daxter to his previously lovable true form. Hagai advises Jak that the wise old Sage is the only one who could possibly transform Daxter back into his original form.

You make your way through the 12 levels each with a Village (hub area) that has two end bosses. There are eight tasks in each level and they are all linked together, with one task having a direct effect on the others. For example, if you open the blue Eco vents you will be able to complete the Beach level, even though you opened the vents in the Jungle level.

As you make your way through the villages, you interact with the townspeople and they will give you hints on what you need to do. Each of the levels in the game has a number of different quests. In one scenario you must put oxen back into the pen for the farmer, your reward--a power cell. Some of the other quests include capturing the Sculpture's yellow cat, or chasing the sea gulls. As with any game of this genre, the farther you get in the game the more difficult the tasks become.

I don't know about you, but there are specific game play objectives that I have accomplished over the years that stick out in my mind, like unlocking the multi-coloured switch blocks in Super Mario Bros., defeating Bowser, saving the Princess. In Jak & Daxter catching 200 pounds of fish in this game is among my greatest and most enjoyable gaming exploits.

In this mini-game, Jak catches the fish as they swim by in a local stream, using a net that you move left and right. They are beautifully rendered fish. Some of the grey fish are huge and the other fish are tinier, but are a perfect size for what the master fisherman wants. However you must steer clear of the red fish, as they will poison your entire batch.

The fisherman who keeps track of your catch is a big burly tattooed pirate of a character who will let you know when the fish are coming, and will rub your nose in it by heckling you if the big ones get by.

If you catch one red fish by accident, or let 20 of the other coloured fish go by without catching them in the net, you will have to start over. This mini-game is more fun than taking your hockey stick and wrist-shooting dog droppings at the parked cars.

While you explore the massive beautifully designed, continuous piece of coastline you will want to be on the look out for Precursor orbs that can be traded for power cells. There are also three bonus races in the game. In these racing rounds, you have a first and a third-person view. Racing goggles can be utilized to cut down on the sun glare and sharpen your view.

My favorite vehicle is the A-GraV Zoomer, a vehicle that is a cross between a jet ski, Valkyrie motorcycle and a hovercraft that allows you to move across both water and land. The Zoomer has a lower prop counter balance driver weight that allows for extra rear lift when you need a speed boost. It also has a forward thrust.

Another mode of transportation is the Flut Flut bird. You can ride the Flut Flut to reach high platforms or hard to reach areas, but first you must befriend and tame the irascible bird.

While racing you will be able to view your race stats, game status and a Heads Up Display (HUD) will allow you zoom in on the action during a race up to 16 times.

As you progress through Jak & Daxter, the enemy AI gets progressively more difficult. Each of the creatures in this game is wired and will track you down like a hunter with a tag for a bull moose scouring the Sudbury area in late October.

The physics and the environments react much the way they do in real life. The best example of this is when Jak tries to hoist himself up onto a ledge, you can actually see from his muscles flexing and his facial expressions that he is struggling with his own bodyweight.

Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy is an awesome looking game that is loaded with technology, oozes replayability and has appeal like a Luigi's Mansion meets Metal Gear Solid 2 type of scenario. By that I mean Luigi's Mansion for its awesome graphics and Metal Gear Solid 2 for its seamless gameplay and innovative nature.

There are no load times in this game and from top to bottom this is the type of game that Sony promised us when they were getting everyone psyched and hyped up about the PlayStation 2.

The environments are loaded with ambient life and a ton of detail, and there are no graphical glitches--no pop-up or flickering. Naughty Dog has gone to great lengths the past three years to get the game right.

I've said it before and I will say it again; Jak & Daxter is as addictive as Zelda and as beautiful looking as Luigi's Mansion. It rivals the game play of Munch's Oddyssee on the Xbox and Naughty Dog is showing that the PS2 can go toe to toe with Nintendo or Microsoft. Anyone who calls himself or herself a gamer and owns a PlayStation 2 would have fun playing this game.

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