Jak and Daxter: Precursor Legacy Review

Jak and Daxter is by far the best platformer available for the PS2. It is almost legitimate enough to say it is one of the best platformers of all time. I am extremely pleased with the PS2 and games like this make it an incredible system. The story is pretty simple. In the time that no one remembers, there was a society known as the Precursors. This society left behind technology that nobody could possibly explain. The Precursors were masters of eco, the power that exists all over the world. The current society can only experiment with the power of eco. The game itself is gorgeous and shows off the power of the PS2. The graphics are not only stunning, but the environments and textures all blend together. The lighting is top notch and the character animations are the best we’ve seen on the PS2. The worlds are stupendous, astonishingly huge, and all tie together like a knot. The interaction that takes place within this world is even more amazing.

Jak and Daxter received a heart transplant and the heart they received was Mario 64. This game has Mario 64 written all over it, other than it doesn’t have a horny plumber. Well, actually it is a combination of Mario 64, Banjo-Kazooie, Crash Bandicoot (Naughty Dog created the Crash series), and a speck of Zelda. In J and D you collect “Power Cells� instead of stars, “Scout Flies� instead of red coins, and “Precursor Orbs� instead of yellow coins. Does this strike a similarity with Mario 64 or what?

Unlike in Mario, you have a big mouth side kick named Daxter who is extraordinarily amusing. Daxter brings a lot of color (as in personality) to the game, which is a great addition. Jak has a plethora of moves which include a Crash Bandicoot style spin attack. Another aspect of the game which makes it much more enjoyable from games like Mario 64/Sunshine is the camera. You have the ability to quickly and efficiently rotate the camera manually in any direction with the right analog stick.

The truth is I love platformers, but I have grown weary of them in the past few years. Jak and Daxter is an extremely pleasant trip down memory lane and it packs a huge variety of new and improved features, either never seen before in platformers or never done well. This game must have some kind of lock mechanism inside or something, because I haven’t been able to put down the controller since I first started playing it. You may not trust a company other than Nintendo to make quality platformers, but this is one of the best one of its kind, which is found exclusively on the PS2.