Game #1191: Jak and Daxter The Precursor Legacy

 And with this, I complete the PS2 platformer trio's first outings.

 I think my pirated copy of Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy was messed up because I remember giving it a try and the world was pretty much empty. I'm also pretty sure the first copy I purchased didn't work, so we went back to the flea market and exchanged it with Okage. I got lucky. Not to say that Jax and Daxter wasn't, or isn't, good, but Okage has stuck with me to this day.

 But I digress, after Crash Bandicoot, Naughty Dog came out with yet another collectathon platforming game, using the power of the PS2 to make something quite special. The game looks really good, and sounds really good too thanks to some pretty good voice acting, although Jak, our main hero, is a heroic mute. Part of the appeal of the game is that there are little to no loading screens as you seamlessly traverse its world. To be fair, there are two loading screens, one for Misty Island and another one to Snowy Mountain, but they are marked via transition screen as you sail a boat o ride a cable car. Smart. The game's size and flow reminded me of Banjo-Kazooie, as it's a pretty decently sized world, and there's pretty much no tutorial. You enter a level and pausing the game lets you see the objective of Power Cells, the main item you are collecting, you have interacted with. Besides power cells, each stage has 7 fleas, which turn into a Power Cell once all of them have been found, as well as a number of Precursor Orbs, which can then the traded for Power Cells.

 As is to be expected, the game locks progress besides X amount of Power Cells. You need about 72 of them to finish the game, which is quite fair considering there are 100 of them. I really liked the game's open design, and you can pretty much finish every stage when you get to it. 

 Jak, who is joind by his transformed friend, Dax, have a rather decent moveset. You can dash-punch, spin attack, jump, roll, roll jump, crouch jump and double jump, which can be extended with a spin after your second jump. If you find colored Eco, energy, you gain temporary benefits, but nothing game-changing. Of note is that the animations look pretty neat, and fairly animated, for lack of a better word, making it feel almost like a CG movie. Almost.

 While the game is pretty good, it does have a rather big flaw... the double jump sucks. I don't know how, considering Crash had a double jump, but they messed it up, as there's a very small window in which you can press jump again and actually get the second jump. Most of the time you can get it right, or press Spin to try to save your missed jump, but during more tense segments, such as bosses, it's easier to screw up the timing and thus unfairly lose a life. Honestly, is rather surprising just how much they borked the second jump mechanic, but in a platformer game... that's inexcusable.

 I expected Sly would be the one I liked the most and Jak and Daxter the one I liked the least, but I was only right about Jak. Regardless, it's still a really great and interesting platforming game, provided you are willing to forgive its wonky double jump.

 8.0