Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy (Throwback Thursday)

 

 

 

This week we're talking about one of my favorite PlayStation 2 games, Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy, the first game in the Jak and Daxter series. I have extremely fond memories of this game from my childhood, I can't even explain. It's very near and dear to me, and it's one of the video games that contributed to the start of my gamerality. Yes, that's a made-up word...

 

So, I was actually pleasantly surprised when I opened up the case and found that the manual flips open into a super cool poster:

 

 

Yeah! That's going somewhere in my house.

First things first, when you get all started you have to watch a really long string of cut scenes. I'm not complaining, heck, I'm a KH fan, I'm used to cut scenes. You learn about the somewhat backstory and watch as Daxter falls into a huge bowl of black "ego" and gets turned into that weird foxy animal thing where (spoiler alert...Not really) he never gets changed back. In fact, I didn't even remember that he was a human before he was a...Whatever hybrid he is.

After the beginning cut scenes you’re thrown into your home village, where you’re told the only way to fix what you messed up is by seeing the three sages. But to get to the first sage you have to cross lava…Which you can’t physically do, so you meet Keira, who offers to build you a flying contraption with a heat shield. But is it that easy? No, of course not. You have to get twenty power cells. How do you do that? By asking the villagers, of course! Will they just give them to you? No, of course not. You have to do a task to earn your power cell.

Yeah, it’s that kind of game. You have to do a million things to accomplish one thing. But that adds on to the awesomeness, in my opinion. There is never a dull moment in Jak and Daxter’s life. That’s kind of sad, though. They never have time to eat, sleep, murder people…But at least they’re pestering villagers for power cells. That’s a plus.

Anywho, after obtaining those power cells, (Which involves going to beaches, jungles and an island...No walk in a park, btdubs) you get to Rock Village to meet Blue Sage…But of course you need more power cells (45…And you just lost 20 for a heat shield) to energize a levitation device and…Yeah. Like I said, it’s that kind of game.

But the storyline, surprisingly, makes sense. It makes perfect sense, actually. I applaud the writers immensely. It is very well-written. It’s no Kingdom Hearts, with miles of backstory and yadda yadda, but it’s solid and actually there. Can you say that about all rpg’s? I don’t think so.

Speaking of applauding the writers, I also applaud them for the characters. Naughty Dog, the creators, can really put together a good game in general, but their characters stick out the most. Thinking of Crash Bandicoot, (refer to the Throwback Thursday of two weeks ago) which Naughty Dog also took part of, their characters are truly unique. Crunch Bandicoot is this big gnarly dude with a catch phrase of “Yeah baby!”, Coco Bandicoot is the perfect teenage girl character, and Crash Bandicoot is just cool all around. I guess what I’m saying is, they’re not bland. They’re thought-out and well groomed. That’s just the same with Jak and Daxter’s cast.

Apart from that, the controls are really good. After experiencing Frogger last week, or should I say The Only Frog Who Can't Jump and The Only Game Where You Can't Turn The Camera Sufficiently, I was very thankful for double-jumping (Which is easy to handle) and being able to turn the camera with the right joystick. Hear that, Frogger? THAT'S THE WAY IT FREAKING SHOULD BE. The only problem, which is so miniscule it shouldn't be mentioned in this blog, is the auto turn on the camera can every once in a while be annoying.

Oh, and let me just mention the music. It's so beaty and fun, it makes my soul happy. Continue.

 Another slightly annoying thing is the difficulty of the game. I might just be I'm stupid, but I find this game hard at times. Not all that challenging, but difficult. Yes, there's a difference. I mean, I almost always know what to do next, I never get stuck, but I die...WAY TOO MUCH. And it aggravates me to death. Haha, think about that. I didn't even write that on purpose. Heh.

So for that small reason, this game doesn't get a 10/10 or five stars. I give it a good four Daxters out of five. It would have five if I didn't feel like plucking my eyes out of their sockets, throwing them on the floor and going at them with a tomahawk every five seconds out of irritation. But because of that setback, this game is stuck at four. Not bad for a game, though.

In fact, I'm bringing the rating up to four and a half, because of a really nice addition: Mini games. Throughout the game you have to play these really fun and addicting mini games. Fishing, hitting swamp rats with fire balls, and my personal favorite (And oddly enough one of the hardest things to do) racing on your weird flying contraption. The racing is the most addicting. I think it's because of how hard it is. You just are pushed to this point where you have to win, but at the same time it's so much fun. Yes, it is worth half a star...Or in this case, a Daxter. Sorry for that mental image.

This game is just the perfect mix of adventure, whimsy, humor and seriousness all wrapped up in one. Daxter is hilarious, some of the people you meet are so crazy you can’t help but smile, and everything is just plain entertaining.

One word to sum up this game: Entertaining.

Not in the barrel full of laughs kinda way, but in the you enjoy yourself kinda way.

I spent hours upon hours playing this game today, totally enjoying myself and being entertained. I actually created a save file (After clearing my memory card) so I could continue on with the awesomeness later. There's something about games of my childhood, or maybe it's just good fun games in general, that keeps me more engrossed and entertained than even Arkham City or Kingdom Hearts 3D. It's really good, in my mind. I recommend this game to any rpg lover, it’s definitely worth a second look.