Jak & Daxter: The Precursor Legacy Review
Price:
£15.00
Platform: Playstation 2, 3
Rating: PEGI 7
Developer: Naughty Dog
Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment.
Engine: Kinetica
Jak and Daxter is part of a trilogy of games for the Playstation 2 (later to be remastered on Playstation 3) that are essentially 3rd Person Platformers. This is the first game in the trilogy and is quite different to the other games. Following the typical style of a platformer jumping from object to object in a fantasy world, featuring a variety of different styles in world design from perpetual sunlight to snowy mountain tops.
The game opens with Samos the Sage talking about his life’s
work to find out who, what and where the precursors are. It then cuts to a
scene of Jak and Daxter in a boat heading towards Misty Island while Samos
narrates over the top about how they are the future. After some exploration on
Misty Island Jak and Daxter get into a fight with a lurker and Daxter falls
into a pit of dark eco turning him into a small orange creature (later in the
series referred to as a ottsel). The two then venture back to Samos hut where
Samos tells them he ‘The sage to the north probably knows how to reverse it’.
Thus the adventure begins.
The game is about the journey to the north and most of the
time you will be collecting enough power cells to get to the next stage (power
cells are gained by completing various tasks).
There are no real villains that are present in the game till
the very end, with the standard enemy been creatures called lurkers. So nearly
all characters you meet are friendly and will more than likely give you a task
by asking for a favour etc. So you will never really hesitate to talk or
interact with a character.
The story is an adventure game, you go to a variety
of different locations to complete tasks that have no real push to move the
plot forward, till you collect enough power cells to move on to the next stage.
The story connects with the audience by telling the tale of these two ‘hero’s’.
The main production process for most of the games animation
is motion capture.
Skeleton - Motion
capture
Animated skeleton – Render
Environmental Design – Animate it, render
As it is a platformer the game physics is a big deal and you
spend most of your time with you finger placed firmly over the X button, this
means this will have been specifically enhanced to improve gameplay to a
satisfactory standard. Which pays off in the end as the psychics mechanics are
fantastic for its time.
The main characters are a duo, which have different
personality (almost polar opposite), giving a variety of different reactions to
certain things within the game. Since Jak is a mute, Daxter usually is the one
to react to situations by suggesting certain things and reacting with sometimes
witty comments. This is relevant to the target audience as it adds a comedic
feature to the game which the target audience will like given the conventions
of the genre and initial gameplay style the audience would be younger children.
Comedic characters are usually the most entertaining and why would you play a video
game if it was not entertaining therefore these characters are suitable for the
target audience. As the characters are not human (they have long pointy ears)
this follows the style of a fantasy game therefore the characters are perfect
and relate to the target audience.
These characters in this game are very strong,
at least the main cast is. The characters are lovable and easy to like and care
for. The villains of the game are just as likeable and strong too. Even the
random villages you find that tell you there sob stories are fun and memorable.
The game involves various platforming puzzles that you are
not instructed to solve you can solve puzzles without starting a mission
therefore presenting a challenge which will cause you to experiment with
certain moves to solve puzzles for example. Punching logs up so that you can
access an area on a hill, to do this you use R1 + Square.
This engages the player buy showing an element of mystery
and free exploration without it the task being mandatory.
The games success is arguably down to how advanced it was at
the time along with its simplicity and variety in tasks. Such as task where you
will use a “Zoomer”, or a “Flut-flut”.
The levels are large and involve small tasks
that are hardly noticeable or task which are extremely engaging like boss
fights. This keeps the player constantly exploring and completing tasks even if
the player is unaware of it.
The target audience is anyone who like adventure games and
platformers, or are fond of duos in video games.
It’s an adventure game, it’s a platformer, and it has a duo
therefore appeals to its target audience.
The game is heavily adventure focused, especially since
there are mission that you find while exploring with no prior knowledge that
will present new challenges that engage the player. The game runs like a
platformer and throughout the game you will find areas and tasks that follow
more traditional type of platforming.
Other games in the same target audience include games like
Mario 64 (heavily inspired the game). Which is known as a classic in comparison
Mario is older therefore giving Jak the advantage especially since it is on
more advanced hardware.
Jak and Daxter is exclusive to the Playstation 2, however in
2010 was remastered for the Playstation 3 in 720p with trophy support.
It would make no difference what platform the game is on.
Apart from image quality is superior on the Playstation 3 as it is in 720p.
Overall this game is fun little journey that is fun to play as a stand alone game and one to start of a fantastic series of games. The game features a lovable set of characters in a fascinating fantasy world full of variety and surprise. I recommend this for people who like to play old games and those platform lovers. It is also interesting to see how naughty dog have developed over the years if you are fans of such games like uncharted.
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