Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy
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A New Legacy is Born!
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Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy is a 2001 platform game developed by Naughty Dog and published by Sony Computer Entertainment. It is the first game in the Jak and Daxter series.
Plot
Long ago, the world was inhabited by a powerful race known as "The Precursors", who wielded highly advanced technology and controlled a mysterious substance known as "Eco". One day however the Precursors inexplicably disappeared leaving only the ruins of their civilization, some of their technology, and the Eco which is now found all over the world. While most types of Eco are beneficial, Dark Eco is extremely dangerous and unstable.
Sages are people can harness the different types of Eco and study the remains of Precursor civilization hoping to discover who they were. Jak, a young resident of Sandover Village, is extremely talented at harnessing all types of Eco, but he ignores Samos the Green Sage's tutelage and wants to be an adventurer instead, much to Samos' annoyance.
One night Jak convinces his friend best friend Daxter to visit the nearby Misty Island despite Samos' repeated warnings to stay away from it. At the island, the two find two mysterious dark sages commanding an army of creatures called "Lurkers". Despite the apparent danger Jak insists on exploring the island and finds a large pool of Dark Eco. A Lurker attacks the duo, during the fight Jak accidentally knocks Daxter into the Dark Eco. Daxter comes out transformed into an Ottsel, a hybrid of Otter and Weasel.
The next morning Jak and Daxter go to Samos for help to fix Daxter, Samos scolds the duo for the mess they caused and informs them that he can't do anything to help; the only one who has a chance of returning Daxter to his human form is Gol, the Dark Eco Sage who lives far to the north of the village. Samos can't use his warp gate to send them to Gol's house either because the other Sages haven't turned on their gates in weeks, the only other way north is through the Fire Canyon but it's too hot to traverse on foot. Samos' daughter Keira suggests that they take her Zoomer to cross the canyon, she just needs Power Cells to install a heat shield on the Zoomer so it can withstand the intense temperatures of the canyon. Jak and Daxter set off to explore nearby areas and help villagers to find enough Power Cells for Keira's Zoomer. During their quest they return to Misty Island and find out the Lurkers are scavenging Precursor artifacts.
Once the Heat Shield is installed, the duo successfully cross the canyon to reach Rock Village and activate the Warp Gate there allowing Samos and Keira to warp in. The four find out that the village is under attack by a large Lurker monster and the Blue Eco Sage has disappeared, but before he did he was building a device to lift a large rock blocking the way to the monster. Keira suggests Jak and Daxter to go find more Power Cells so she can finish that device. With the rock out of the way Jak defeats the Lurker monster and crosses the Mountain Pass with the Zoomer to stop the Lurkers from detonating a large amount of explosives.
Jak, Daxter, Keira, and Samos reach the Red Eco sage's lab at the Volcanic Crater only to find he's gone too. The two Dark sages from before confront the group, Samos quickly identifies them as Gol and his sister Maia. Gol and Maia had become corrupted by Dark Eco and now they plan to use a large Precursor Robot that the Lurkers scavenged which they are powering by kidnapping the other sages to open a huge Dark Eco Silo near their citadel. Samos warns the group that if the Dark Eco Silo is opened, all that Dark Eco would cause massive destruction. Daxter also realizes that Gol, the one who can make him human again, is the enemy. To stop Gol and Maia they must cross the Lava Tube to reach their lair close to the Yellow Eco sage's lab but they need even more Power Cells to improve the Zoomer's Heat Shield.
Jak and Daxter reach Gol and Maia's citadel but Keira informs them that Samos has been kidnapped as well. At the citadel the duo discover the Precursor Robot about to be activated and the four sages imprisoned. Samos tells them that if they free all the sages they can weaken the Robot so Jak can fight it. Gol and Maia take the Precursor Robot to the Dark Eco Silo and prepare to forcefully open it when Jak appears. The Dark sages attack Jak but he fends off the robot long enough for the other sages to combine their Eco powers to produce Light Eco. Daxter believes that Light Eco can return him to normal, but he reluctantly lets Jak take it so he can destroy the Robot for good, also killing Gol and Maia in the process meaning Daxter is stuck as an Ottsel forever.
The sages thank Jak for saving them and Samos admits that Jak is a good adventurer after all. Jak and Keira almost share a kiss but are interrupted by Daxter. Shortly afterwards the group find a giant Precursor door that can only be opened with 101 Power Cells. Jak and Daxter get the needed Power Cells to open the door, when they do everyone is shocked at what is at the other side of the door.
Why It Rocks
- Very detailed and vivid graphics for a game released on 2001.
- Old school platform gameplay, akin from classic PS1 titles, such as Crash Bandicoot and Spyro the Dragon. Levels are open ended but have plenty of platform obstacles in them and Jak's moveset works well with the level design.
- The game follows a similar "collect-a-thon" structure to games like Banjo-Kazooie but doesn't have that many objects to collect that it becomes overwhelming.
- Completely open world gameplay with no hub to choose a level. Transition from level to level is completely seemless.
- Naughty Dog developed a unique game engine for Jak & Daxter that makes loading screens almost non-existent, and when they do exist the game uses clever methods to camouflage them so the player won't even notice them.
- Finding Eco gives Jak temporary powerups depending on the color:
- Green: Restores health
- Blue: Extra speed, magnetizes nearby Precursor Orbs, and activates mechanisms.
- Yellow: Shoots fire balls
- Red: Increases strength to be able to attack stronger than usual enemies.
- Good ambient soundtrack.
- Tons of collectibles and secrets on each level.
- Each level has 7 Scout Fly boxes, breaking all of them rewards a Power Cell per level.
- Likeable characters.
- Occasionally Jak gets to use a Zoomer Bike. One of the main levels is explored exclusively with the zoomer.
- There's one section in the level Misty Island where the zoomer is used as a Jet Ski in a similar way to Crash Bandicoot: Warped's jet ski levels.
- Jak´s companion Daxter serves as a comedy relief. Whenever you die Daxter looks at the camera and says something stupid and funny. Daxter can also give you helpful advice during gameplay on how to complete certain missions.
Bad Qualities
- While Daxter is an effective comedic relief, he sometimes becomes annoying.
- You have to collect 50 Green Eco orbs to restore just one hit point, which became tedious very quickly.
- Occasionally Jak's double jump can be unreliable.
- Choppy character models, especially Daxter. He has an over-exaggerated cartoony look, especially on his mouth, where his teeth stick out an awful lot.
- The PS4 port is just the PS2 version running on an emulator, despite the fact that it got an enhanced remaster on the PS3 in 2012. The other two games in the Jak trilogy got this same kind of treatment.
Reception
The game received critical acclaim and currently holds a 90.22% approval rating based on 67 reviews. Many reviewers agree that next to Rayman 2, Jak and Daxter is the best 3D platformer available for the PlayStation 2 and one of the finest examples of the genre ever made.
One of the game's biggest praises was the near total lack of loading screens.
Trivia
- According to Naughty Dog, there were plans for Gol and Maia to return as villains in a future Jak game had the series not been cancelled.
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