Introduction
Naughty Dog is an undisputed titan in the gaming industry. From its stellar break into triple-A development with Crash Bandicoot on the PS1 all the way up to their most recent releases in the Uncharted and Last of Us franchises, they’ve proven their ability to craft fun and memorable gaming experiences time and time again.
However, with the recent release of the Crash N. Sane Trilogy and the hype train building speed for The Last of Us 2, people may begin to forget about one of their best, if not strangest series to date, Jak and Daxter.
Being the studio’s only games released during the PS2’s life cycle, Jak and Daxter marked a transitionary period with the cuddly mascot platformer somehow evolving into a third person open-world shooter. And despite these strange decisions, the franchise went on to receive critical acclaim and sell over 15 million copies in total.
My personal experience with the series actually comes from a friend of mine growing up. I had a gamecube so when we hung out at his house (and weren’t getting into trouble for throwing snowballs at moving cars), we’d play games on his PS2. I love those memories of playing Timesplitters, Star Wars Battlefront, and of course, working together to complete all three Jak and Daxter games.
We spent hours trying to 100% the first game in particular, while in the second and third we were just happy to make it to the end. With the first’s nostalgic throwback to collect-a-thons, the second’s focus on gunplay making us feel like we were getting away with playing the forbidden Grand Theft Auto, and the third combining everything together in a bombastic finale, those were some great times.
Fast forward a few years and with the release of the Jak and Daxter collection on PS3 I jumped at the chance to relive those memories. Now, after more years have passed I’ve played through these games through for a third time.
I’ll be using these next three videos analyzing each of the original three games to explain how and why the series changed the way it did over time while also seeing how Naughty Dog’s odd middle child holds up to the test of time.
And of course, spoilers ahead! Now let’s get things started with a look at the game that started it all, Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy.
Development History
After concluding the Crash Bandicoot trilogy on the PS1, Naughty Dog was sitting pretty as the creators of the system’s unofficial mascot. Unfortunately creators doesn’t mean owners and as they finished up work on their spinoff title Crash Team Racing, the developer would attempt to free themselves from the constraints of Universal Interactive by having two developers start work on a brand new IP and showing it off to Sony.
Impressed with what they were shown, Sony bought out the company in the hopes that they could create another success for their new console, the Playstation 2. With that in mind, Naughty Dog went on to spend three years developing new techniques and tools to make Jak and Daxter a reality.
This included the creation of a brand new programming language called GOAL, new techniques inspired by Disney for animating characters and achieving a more consistent framerate, and an entirely new game engine capable of rendering a seamless 3D open world. And after the newest IP’s big reveal at E3 2001, everyone was excited to see just how this new project would follow up the Crash series.
On December 3rd 2001 Jak and Daxter was released to critical acclaim, receiving near-perfect scores from most reviewers and going on to sell over 4 million copies. From there the series would begin to grow, but we’ll cover that in the next video. For now, let’s take a look at the humble beginnings of one of the PS2’s biggest franchises.
Opening Sequence
The story begins with narration from Samos, Sage of Green Eco. He tells us that this world holds Eco, a type of energy created by the ancient precursors that brings life and balance to everything on the planet. While Samos has spent his life searching for the Eco’s hidden secrets, he believes that the key to unlocking said knowledge lies in the hands of a young boy.
Cut to our protagonists, the silent Jak and his loud-mouthed buddy Daxter, who have travelled to the forbidden Misty Island. They come upon two mysterious figures amassing an army, one of whom seems to have forgotten his inhaler.
Deciding to ignore the villains discussing their plans to attack their home and take over the world the boys go off to explore. After finding a precursor artifact however, the two are attacked by a lurker causing Jak to accidentally bump Daxter into a pool of dark Eco, transforming him into an ottsel (a fictional mix between an otter an a weasel). He’s… not thrilled.
The two escape the island and head back to Samos, who scolds them for their disobedience, saying the only solution to Daxter’s predicament is to ask Gol, the dark sage, for help. Only problem is that the portals to the other sages have been deactivated, leaving our heroes with a quest to make it to the far north and find Gol.
Only problem is that none of the sages can communicate and the path is blocked by a canyon of lava. Samos’s daughter Keira then chimes in saying she can lend them her hover bike for the trip across the volcanic crater, but she’ll need 20 power cells to upgrade its heat shield enough to allow them to cross.
Daxter tries to put the moves on her, Jak silently stares, and Samos agrees with Keira’s plan, but tells the boys that they need to train and refine their skills first, sending them to Geyser Rock for the tutorial.
Jak and Daxter make it through the portal and from here the game begins. Samos tells us via transmitter to find all four power cells on the island before he’ll allow us to return. And the first thing most players will do is adjust the horizontal camera controls. I mean seriously, who makes the default camera controls inverted.
Once that’s done, we begin in a small opening area designed to allow players space to try out a few of Jak’s abilities and get used to the game’s controls, with a path up ahead pointing us in the direction of the power cells. And in the span of about 10 minutes, the game will teach players all of its basic controls and concepts.
Just messing around with the buttons we’ll learn that Jak can jump, double jump, spin attack like Crash Bandicoot, and dash punch. Although for players who aren’t feeling particularly experimental the game will mention each of these moves in the tutorial.
As we start along the path, we come across some floating pink eggs. The game pauses and Keira tells us that they’re precursor orbs, used as a currency in this world and we may be able to trade them with the townsfolk for a power cell. We collect the orbs, maybe destroy a straw target, then jump over some spikes to collect the game’s first power cell as Keira reminds us that we need 20 to power the zoomer.
For an opening area this is pretty well done. In 30 seconds the player learns exactly how the gameplay formula works. Collect environmental objects, don’t get hurt, and find power cells. Simple concept, simple explanation. Even the boxes and dummies allow the player to see how the hitboxes work with Jak’s attacks.
I also like the wide open space the game provides to give players a chance to test out Jak’s moves and having the beach nearby offers a chance to see how open the world is while also giving player a chance to swim. And the ability to see the main island in the distance shows just how connected the world is.
Then again, there are some strange choices at play here. For one, why does the game need to stop for a cutscene just to explain precursor orbs or power cells? Keira could have just as easily told us over the communicator without stopping the game in its tracks. We just got a hold of Jak, don’t take control away already!
On top of that, the awesome music that plays when collecting a power cell combined with the fun animation kind of loses its impact when text telling us not to turn off the game is plastered in front of the screen. Especially when followed by a pause menu telling us the exact same info.
Everyone knows not to turn off a saving game and even if they didn’t the developers could have just put this message in the game’s start menu, not the game itself. Of course, these are just minor nitpicks and as a whole this short stretch is well designed.
As we continue we see a bunch of red boxes. By ground pounding into them we learn about collecting scout flies and after collecting all seven we’re rewarded with the next cell. A simple task, but necessary to show off this mechanic that appears in every stage.
Next we actually get to see what I consider to be the best-designed part of the level. See, players could continue on the straightforward path to the next segment of the tutorial, but if they choose to explore a bit first, they’re likely to come across this small ditch with some extra precursor orbs lying around.
The brilliance comes from the idea that most players won’t find this until after they’ve completed the level and returned for more orbs since nothing ever points them in this direction, meaning that once they collect the four power cells, a simple trip to the pause menu will tell them they missed some orbs along the way, sending them on a hunt to finish this area up.
This is a good thing for two reasons. First, missing the orbs tells players that completing each level isn’t necessary to finish the game and leaving a few orbs or power cells behind is perfectly fine. So players know that they won’t really be punished for trying to get through the game as fast as possible.
Second, upon finding this area players will understand that some rewards will be off the beaten track and that exploration is the key to success. Plus since this area is connected to the ocean, not only do players have two different ways to make it here, but if they get stuck, simply swimming around the island will be enough to complete this stage.
So with this one small part of the level players are taught that the game will work for just about any playstyle, given a sample of the game’s design moving forward, and offered a reason to come back to this area if they want to 100% the game. It’s a small addition, but it’s genius design.
Moving on, we get some blue eco, which Jak absorbs to run faster and magnetically attract collectables, but has a time limit. In order to open up the eco door at the end of this path, Jak is required to check out the eco vent and fill up his gauge before opening the door and getting power cell number three.
I like how in this part of the level Jak is forced to do slightly trickier platforming than before while also moving faster. It’s the game’s way of easing the player into more challenging platforming areas just in case they’re an absolute beginner.
From there Samos explains what green eco orbs do. Collect 50 small orbs or one large orb to restore health and this part is so weird. First off, why tell players this now? Not only is it after they’re collected a few orbs on the path, but also after they’ve potentially taken damage from an obstacle.
The only explanation I can come up with is maybe the developers felt this area was a bit empty tutorial-wise, so they slapped this part in to ensure players constantly felt like they were understanding more about the game as the path continued, but that’s still pretty bad design especially considering how useful it could have been to give players another open-ended area to demonstrate the game’s freedom again, but in the long run it’s not really a big deal.
To conclude the level, players are given the opportunity to learn about the double jump just in case they hadn’t figured it out already, then collect the final power cell and head down the eco elevator to the portal and jump through.
Once in the hut, Samos gives them advice to reach Sentinel Beach while also giving them a hint on how to obtain one of the power cells before kicking everyone out. It’s a short scene, but even this introduces players to how the townsfolk will go about giving them quests. With that, the adventure begins and our two heroes set out on their main quest to collect enough power cells to make it through the lava pass on their way to Gol.
All in all, while it has its flaws, the intro to Jak and Daxter is well done. It can be a bit hand-holdy at times, but for an intro that’s only 15 minutes long, cutscenes included, it manages to teach the player just about everything they need to know and get them started without becoming tedious. From here, the game is mostly in the player’s hands with only a sprinkling of the plot here and there marking breaks in the action.
Story
After heading back into the village, Jak and Daxter begin collecting power cells from villagers, monsters, and the environment. Once they have enough, the duo rides Keira’s hoverbike across the lava pass and opens the portal at the blue sage’s hut only to find him missing and the town being attacked by a giant lurker.
There’s a rock blocking the path forward so they then set out again, this time collecting enough power cells to charge up the blue sage’s levitation device and grant them passage to the arena where they defeat the cyber lurker.
A quick hover race to stop bomb-holding lurkers later and the team reaches the red sage’s hut only to find it empty as well. This time however, Gol reveals himself to the group as the kidnapper of the sages and leader of the army from the beginning of the game along with his sister Maia. They kinda just tell our heroes their evil plans to control dark eco and take over the world before threatening Samos and disappearing to their citadel.
Our duo then heads out to collect even more power cells in order to power up the speeder’s heat shield to withstand the even hotter trip over lava to the palace. They do so, but upon activating the teleporter Keira comes through with the news that her father’s been kidnapped and is being held inside. The two go in, save the four sages, and prepare for a final showdown with Gol and Maia’s precursor robot.
They take down its weapons systems, but can’t defeat the device on their own so the sages combine their power to create light eco. Daxter contemplates stealing the eco to turn himself back to normal, but instead tells Jak to grab it and save the world. He does so and sends the brother-sister duo into a pool of dark eco, supposedly killing them. With the world saved, Jak and Keira have one quick tender moment until Daxter butts in.
However, if the player collects 100 power cells before the final fight, a secret post-credits scene is unlocked in which the group opens a precursor door with a light blocking what’s teased on the other side as they stare in awe, promising that the adventure will be continued in Jak II, concluding the adventure.
The story of a 3D platformer is difficult to discuss. Typically its goal would be to give basic motivation for collecting the macguffins, but in Jak and Daxter the team clearly had loftier goals. It almost feels like the game was made to be a pilot for a kid’s TV series.
There’s a small but close main cast, wacky one-note side characters, and a cartoonish villain with a quirky character detail that prevents him from being truly threatening. It’s even got that semi-adventurous, semi-comedic tone that so many cartoons at the time went for.
The best thing I can say about it as a whole is that the story is charming and takes place in an original world. The plot is acceptable, but nothing really unique or surprising. It’s just a passable story that does its job well enough, with some flaws.
The biggest issue is the poor pacing due to a lack of a continuous story throughout the game. There’s no build up to the climax, it just feels like a seperate third area of the game more than a logical conclusion to the events that have taken place thus far. Gol just waltzes in to yell at everyone after not seeing him for hours and then disappears again until the final boss fight.
There is one thing I can’t look past however. I know it’s silly to pick apart plot holes in this kind of story, but seriously- the four sages combined their powers to make the light eco, which could either transform Daxter or help save the world, but after defeating the bad guys the four sages are all still around.
Why not have them combine powers again to help out Daxter? I mean, obviously they wanted to keep Daxter an ottsel for the sake of a sequel, but logically it’s a nitpick that really bugged me for some reason.
Overall, the story feels lackluster, but on the bright side it’s an incredibly small part of the game and gets out of the way in order to let the world itself shine through. Bits and pieces of plot do pop by every now and again, but they’re sparse.
So rather than feeling like invasive snooze fests that waste your time they act as short skits that allow for a break from the action while conveying that you’ve reached a new benchmark in the game. Plus many of them are legitimately funny and charming.
These moments also help bring players into the world. While some of the contextualization definitely overreaches to connect the dots, for the most part everything is coherent and gives the game a solid framework in which it can exist. It’s nothing mind-blowing, but it does more for the game’s benefit than to its detriment. And a lot of that has to do with the heroes themselves...
Characterization
And when it comes to this particular duo, it’s a classic comedic pairing. The snarky wisecracking sidekick paired with the silent straight man protagonist. That’s right, aside from a power yell during an attack or a scream of terror as he falls to his death, Jak remains quiet for the entirety of the game, but that doesn’t make him void of personality.
While he’s definitely a basic character, he does have a cool design (even if he does look like Breath of the Wild Link went super saiyan). More importantly however, Jak’s shown in the brief cutscenes to be mischievous, protective, and caring. I wouldn’t say it gives him depth and I do think they could have expanded on his personality a bit more, but the game does enough to make him a solid avatar through which to experience the game.
Daxter on the other hand is a strange case. Occasionally I love his quick witted comments and jokes, his goofy antics, and Max Castella’s stellar voice acting. Other times he’s annoying, unfunny, and Max Castella’s grating voice makes the game unbearable to listen to. See the problem?
Daxter slides along the funny annoying scale like a flut flut hopped up on blue eco. His lines when Jak dies and numerous animations for collecting a power cell are almost always great and his decision at the end of the game to give up on changing back in order to save the world could be considered noble if you ignore the fact that without a world Daxter’s retransformation would be short-lived anyway.
On the other hand, he’s generally kind of a dick and doesn’t really have enough acts of selflessness to overshadow his behavior. All in all, the addition of a cynical sidekick is fun, but the writers overdo it at times.
That said, the game isn’t about either of these characters as individuals, but how they work as a team. And although the game rarely gives them an opportunity to show it off, you can tell they’re close friends. From Daxter’s quips to the great animations that play when collecting a power cell, these two get annoyed with each other, joke around together, and just feel like a real pair of friends.
Keira and Samos are a different story. Samos frames the story and plays the part of the grump old wise man, but outside of that lacks almost any originality and Keira is mostly just a love interest. I mean, she is a mechanic who helps our duo out with her inventions and technical know-how, but aside from her use as a plot device she doesn’t really have much of an actual character.
Just a bit more time explaining these characters’ pasts or motivations could have been enough to make for a good group dynamic, but these two are used so sparingly that it never really feels like we get to know them, which doesn’t get much better with the townsfolk.
Every other character is basically a blank slate meant to hand out missions, typically to collect power cells. And it does get a bit… repetitive.
That said, the townsfolk do aid in setting the tone with Sandover Village’s bright and cheery populous morphing into Rock Village’s depressingly defeated townspeople and concluding with the abandoned Volcanic Crater. Things become more and more desolate as the game proceeds and while it’s certainly subtle, it does add to the tension.
They’re also pretty well designed. Fun characters like the bird lady or the drunk swamp dweller and their interactions with our heroes can make for some entertainment, even if it’s definitely aimed at young kids. The artist’s voice and attitude in particular always make me chuckle.
The only real issue is with our primary antagonists, Gol and Maia. Aside from a mysterious introduction and a threatening appearance towards the start of the third act these two don’t really do all that much.
Sure, Gol is the guy who unleashed the lurkers on the world and captured the four sages, but we don’t actually see him do any of that. The game breaks a fundamental rule of storytelling by telling us what happened instead of showing us. Meanwhile Maia is completely pointless. She’s not fun, interesting, or threatening and is a completely meaningless addition to the cast.
Even the sages aren’t interesting. Rather than introduce us to each one and have them get kidnapped, the game just throws them at the player at the end and expects us to care. While each of these points comes down to a bunch of small nitpicks, it doesn’t change the fact that these characters could have been done just a bit better.
Still, Jak and Daxter is much like other platformers in that its story and characters aren’t its primary focus. These elements are simply used to give the player enough motivation to continue the adventure and the game achieves this goal without a doubt. I just wish that these parts of the game had a bit more effort put into them.
Presentation
The way it presents this world however, is on another level. When first picking up Jak and Daxter, players might be turned off by the slightly outdated visuals, but don’t be fooled. For the year 2001, The Precursor Legacy was a landmark title for graphics and animation.
To start out, let’s take a look at the environments. Their designs are memorable, if uninspired. See, the art style and design of the environments and towns are well done. Everything looks cartoony, but purposeful. The downside is that the themes boil down to the same thing as most other platformers from this time.
There’s the standard fire, ice, jungle, beach, and factory levels. And while more unique ideas such as the spider cave and swamp are used as well, it’s hard not to see the cliches at work. That said, cliches exist for a reason and it’s what the game does with these old-school ideas that brings new life into the world.
When you take the quality of execution into account, the game stands out a bit more. A bright, saturated color palette really makes this world pop and each environment is definitely distinct from one another. There’s even a stylistic callback to Crash Bandicoot with the look of the Lost Precursor City.
Adding to all of this vibrancy is the impressive feat of making a seamless world entirely in-engine without any loading screens. This is one of the most talked about aspects of this series and for good reason. It’s not that the loading times are short or hardly noticeable, but rather that they don’t exist in the first place. Once the adventure begins, you can play it to 100% completion without stopping for the game to catch up.
This is done by cleverly disguising load times with smaller interactive areas between individual levels. It could be an elevator, a ski lift, or just a long corridor, but each covers up the loading times quite well with the only hard cuts occurring when fast travelling between sage huts, death animations, cutscenes, and minigames.
This feature was so groundbreaking that pulling off a similar feat is still considered impressive to this day with games such as God of War receiving praise for its unbroken immersion.
And not only does this help the player to become more immersed in the world itself, but also makes everything feel connected. A continuous adventure allows for a clear path from start to finish, much like an open world game today and it even has the day-night cycle to really sell players on this living world. It may not affect the gameplay much, but it’s a welcome addition that really makes the journey feel special.
On the other hand, the character models are a bit dated. While I like the designs of most characters, there are some drawbacks. Daxter’s small body could have used a few more polygons to round out his cartoony appearance, Jak looks more like an action figure than a character at times, and most other characters feel a little behind when it comes to pure graphical quality.
Strange misplaced frames during cutscenes, Jak looking like a lifeless mouth breather during his idle animation, and sporadic camera cuts combining with crazy busy animation make this game almost feel unfinished at times. Just a few touch ups here and there could have been enough to smooth out these rough edges, but as it stand the game’s graphics are just acceptable.
Also, while I’m not sure whether this is a symptom of the remastered trilogy or simply an unfortunate bug in the game, I did experience a couple of crashes over the course of my playthrough. Luckily the auto save protected my hard-earned power cells, but it’s still a pretty annoying issue.
Where Jak and Daxter shines however is in the animation. Not only is everything exaggerated to emphasize the cartoony style of the world, but Naughty Dog used a classic animation technique called squash and stretch to emphasize those actions even more.
To show what I mean, look at how Daxter moves when Jak uses his punch or how he bounces as Jak runs around. His body stretches out to emphasize the power and speed of the actions. These simple exaggerated movements breathe new life into some otherwise lackluster graphics and just give the game this bouncy, fun, cartoonish appeal.
And while I could spend all day diving deeper into the subject, Extra Play has a fantastic video that delves further into this topic much better than I ever could which you can check out by going to the link on screen or in the description. It’s a great video so be sure to check it out when we finish up here.
But visuals are just one part of a game’s presentation. How does it sound? And honestly, that’s a difficult question to answer. While most games tend to go for memorable tunes that’ll stick in your head while you play, Jak and Daxter goes for a more subdued, ambient soundtrack. This has its benefits and weaknesses, but overall the music is nearly perfect for the environments in which it takes place.
Think of it this way- games like Mario and Banjo Kazooie tend to go for songs you’ll remember when you look back on your favorite levels. The music is in your face, like listening to AC/DC when working out. Jak and Daxter takes an approach similar to games like Call of Duty or Portal 2 where it rests in the back, setting the mood and matching the tone of a level so perfectly that it could go completely unnoticed, like lo-fi tracks that are good for studying.
That doesn’t mean the game is without beautiful tracks. Just listen to the soothing sounds of Sentinel Beach or the creepy foreboding sounds of the Spider Cave, with notes that sound like the faint echoes of water drops falling from stalactites.
There’s also a cool feature when walking near a character that causes the music to adapt to that character’s personality such as adding a goofy saxophone to the mayor’s dialogue or an oboe when meeting with Jak’s uncle. They may not always perfectly match the character the track is modified for, but it’s a neat touch nevertheless.
Although to be fair, many of the songs are just… okay. And some are just kinda odd. I can’t really explain it, but some tracks just feel too similar to others and some are just so void of melody that they feel more like ambient noise than a backing score, a fact that’s only amplified by the short lengths of each track that, while rare, can become a bit repetitive in the larger stages.
Of course, music is only one aspect of a game’s audio. The sound effects and voice acting should also be taken into account. On the whole the voice acting is serviceable. The majority of the vocal work in the game comes from Max Casella as Daxter.
And while his work gets much better in the sequels, he does a pretty solid job here as well. I think he gets too high pitched and screechy at times, but he’s a major part of the game’s identity, rough edges and all.
There’s also Warren Burton, who does an alright job playing Samos the sage. He doesn’t have much to work with, but when he does talk it… sounds like a grumpy old man. Nothing stellar, but nothing poorly done either. Keira’s voiced by Anna Garduño, who does an alright job. She’s peppy and fun, but the raspiness of her voice does go overboard sometimes.
Lastly we have our villains, with Jennifer Hagood doing a decent, if over the top job of playing the evil Maia and Dee Snider giving a fun performance as our primary antagonist Gol. The asthmatic breaths he takes between lines and incredibly rough voice add a lot as they make him out to be a legitimate threat while also showing how much the dark eco has affected him. I honestly just wish we’d gotten to see him more.
Then there’s our hero, Jak. While he is a silent protagonist, Jak does have some short voice lines. Falling to his death, spin kicking, and punching all have sounds associated with them and none of them tend to get old. Much like the rest of the sound effects.
Destroying a box, collecting a precursor orb, and that powerful tune when nabbing a power cell are all consistently satisfying from start to finish. Appropriately enough, they combine to sound like effects from both a cartoon and a video game, perfectly fitting for this adventure.
The downside comes with the audio mixing and some strange oversights. There will be times characters talk over one another, the voices coming from Keira’s communicator are so distorted that they can be difficult to understand, and some effects can become grating such as hearing the fisherman’s laugh when passing by over and over and OVER again!
When it comes down to it, Jak and Daxter has quite a few faults in the presentation department, but holds up surprisingly well for a title from 2001. By modern standards, I would say it serves its purpose without bringing the experience down at all. Which is why it’s a good thing this game never relied on its presentation as a selling point.
Gameplay
No, instead Jak and Daxter shines because of its absolutely stellar gameplay. I’ve already gone over Jak’s standard moveset, but let’s review how each ability adds to the game. Of course there are the simple controls such as running, jumping, grabbing onto ledges, and so forth, but while these are quite simple, the game’s animations and responsiveness make everything as smooth as butter.
Jak’s punch and ground pound have him zipping towards his destination, really emphasizing that impact. His spin attack is immediate and speedy. The long jump has a stretchy momentum like a rubber band being snapped away. Every aspect of this control system combines to give the player an unprecedented level of engagement and satisfaction.
As far as advanced maneuvers go, Jak’s double jump is a great way to either gain a bit more distance when travelling or to adjust your course before landing. On top of that Jak can also spin in mid-air, allowing for even further control with a slight hover.
These work similarly to the spin jump in Super Mario Galaxy, allowing the player to get a bit more precision with their jumps without really breaking their pace and combining this with the longer roll jump makes for an exceptional flow to the game’s movement.
It’s a clever tool as it allows the game to still have some tricky platforming areas, but also prevents the player from feeling the need to take things slowly and carefully. This gets even better when spinning because it allows the player to get a bit of protection while jumping, preventing enemies from creating an unblockable barrier on a platform.
Aside from that there are abilities that aren’t quite as useful, but still exist to give the player more options when approaching a new situation. For example if you jump after a punch, Jak will continue his punch into the air, sometimes landing a second hit, but it’s pretty unreliable so I rarely used it.
However there is one weakness that plagues nearly all 3D platformers from this time- the camera controls. While the horizontal camera is normal, the vertical camera is used to zoom closer to and further from Jak’s shoulder. Why the devs chose this option instead of looking up and down is beyond me.
There’s even a first-person mode so it’s not like they were trying to hide some shoddy details in the environment. The first person is useless aside from aiming eco blasts and the zooming only serves to showcase the flaws in Jak’s model, but considering the small number of airborne enemies and the pretty solid implementation of the horizontal camera for the time it’s not a major issue.
Then there are the eco powers Jak can obtain. Blue eco is mostly used to complete speed challenges and activate precursor technology as described earlier. It’s a fun tool to add variety, but there isn’t a lot more to say about it..
Red eco is much more sparse and much less useful. When first used, the player is told that this eco gives them increased power, but I honestly didn’t notice a difference. Apparently it gives Jak the ability to take down enemies in a shorter period of time, but it’s used so sparingly and in such oddly specific situations that it doesn’t really add to or take away from the gameplay at all.
Maybe if red eco were used in a boss fight requiring the strength increase to deal damage or maybe in the environment to punch down a cracked wall like bombs in Zelda I’d have found it more useful, but as it stands it’s not offensive, just underutilized.
Next up, yellow eco allows Jak to fire ki blasts and I’m officially calling it- Jak’s a super saiyan and this is an early version of Planet Vegeta, but that’s just a theory... Anyway...
Cleverly, this prevents him from being able to punch giving a sort of give and take to the ability. As with the other two colors, this one runs on a timer after being obtained and while the aiming controls are a bit dated when in first-person, for the most part yellow eco is utilized just enough to add variety without overstaying its welcome.
Then there’s the green eco-based health system and it’s… different I guess?. Jak has 3 pieces to his heart with each representing a hit he can take. If he collects 50 small green orbs or one big orb a piece can be restored. On top of that, he can store up to 50 orbs when at full health, effectively allowing for a fourth heart piece. It seems simple, but its implementation could have used some work.
At its core, this system works well enough making Jak able eto tank a few hits while still feeling vulnerable enough to keep enemies threatening. Unfortunately the use of green orbs is misguided.
For one, green eco is usually found in clusters of three or four. Why require the player to collect 50 small orbs? Before I even beat the first level I just stopped going out of my way to collect these things because between hits I was almost certain to either die or find a large green orb before collecting 50 small ones.
Hell, sometimes even that was too tedious and I’d end up killing Jak just to be restored at the checkpoint with full health. I’d have preferred they just made more large orbs and removed the smaller ones entirely. This would’ve made the map much cleaner and the overall health system much tighter, but considering how rare taking damage is in this game and how forgiving the checkpoints are it’s an easy flaw to forgive.
Of course, these are just the controls on the ground. Several levels also include sections where Jak has to ride Keira’s hover bike around to collect some power cells. While I’ll go over the mission specifics later, for now I’ll just say that the bike controls well enough.
It’s a bit slippery since its hovering nature gives it a drift-like turning radius, but many of these sections play to the bike’s strengths, with wide open areas and lenient turns, so even when requiring the player to combine its use with that of blue eco and putting them on a timer, these sections are still a blast.
When it comes down to raw control, Jak and Daxter is a masterful example of how to design a 3D platformer. It’s not perfect, but it gives the player a simple, well-defined toolkit and pushes this simplicity to its limits. The only question left then, is how to test the player’s abilities to utilize this toolkit..
Level Design
There are three kinds of levels in the Precursor Legacy- ground levels, hub levels, and zoomer levels. The different level types tend to have similar structures as well as a few mechanics and tasks that remain consistent throughout the game.
Starting with the hub worlds, these act as connecting areas to the other levels while also having some of the staples of the standard levels. For example, the hub worlds tend to have villagers sprinkled throughout that will give hints for quests or, as we’ve already seen, ask for 60 precursor orbs.
The elements these villages share with the other stages are the 7 scout flies in red boxes to find and collect and the precursor orbs hidden everywhere, encouraging player to explore the entire stage extensively.
Some unique aspects of hub levels include the lack of any kind of enemies and the precursor statues that each spit out two power cells with a higher precursor orb cost than that of the villagers. These areas are nice breaks from the larger levels and make for easier places to find all of the scout flies or pick up some extra orbs.
They also tend to be much smaller and sometimes have unique elements like the minecarts in the volcanic crater or raising the platforms in Rock Village. This offers a bit of breathing room while allowing the developers to show off a unique idea that they couldn’t work into the main levels while also connecting the levels into a cohesive world.
The ground levels include a wide variety of locations, most with a unique gameplay element to utilize, some of which are expanded upon in future levels. Power cells are scattered around in missions, sitting in the overworld, held by enemies, and more, but if a player can’t figure out where to find one a quick trip to the pause menu will offer a quick description of the next power cell to be found.
First up is Sentinel Beach. It’s a pretty small and basic stage, but it serves as a nice way to ease out of the tutorial with some simple objectives and expansion on the concept of blue eco.
There are a couple of pyramids, some green eco vents to bust open, and a bird to take down. The theming is a bit confusing, but the combination of these different elements gives the level a familiar atmosphere while reinforcing the otherworldly aspects of the world.
There’s one mission in particular that has the player hatching a flut flut egg after reaching the end of a cliff. After hatching the egg, you can ride the bird in later levels to reach far off areas. It’s a simple cause and effect action, but putting it this early in the game tells players to keep an eye out for missions that may have repercussions outside of the power cell reward.
Following that we have the Forbidden Jungle. Here we have a larger area to explore with the jungle outside and the temple in the center. There are also interconnected devices that all need to be turned on to complete a single quest and turn the power back on in Sandover Village, but unfortunately this doesn’t create new gameplay opportunities.
One mission that does is the fishing minigame which unlocks the boat to misty island. More on that soon. There’s also an optional boss that has a cool effect wherein killing the giant plant also kills all of the damaging vines in the level, removing the threat and granting easier access to some minor parts of the map.
Next we return to Misty Island. This is a slightly more difficult level to try out with its cannons, use of the zoomer, overabundance of lurkers, and dark eco pools. It’s a much more vertical level with the high rises and canons above that need to be reached in order to access some power cells.
I like the use of the zoomer here as the power cells aren’t particularly difficult to collect, but in doing so the player has a chance to get used to the zoomer’s controls in a wide open environment before tackling the more difficult and mandatory Fire Canyon.
In its first third, the game pushes the player to play these stages in the order I laid out, but none of them are too difficult to get through without playing the others first. It provides a framework for the game’s level structure and introduces players to the basics of the game while still having unique mechanics thrown in to make each level feel new and fresh. The second act however focuses more on providing twists to this newly established formula.
The Lost Precursor City in chapter two is where the truly unique elements kick in. Here there’s an emphasis on going downward. Unlike every other stage, which acts as an open area to be traversed at one’s will, this stage requires players to make their way through the city, going further and further down until reaching a race against some rising dark eco as they climb their way back up.
While I like this level in concept, there is one major flaw that makes it my least favorite stage in the game. See, I don’t really mind the more linear nature- it’s a cool idea that makes this level feel different than the others while also fitting in with the Crash Bandicoot throwback-style visuals, but the repetition is infuriating.
Even after the player’s reached the bottom of the city once, there’s no way to make it back up without climbing the dark eco tower over and over again, meaning that if you miss a single precursor orb you’re gonna have to redo this entire level and chase scene again, when they could’ve just thrown in a blue eco-reliant elevator after the room was first conquered. It doesn’t prevent the level from being fun, but it is the only one in the game I had no desire to return to after finishing up.
Next the player can head to Boggy Swamp where they’ll first encounter the yellow eco energy blasts. This level is also more maze-like than the others, with a bunch of tall walls that require the player to pay attention in order to get their bearings.
This level is also a bit tedious since the intentionally maze-like design and infinitely respawning enemies make traversal without a map kind of a chore at times, but the level as a whole has some of the more fun challenges involving mini games and riding around on the flut flut.
In the third act, the game focuses more on combining various elements from the previous stages to create new challenges. Snowy Mountain introduces red eco and slippery controls while also utilizing the flut flut, tougher enemies, and yellow eco to really test the player’s grasp on the game’s controls.
This level is pretty massive with its giant mountain design, but it’s also one of the most fun to explore and the bright wintery aesthetic makes for a refreshing change of pace from the doom and gloom awaiting in the levels to come.
Speaking of which, adding to the difficulty increase is the Spider Cave. Not only does it put the player’s arachnophobia to the test, but it also uses first-person shooting, navigating in the dark on a timer, facing off against a horde of enemies, and climbing a giant robotic platforming challenge (all while surrounded by dark eco).
This level has some really great high points, but also some terrible lows for the game. Getting through the spider onslaught and climbing the giant robot are super fun while also foreshadowing the final boss, but having to shoot these incredibly fast millipedes in first person and climb the robot over and over in different ways to collect everything the stage has to offer gets incredibly tedious.
Still, destroying the purple crystals and exploring the dark passageway are pretty fun activities… On the other hand getting past this guard was a pain in the ass since it asks just a bit too much of my patience. Overall it has way more good than bad, but some of the design choices here can definitely become frustrating.
Surprisingly, the difficulty takes a step back for its final stage, Gol and Maia’s Citadel. Here the player is given four platforming challenges that test a specific skill they’ve learned during their adventure. None of these is particularly difficult, but they do adequately conclude the adventure while building up to the final boss fight.
It even throws a few new mechanics in with the colored tiles that fall based on the previous tile jumped on and it’s pretty neat to finally get to meet each sage. And while I wish we had the chance to use each sage’s particular eco on the path to save them and the climb to the top at the end can be frustrating it’s a pretty solid way to wrap things up.
That covers all of the ground levels, but there’s still one more stage variety I’ve yet to mention. To finish things up we have the driving sections. These include three linear survival challenges in the Fire Canyon, Mountain Pass, and Lava Tube and one open level called the Precursor Basin.
The three passes are all pretty basic- just make it to the end without crashing within a designated time limit. In the first this limit is represented by the zoomer’s overheating engine which can be extended by hitting balloons that cool the zoomer down. It’s not the most difficult challenge, but the need to reach the end without any checkpoints does make this section’s final moment feel really tense.
In the mountain pass rather than keeping the zoomer from overheating the player instead has to race against some lurkers while also avoiding instant-death barrels. Both upping the difficulty while making a small improvement I’ll touch upon in a sec.
Finally the lava tube is similar to the first, but with a much higher difficulty and the addition of a shooting arena to shake things up. It’s also much longer and includes a few checkpoints scattered throughout to keep things from becoming frustrating.
All in all these levels are fun, but I prefer the Mountain Pass simply because of the scout flies. See, in addition to reaching the end players also get a power cell in each of these paths by collecting the seven scout flies like in the main levels, but in the fire-based levels this can be a pain because of the limited amount of time players can spent searching for them.
Replaying the mountain pass isn’t as tedious since the bomb lurkers go away, allowing for free traversal of the environment, but as all of these are necessary to finish the game their difficulty is never too high, so collecting the flies in each isn’t the worst task in the world.
Topping things off is the open-exploration zoomer level, the Precursor Basin. This level works like most of the others including scout flies and a bunch of power cells scattered throughout, but the use of the zoomer adds a nice touch of variety.
And while the zoomer’s slippery controls could potentially get annoying if forced on the player for too long *cough cough* , the short passes and optional nature of the basin ensure that these act more as a break in the traditional platforming gameplay than as a major part of the main game.
While each of these worlds is indeed impressive in its own right, the most impressive thing about The Precursor Legacy is how naturally its levels flow into one another. The difficulty curve is probably the smoothest I’ve ever seen in a game, with a lot of small bumps here and there to allow for players to either blast through and reach the end or go the completionist route and finish each in one sitting.
Mission Design
It’s this flexibility in playstyle that takes this unassuming platformer and makes it exceptional, but the question that must be asked now is, what exactly do you do in this game? Well, the answer is a lot as this is one of the most varied games I’ve ever played, mostly due to the insane number of challenge types.
But first let’s discuss the consistent challenges. While each level is different, they do all have some similarities between them such as precursor orbs and the scout flies scattered around. Collecting all the scout flies grants you a power cell immediately and the orbs can be traded in to the villagers as discussed earlier.
These are the only two goals players will be aware of when entering a level, with each other objective being revealed via the pause menu with a cryptic hint in the mission name. While they’re pretty basic ideas, there’s a good reason they’re the only missions that repeat like this- they encourage exploration and act as a reverse trail of breadcrumbs to keep players from getting too lost.
Think about what the game would be like without the eggs or scout flies. Players would enter a level, be given little to no direction and wander around aimlessly, only accomplishing something when they happen to stumble across a mission. The orbs prevent this aimlessness in two ways.
First, by making their way through the level, players will at least make progress by getting orbs to spend on a power cell, meaning very little time feels wasted. You’re always getting closer to your goal as you make your way through a level while also familiarizing yourself with the map for repeat visits, which prevents the game from becoming monotonous.
Second, when looking at an upcoming path players will be able to tell which parts of a level they’ve already explored. When they see more precursor orbs it means that they haven’t been to this place before, removing some of the repetition the could become problematic in the larger or more maze-like stages.
And since tedium and repetition are two of the most prolific flaws in modern games, the fact the Jak and Daxter is able to avoid them so effortlessly is commendable. Though a map in the pause menu might have helped levels like boggy swamp be a bit more manageable.
Another strength of this game is its variety. Take a look at this graph showcasing the different mission types. While the majority of the game involves exploration or platforming, more than a quarter of it can be described as something else.
Even this large chunk of exploration can be broken up to include the scout flies and precursor orbs and since these are objectives the player will naturally be completing while tackling the other goals they’re more like side missions. By removing these ancillary missions from the list we get the following as a breakdown of the goals players have to go out of their way to accomplish over the course of the game.
And just look at how colorful that chart is! It’s like a freaking Mac froze. Even within these pie slices you have some crazy variance as well. Different bosses, mini games, races, all on top of the exploration of unique and varied worlds and creative platforming. It’s a smorgasbord of content with way more hits than misses, which brings me to the final point of acclaim for this title.
And while I personally consider most of the missions to be enjoyable outside of the fucking insane fishing minigame (seriously, the insta-fails are insane here), if they don’t suit someone’s fancy they can always mosey on over to another area to give that a try. And with these three pillars of natural exploration, variety, and player choice Jak and Daxter becomes a 3D platformer that stands firm against the test of time.
Bosses
Although while that’s true, I wish the boss fights held up as well. They’re not… bad, per se, but they do fall a bit short as the climactic ends to the game’s first and second halves, not really functioning as an all-encompassing test of a player’s skill set up to that point. They’re fun, but not amazing.
The first fight isn’t even required. And while it’s cool having a completely optional boss fight the player has to stumble upon themselves, the fight itself is pretty annoying. Basically this giant plant sits in the background, occasionally sending out enemies or coming in for a bite while Jak tries to dodge on a tiny platform.
When the spikes on the spider plants recede Jak can kill them to weaken the boss. The plant then holds out platforms that allow the player to jump up and smack it in the face. Rinse and repeat three times with more enemies and projectiles and the fight is won.
The idea behind the fight is fine, but the collision detection for both landing on the leaf platforms and hitting the boss are wonky enough to make it frustrating, especially with the tiny platform making the tiny enemies incredibly difficult to dodge for a first boss fight. It’s nothing awful, just kinda irritating. Though the effect it has on the environment with the dead vines everywhere does make the ending feel satisfying.
The next boss is mandatory to finish up the game’s second act, the giant lurker, Klaww. This big guy stands in lava and shoots exploding boulders out of its arm cannon that Jak must dodge by jumping from rock to rock until one of them reveals some blue eco.
Upon getting the eco, you’re able to run across a newly formed bridge while dodging more rocks to get some yellow eco. With this you can shoot the lurker to make it drop the giant rock it’s creating on its head. The rock will then chase you back to the starting platforms, rinse and repeat three times, and the fight is over.
Certain aspects of this fight I really like. The difficulty feels appropriate for this point in the game, the three stages to damaging the boss makes the fight feel a bit dynamic, and the use of eco in a boss fight is pretty cool.
On the other hand, the inability to look up makes seeing the incoming boulders tricky from time to time, aiming the yellow eco shots can be a pain in the ass in both first and third person, and oh my god the insta-death!
Yeah, I’ll dive more into this soon, but the fact that jumping into the lava kills Jak instantly resetting the entire fight is just awful. You could be at the very end of the battle and still have to redo the whole thing because of one slip up.
And with the perspective shifted downward while forcing the player to jump from platform to platform, this fight can definitely become annoying after a while if you die to the lava too much.
Lastly we have the final confrontation against Gol and Maia’s precursor robot. This is the only fight that had some decent foreshadowing with the robot having been shown in the spider cave earlier, which is a pretty neat detail. Easily the best clash in the game, this one has five unique phases that all work pretty well.
First, the player needs to blast the robot with some yellow eco. They can then use the blue eco vent and platform to jump away and dodge the bomb covering the entire field. For phase two we use more yellow eco to dispatch the spiked lurkers emerging from the pool and jump over another bomb.
The third phase involves dodging rings emerging from the exploding balls sent on stage, shooting the robot again and dodging the next bomb. Stage four revolves around dodging a giant energy blast while shooting off the robot’s second arm.
And to conclude the battle players grab a white eco blob while dodging the electricity emitters. This allows Jak to shoot a massive energy blast that destroys the robot and sends Gol and Maia to their dooms.
The variety, difficulty, and uniqueness of this fight are exactly what I wanted this game to deliver and it’s a fantastic way to conclude the game. The fight even ramps up in difficulty and tension by opening up the deadly dark eco pool more and more with each phase. And while I’m not typically a fan of instant death pits, for the final battle it’s pretty appropriate.
While I can’t really say that this game’s boss fights blew me away, I still think it’s important to talk about them. Boss fights are meant to be a challenge of the skills a player has honed up to that point as well as a satisfying way to conclude a portion of the game.
The Precursor Legacy’s bosses are alright. The idea of an optional fight is cool, but ends up feeling disappointing when you realize it’s the only one in the game. Nothing amazing, nothing terrible, I just wish they either had a few more or utilized Jak’s specific powers to create something that could only exist in this game, but for now let’s move on.
World Design
The Last element of this game I feel needs to be discussed is the world design. So far we’ve covered the controls, levels, mechanics, and missions, but not how to come together to form a cohesive whole. And Precursor Legacy pulls this off surprisingly well.
First, while I mentioned the lack of loading screens earlier I can’t help but to bring it up again. This game’s ability to avoid hard cuts or transitions between levels is astounding, particularly for the time, but it wouldn’t mean much if this was just a gimmick, so what does this do for the gameplay?
Well for one it makes each level much more easily explored. No going into and out of buildings over and over to find that last precursor orb, instead just walk around the map without interruption. It also lets the player really feel the impact of their actions.
Since levels feel connected to one another, but are still separated into closed off areas, it’s much easier to think of them as a complete world, which is only improved by the amount of choice the player is given in which quests to perform.
The amount of player choice here is phenomenal. Out of the 101 power cells players can grab in the game, only 12 are necessary to complete the game: 4 in the tutorial, 4 during the final mission, 3 zoomer rides through the canyon, and one boss fight. And while the fight against gol and maia doesn’t yield a power cell, it would be the 13th mission required to finish, with the other power cells being completely optional as long as you get enough to continue the story.
That’s a lot of choice granted to the player, which ties everything together perfectly by ensuring that all of the mission variety doesn’t become a weakness for the game. By giving the player a choice in which missions to attempt, players who may not enjoy a particular mechanic or game type are able to try out the others and still have a quality experience.
It all comes together to feel like a more expanded version of a game like Banjo-Kazooie without becoming overwhelming. However, it’s not perfect.
The sage huts are an effective way to teleport around the world, but I think it would have been much more convenient to put teleporters in front of every level to reduce long treks through empty areas when travelling between stages. Especially in hubs like the Volcanic Crater where the mine carts are just super slow and boring to ride after just one or two trips.
There could have also been a few more pathways between levels. Why not give the spider cave a tunnel connecting to snowy mountain? Or have one of the jungle’s blue eco launchers lead to a hidden power cell on sentinel beach?
If I had to guess, it’s likely due to hardware limitations, so it’s understandable. Plus it doesn’t change that fact that for the most part this game succeeds at making a wonderful world that’s just begging to be explored.
Conclusion
And that’s exactly why this game exceeds expectations. Jak and Daxter The Precursor Legacy is a game that should be mediocre. It uses rehashed ideas from the previous generation’s most popular genre to make what should have turned out to be a cheap knockoff. Instead, it stands to this very day as one of the finest examples of a 3D platformer ever made.
That desire for exploration that the design of this game instills in its players is something that so few games truly understand and that’s exactly what makes Jak and Daxter so special. It doesn’t give you a map and tell you to go here or there and do the thing, but instead gives you a world and tells you to have fun and do your own thing.
It’s this kind of design philosophy that makes games like Breath of the Wild so revered today. Piquing a player’s sense of curiosity and nearly always delivering with a fun and rewarding gameplay experience around every corner.
It not only utilizes the best elements of its predecessors to create a fun experience for fans of the genre, but refines them while adding in that Naughty Dog originality to make this game something truly unique and special. If you haven’t tried this one out for yourself, I can’t recommend it highly enough.
That concludes my thoughts on Jak 1. Next month I’ll be uploading another video covering the sequel, Jak 2 and that game is… weeeeeeellllllllll… Let’s just say that video should be interesting, so be sure to subscribe to get notified when it’s dropped, but for now thanks for watching and have a mighty nifty day today!