PS2 GAME RECOMMENDATIONS |

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[#] Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy (Sony, PlayStation 2, 2001)

A world to get lost in, quite literally.

Part of the trifecta of PS2 mascot platformers, Jak was possibly the most anticipated and impressive due to coming from Crash Bandicoot devs Naughty Dog. I don't want to put it like this because I do genuinely respect their work, but sometimes, it feels Naughty Dog does it differently just to do it differently, and The Precursor Legacy is a pretty prime example. This is a lush, sprawling game without load times, naturalistically built without much in the way of "game" identifiers like informational popups or maps. It's impressive, and I got lost all the time, and it just didn't click for me like Sly and Ratchet.

Jak is an elf teenager on a quest to return his friend Daxter back to human form. He sets out to collect precursor orbs and power cells to progress, channeling five different colors of "eco" energy to give himself extra powers. A lot of it is pretty standard collectathon material, but it's definitely satisfying to get a rush of blue eco and collect a ton of precursor orbs at once. Jak controls okay, but you'll need the manual to learn all his moves (which I don't own), and his double jump has a really irritating delay that gets in the way of the platforming.

All of this said, Jak and Daxter is short and sweet. Visually, it's gorgeous--you can practically feel the warm sand of Sentinel Beach underfoot as you rush around collecting green eco and orbs and defeating monsters, and the vehicle sections were genuinely quite fun and break things up. There is a story, but it's pretty thin and just an excuse to get you to collect more things, not to mention how hugely irritating Daxter is, especially when he mocks you on death. Like I said, this is my last place of the PS2 mascot platformers, but I also liked it enough to 100% it. What does that say, about me or the game? You decide.

Recommended for... platformer fans with good navigational skills.

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