Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy is a game whose legacy is intertwined with both that of its creators and their peers, one-third of the great factional split between PS2 owners: Jak, Ratchet, or Sly? Of the three, Jak is the series with the least coherent identity, having abandoned its foundation to compete with the raunchier, more violent third-person shooters that were entering the home console zeitgeist. If you'd grown up with the later games in the series, you might find it hard to believe the original entry in the series was Naughty Dog's lighthearted love letter to the collect-a-thon platformers of the previous generation, and overall uninterested in violent power fantasies or GTA-style mission hubs.
The premise of Jak 1 is to embark on a dangerous quest through your home island to find Gol, a corrupted sage who is plotting the destruction of the world, and force him to turn Daxter back into a person. Along the way, you'll collect power cells to continue the quest past more dangerous obstacles by doing a variety of usual platforming things - climbing stuff, completing obstacle courses, and the occasional oddjob. Jak's movement is punchy and smooth, with jumps and attacks weaving into each other in fun ways. The aerial attack, a downward ground-pound, actually bounces Jak into the air which can be used to pull off higher jumps. The "long jump" has a small rolling build-up making it more situational than in, say, Mario 64, but as a tradeoff it also doubles as an attack. The O-button attack, a Crash-style spin used for crowd control, can be used in the air to slow your descent and slightly increase horizontal distance. In some of the more intense gauntlets, you'll be jumping and punching in strict rhythms under some time constraint, and the controls are definitely responsive enough to make these challenging without frustration. My one major control gripe is that Jak can only add a second jump to his leap if X is tapped again before he begins his descent, which is earlier on than one might anticipate and goes against more conventional "gamer logic" wherein the delay between the two jumps is maximized as a safety mechanism and correctional tool. You'll have to be a bit more careful and precise with Jak than many other platformer characters.
The major levels are seamlessly woven into the hubworld, with no loading screens at all, giving the world a sense of physical plausibility and cohesion - if you believe Guinness's Book of World Records, its the first of its kind. Every stage physically lies in the area that you'd imagine they do given their entrances, and you can even see landmarks from other areas if you can find the right vantage point. It's really incredible and the logical next-gen progression of the Banjo-Kazooie framework. The grounded setting is also a bit of a content downfall, though. It is difficult to create a platformer in a semi-realistic physical space (especially one in a tropical setting) that doesn't seep into some of gaming's oldest level theme cliches. Outside of an ancient, Atlantean-inspired underwater city, the theming is standard affair. The stages themselves are incredibly designed, however, with all of the power cells and collectible orbs available at all times. A heavy emphasis on loops and circular design lands the player back in familiar territory after platforming gauntlets and more linear paths. There's almost no backtracking to speak of, and doing a clean sweep of a level in one go is incredibly satisfying. The variety of challenges is also consistently high, with some instant classics like punching a power cell out of a giant bird's stomach and racing it to the landing, or punching cows back into a stable, or ascending an underground construction site of an ancient mech. While not all cells are major setpieces, they are logically placed and rewarding to find.
Like many games in the genre, there are a series of minigame cells that are of variable quality. Some are collected in vehicle-only sections on your trusty Zoomer, all of which I have no problems with because the thing controls like a dream, with sharp cornering and a reasonable top speed - most importantly, the game never asks too much from the player in these areas, as it's not the focus. However, a few cells are completed while atop the child of the giant bird mentioned previously, and its slippery control scheme was just different enough from the base controls to feel frustrating to reign in. This compounded with the ice physics in Snowy Mountain felt like too much of a diversion from the skills you're meant to accumulate across your journey. Finally, there are two different one-off minigames that are completely out of place - a fish collecting game with twitchy controls and a defense shooter in first-person that lies about its instructions in its introductory cutscene. These were bizarre inclusions to say the least and they stick out as particularly unwelcome, but it's worth mentioning that they are optional and merely 2 of 105 cells across the entire game.
Beyond some bizarre difficulty spikes with some side-missions, a sort of unconventional feeling character to control, and a fantasy-generic setting with dialogue on the kid-friendly and cartoonish side, Jak is a thoroughly well-thought out game with many decisions made to bring the collect-a-thon framework into the 6th generation of consoles. The cohesive world and lighthearted tone lend itself well to a sense of adventure, and the outstanding level design keeps progress fast and satisfying. It's one of the few games I'd say a majority of people 100% just because it's so accessible and fast-paced in its structure. Minor grievances aside, this is a highly-replayable landmark title for the genre and one of the very best of its ilk in the 6th generation. To this day, Naughty Dog's gritty, trope-riddled reboot of the series in the later entries is one of the more disappointing directions a series has ever taken.
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