Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy Review
A Journalistic Review by DefiantParrot
*Warning: Contains Spoilers*
Originally Written: 02/07/2019
Developer: Naughty Dog
Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment
Platform: Playstation 2
Genre: Action, Platformer
Release: December 3, 2001
Ahh my childhood. The Playstation 2 is my favorite video game console of all time, it was the last I ever got to play with my dad, it was here I began to really take my gaming seriously and it has some of my favorite video games of all time.
Shadow of the Colossus, Ratchet & Clank, God of War, Grand Theft Auto, Sly Cooper, Kingdom Hearts, Prince of Persia AHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!
But this one, this one holds a special place in my heart, I remember the first time I laid eyes on the cover of the game, I recognized from the advertisements I saw for it on TV, where that little orange shit was annoying people.
I asked my mom if we could get it, I was ten years old at the time and when we left that pawn shop I had the game in my hands.
One thing I love about this game is the lore and world, it is kinda generic admittedly. Stop me if you've heard this before there was an ancient civilization known as the Precursors who left behind amazing technology and wonder, then mysteriously disappeared.
Yeah never heard of that right except for: The Jedi, The Protheons, The Forerunners, The Dwemer, seriously I have pages of these.
But these Precursors harnessed and utilized Eco, which in this game is like the worlds multi-colored life energy, Eco allows you to perform several different feats.
The story starts with two boys Jak and Daxter exploring an island covered in mist so called, Misty Island (go figure)
When they are attacked by Lurkers, the monsters of this series and Daxter falls into a pit of Dark Eco turning into the orange fucker from earlier.
Clearly freaked out by being orange and having no genitals they return to Samos, the Sage of Green Eco who tells them to seek the aid of Gol Acheron, the Dark Eco Sage.
So there's the plot an adventure across Jak and Daxters colorful open world to seek aid in returning Daxter to his original form.
Yes I said open world, amazingly enough it is entirely possible to walk or drive from one end of Jak and Daxters world to the other end of it with little to no loading screens! (provided you have enough MacGuffins to do it)
This amazed me when I was a child I had never played GTA so this was all new to me, there's even a day/night cycle! Yeah I know this kind of thing is taken for granted these days but back on the PS2 this was cool as hell to see.
The characters here I fell in love with too. Yes even Daxters loud mouth can be pretty funny and charming, Samos' anger at Daxters annoyance and his constant prodding about how the two could never be heroes is entertaining and it is cool to see his growth as our adventure continues. Keira, Samos' daughter is also pretty cool, she's the one who creates the tech that Jak and Daxter must use on their adventure and she's probably one of my first video game crushes. DON'T JUDGE ME!!
Then there's Jak... who doesn't speak... silent protagonist. FUCK! Admittedly here the personality and charm of these characters shine through at all times even for Jak. His facial expressions and actions speak enough for him but.... ugh still annoys me.
The game for the time looked amazing and to this day the game can still look really good, watching the sun set over Sandover Village and the night sky come out across the vast landscape can be very lovely, breathtaking even.
But the character models particularly on the main duo themselves are pretty bad, admittedly they look fine during gameplay but in cutscenes ohh god.
Now this game is open world but still linear you cannot progress to the next hub area without enough Power Cells and Precursor Orbs the aforementioned MacGuffins.
Collecting these are not difficult at all, in fact if there is one gripe I'll have with this game is it can be pretty easy, to a mindless degree at times. It's great for getting kids into the genre but for adults eh not much challenge admittedly.
Of course the game might be so easy because the controls are great, aside from one or two camera issues, I never had a problem controlling Jak and Daxter in this game. The platforming is great, the combat while extremely simple works exceptionally well, and watching Jak perform all these acrobatics and watching Daxter hold onto him for dear life can get a laugh quite often.
While on foot sometimes you can collect some of that Eco I mentioned before the effects of these vary.
Blue Eco increases your speed and can activate different Precursor artifacts when nearby.
Red Eco increases your attack damage
Green Eco heals you
Yellow Eco allows you to fire fireballs at enemies
And Dark Eco kills you
These are always a joy to play with, aside from that last one obviously.
Of course you're not only on foot in this game there's also Zoomer gameplay kind of like hover bikes, and Flut Flut gameplay. An adorable blue bird you can platform around on who I swear to god is a ancestor from Yoshi.
These two don't come up as often as the on foot gameplay especially the Flut Flut but there's no problem with their controls either. I kind of wish there were more of these because platforming with the Flut Flut is fun as hell and can break certain platforming challenges.
Sadly you won't have the chance to test your skills against many bosses in this game, counting a flower mini-boss and the final boss there are only three during the entire game. Which gives me God of War flashbacks in how disappointed I am.
It's not just the visuals in this game that are great, the music is fantastic. Each area has their own track and the music has stayed with me all this time. I love the Sandover Beach track, the Misty Island darker music and of course the final boss fight music.
The sound here is great in general actually whether I'm bobbing my head to the music or kicking a lurker in the face, the sound of activating Blue Eco, or crunching an enemy with a downward attack, simply satisfying.
The level variety here covers all bases from a beautiful beach to a lush jungle, a lava hub is a highlight, a snowy mountain and of course a Spider Cave YEAH THAT'S WHAT THIS GAME FUCKING NEEDED!!
*ahem*
You'll never get sick of the locations here.
All that is great but it's the little things in this game that I appreciate so much.
Every time you collect a Power Cell Daxter dances, seeing the wreckage of the final boss in levels are great foreshadowing, the Crash Bandicoot reference in Samos' hut, Daxter's smartass remarks if you die these are all charming as hell.
But there's also a few little things that annoy me as well, I've mentioned most of them but one of the big ones is there is really no point in getting 100% in this game. To do this you must collect all 101 Power Cells and all 2000 Precursor Orbs, which I did not do for this review but have done in the past.
They're a fair challenge to collect admittedly, but all you get for collecting all of these is a final cutscene. that teases the sequel Jak II. It's not a good tease, and in the days of YouTube where you can look this up if you're so curious, and in a time where Jak II and several other sequels have come out, yeah don't bother.
All in all I was so happy to revisit one of my childhood classics, but is it as good as I remember? Hell yeah it is, it certainly isn't perfect but I feel confident giving this game my...
Silver Seal of Recommendation
If you somehow haven't given this series a try I highly suggest you do so, especially if you like platformers. The game was rereleased on the PS3 and recently the PS4 so it's easy to access. Please give the series a try if you can and feel free to tell me about your adventures with Jak and Daxter.
*Warning: Contains Spoilers*
Originally Written: 02/07/2019
 |
| Nice to see you again boys |
Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment
Platform: Playstation 2
Genre: Action, Platformer
Release: December 3, 2001
Ahh my childhood. The Playstation 2 is my favorite video game console of all time, it was the last I ever got to play with my dad, it was here I began to really take my gaming seriously and it has some of my favorite video games of all time.
Shadow of the Colossus, Ratchet & Clank, God of War, Grand Theft Auto, Sly Cooper, Kingdom Hearts, Prince of Persia AHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!
But this one, this one holds a special place in my heart, I remember the first time I laid eyes on the cover of the game, I recognized from the advertisements I saw for it on TV, where that little orange shit was annoying people.
I asked my mom if we could get it, I was ten years old at the time and when we left that pawn shop I had the game in my hands.
One thing I love about this game is the lore and world, it is kinda generic admittedly. Stop me if you've heard this before there was an ancient civilization known as the Precursors who left behind amazing technology and wonder, then mysteriously disappeared.
Yeah never heard of that right except for: The Jedi, The Protheons, The Forerunners, The Dwemer, seriously I have pages of these.
But these Precursors harnessed and utilized Eco, which in this game is like the worlds multi-colored life energy, Eco allows you to perform several different feats.
 |
| Think I'll take my next vacation here |
When they are attacked by Lurkers, the monsters of this series and Daxter falls into a pit of Dark Eco turning into the orange fucker from earlier.
Clearly freaked out by being orange and having no genitals they return to Samos, the Sage of Green Eco who tells them to seek the aid of Gol Acheron, the Dark Eco Sage.
So there's the plot an adventure across Jak and Daxters colorful open world to seek aid in returning Daxter to his original form.
Yes I said open world, amazingly enough it is entirely possible to walk or drive from one end of Jak and Daxters world to the other end of it with little to no loading screens! (provided you have enough MacGuffins to do it)
 |
| Smart, funny, and beautiful... WAY out of my league |
The characters here I fell in love with too. Yes even Daxters loud mouth can be pretty funny and charming, Samos' anger at Daxters annoyance and his constant prodding about how the two could never be heroes is entertaining and it is cool to see his growth as our adventure continues. Keira, Samos' daughter is also pretty cool, she's the one who creates the tech that Jak and Daxter must use on their adventure and she's probably one of my first video game crushes. DON'T JUDGE ME!!
Then there's Jak... who doesn't speak... silent protagonist. FUCK! Admittedly here the personality and charm of these characters shine through at all times even for Jak. His facial expressions and actions speak enough for him but.... ugh still annoys me.
The game for the time looked amazing and to this day the game can still look really good, watching the sun set over Sandover Village and the night sky come out across the vast landscape can be very lovely, breathtaking even.
 |
| I mean damn, DAMN this takes me back |
Now this game is open world but still linear you cannot progress to the next hub area without enough Power Cells and Precursor Orbs the aforementioned MacGuffins.
Collecting these are not difficult at all, in fact if there is one gripe I'll have with this game is it can be pretty easy, to a mindless degree at times. It's great for getting kids into the genre but for adults eh not much challenge admittedly.
Of course the game might be so easy because the controls are great, aside from one or two camera issues, I never had a problem controlling Jak and Daxter in this game. The platforming is great, the combat while extremely simple works exceptionally well, and watching Jak perform all these acrobatics and watching Daxter hold onto him for dear life can get a laugh quite often.
While on foot sometimes you can collect some of that Eco I mentioned before the effects of these vary.
Blue Eco increases your speed and can activate different Precursor artifacts when nearby.
Red Eco increases your attack damage
Green Eco heals you
 |
| Utilizing the different types of Eco is a highlight |
These are always a joy to play with, aside from that last one obviously.
Of course you're not only on foot in this game there's also Zoomer gameplay kind of like hover bikes, and Flut Flut gameplay. An adorable blue bird you can platform around on who I swear to god is a ancestor from Yoshi.
 |
| I named her Vigilance |
Sadly you won't have the chance to test your skills against many bosses in this game, counting a flower mini-boss and the final boss there are only three during the entire game. Which gives me God of War flashbacks in how disappointed I am.
It's not just the visuals in this game that are great, the music is fantastic. Each area has their own track and the music has stayed with me all this time. I love the Sandover Beach track, the Misty Island darker music and of course the final boss fight music.
The sound here is great in general actually whether I'm bobbing my head to the music or kicking a lurker in the face, the sound of activating Blue Eco, or crunching an enemy with a downward attack, simply satisfying.
The level variety here covers all bases from a beautiful beach to a lush jungle, a lava hub is a highlight, a snowy mountain and of course a Spider Cave YEAH THAT'S WHAT THIS GAME FUCKING NEEDED!!
*ahem*
You'll never get sick of the locations here.
All that is great but it's the little things in this game that I appreciate so much.
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/62644147/PREVIEW_SCREENSHOT7_155489.0.jpg) |
| This game oozes charm I'm telling you |
But there's also a few little things that annoy me as well, I've mentioned most of them but one of the big ones is there is really no point in getting 100% in this game. To do this you must collect all 101 Power Cells and all 2000 Precursor Orbs, which I did not do for this review but have done in the past.
They're a fair challenge to collect admittedly, but all you get for collecting all of these is a final cutscene. that teases the sequel Jak II. It's not a good tease, and in the days of YouTube where you can look this up if you're so curious, and in a time where Jak II and several other sequels have come out, yeah don't bother.
All in all I was so happy to revisit one of my childhood classics, but is it as good as I remember? Hell yeah it is, it certainly isn't perfect but I feel confident giving this game my...
Silver Seal of Recommendation
 |
| For when the others did it just a bit better. |
If you somehow haven't given this series a try I highly suggest you do so, especially if you like platformers. The game was rereleased on the PS3 and recently the PS4 so it's easy to access. Please give the series a try if you can and feel free to tell me about your adventures with Jak and Daxter.
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