Jak & Daxter: The Precursor Legacy Member Review for the PS2

JAK AND DAXTER THE PRECURSOR LEGACY

A NEW LEGACY IS BORN...



Introduction and Presentation
- From the creators from the Crash Bandicoot series, Naughty Dog wanted to make a game of their own after millions of copies of 'Crash Bandicoot games' they had to sell the franchise to a different company to see what they can do on their own.. Until then Jak & Daxter series was here...



Plot and Story
- The beginning of the story starts out when Samos the sage narrates the story about the universe and the powerful substances which are Eco as meanwhile two best friends Jak and Daxter go off on a boat to a forbidden area known as 'Misty Island' where they are then introduced to two mysterious villains who have an army of Lurkers. As the two come across they encounter Dark Eco a substance which is of an unknown function. After Jak had a fight with a Lurker, Daxter is accidently pushed into the pool and ejected out and transformed into an ottsel (hybrid of an otter and a weasel) though unharmed he is shockingly upset.
 Returning to their village of Sandover, they seek help from Samos who states that only Gol Acheron, the Sage of Dark Eco, could change Daxter back.
As not only does Jak go on his adventure to try to find to change Daxter back he shows heroic deeds. As where Jak and Daxter go off on their quest they are aided by Kera Samos' daughter who gives them information of new things what have been going on.



Gameplay and Level Design
- The game of the Jak & Daxter series is set on a fictional planet created by Naughty Dog specifically for the game. It has different areas that have various environment themes such as a few villages, a sunny beach, forbidden island, tropical jungle, swamps, forest, volcanoes, creepy caves and snowy glaciers.
Jak and Daxter hold similarities to platform games such as 'Banjo-Kazooie' and 'Super Mario 64'. The player has access to super-human abilities such as double-jumping, a rapid spinning kick, and sustaining only limited damage through falling from great heights and the ability to swim in water. Injuries are accounted for by way of a life meter which has a green meter which has three hit points as it will decrease when he gets hit by too many enemies, falls from long bottomless cliffs as pitfalls and or makes contact with hazardous surfaces such as lava or Dark Eco which will destroy you in one hit. Sometimes if you get defeated at times you'll get a REALLY hilarious scene with Daxter talking to you when you get knocked out.
There are also transportation that lets the player traverse through hazardous places that are hot climates when they are made of lava, water that is too deep to swim past as that is Keira's A-Grav Zoomer (essentially a hover bike) equipped with a heat shield fueled with enough Power Cells (spheres of energy). As there is the Zoomer there is also a Flut-Flut Bird which can jump farther distances across large gaps or cliffs and can cross waters that are too harmful for Jak and Daxter to traverse through on foot.
In the game there is also types of Eco to use to your advantage, there is Green Eco which replenishes health and gives your life, Blue Eco which powers energy and charges machinery, Red Eco which will give you super strength and kill more enemies at once, Yellow Eco which will give you the ability of projectile that will give you the ability to shoot enemies from greater distances and destroy unbreakable crates. There is also hazardous Eco such as Dark Eco found in pools and in crates Dark Eco will explode if you go near or touch it and it can also kill too that is the same substance that turned Daxter into an ottsel and there is also White / Light Eco as it is NEAR THE END OF THE GAME.
The game will have you collect and find egg shaped artifacts called Precursor orbs which can be traded in with Power cells. There are also 7 Scout flies in each area and level and power cells throughout the journey, the Power cells are a important precursor artifact that will let you go on forward on each mission and when you collect all 101 (or if that is too much 100) power cells then you will unlock an alternate ending.



Graphics, Visuals and Character design
- The graphics in the game are similar and reminiscent to the ones found into Crash Bandicoot as they give it the same feel of it as you are playing the classics. They are neatly polished and detailed. As the character models look okay and the backgrounds and environments have a lot of solid shadowing and lighting here and there. Everything in the environment has a linear atmosphere and fits in with the creativity it has in the jungle and ruins environments in the game have a very realistic feel to it. The water has a good depth of transparency and well-toned down, you can see the detailing in the grass and look well at the texturing into the areas. The enviornments have good visuals.
Character designs are cartoonish and a bit less shadowed, detailed and brighter, overall giving it the original Crash Bandicoot game feel to it. Half of the time they do look like they have the traditional American cartoon and Japanese Anime look to them, but look almost similar to Disney minus all the happy carefree musicals.



Controls and Frame rate
- After you load the game there is no loading time whatsoever as it is 100% sure as you won't have to just wait for hours for it to start. The camera angles are highly fair and give you time to have you turn and see what is going on. The perspective gives you a view what goes around in the background and scenery, there are no problems with the controls as when you are given enough time. When you have a 3rd person view you will get a look all around.  When you go to a nearby ledge it will work at times but sometimes you won't always reach it, not too precise not too much either. Collision detection is fine it’s just the same how it is in previous games as if you get touched by an enemy you'll take damage.



Sound effects, Music and Voice acting
- Sound effects are unique and fit where they belong as where you collect the Precursor orb it is very similar how other games have their own sound effect.
Voice acting moderately fits the characters in the game and their personalities and as Daxter voiced by Max Casella did his job and made him as funny as he can be. Most of the others are a bit decent and not too cheesy. 
The soundtrack is fairly well done for this game as it sounds like the music in this game sounds a lot like the music from the Crash Bandicoot series of PS1. It can also be noted that PS1 Crash Bandicoot's music was also composed by the same music company as they do use the same instruments and background based patterns.
Sound effects and music are equal to that of them found in Crash Bandicoot as the voice acting its very amusing and quite fits the characters.


Overall
 - The game has its fair share of being funny and altogether playable, the story is interesting, graphics are solid, polished, detailed and well done, controls work well, music is very good, sound effects are unique and voice acting is quite funny. As there is no loading time whatsoever.
But there is the same traditional gameplay and almost nothing new on the table here. But this is a game I would recommend to others who would play this or whoever have children and or who have grandchildren would go pick it up.
Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy is a game I would go play no matter how old I get. Go get this at a store or off Amazon as you shall like it.




Plot and Story - 8 / 10
Gameplay and Level design - 9 / 10
Graphics, Visuals and Character design - 9 / 10
Controls and Frame rate - 8 / 10
Music, Sound Effects and Voices - 9 / 10