Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy

When Naughty Dog abandoned the Crash Bandicoot series two years ago, many wondered if they had lost their minds. Then a few weeks before E3 2001 began, Naughty Dog released a teaser trailer for Jak and Daxter, the long-awaited successor to Crash Bandicoot. Only large, organic-looking worlds were shown in the trailer, but it was all they needed to show to silence the critics and get gamers excited again. Fast forward several months to the present time. After waiting for so long to get my hands on Naughty Dog's new classic-in-the-making, I was lucky enough to snag a copy of the Jak and Daxter demo disc.

It becomes clear from the start of the game that Jak and Daxter is Sony's very own Mario. Sony's true Mario. Crash Bandicoot was stuck in the 2.5D dimension, and Croc was rather boring. Nintendo wasn't content with releasing a second Mario game on Nintendo 64, so Rare attempted to create one themselves. The end result was a slower-paced platformer called Banjo-Kazooie. Although enjoyable at times, the unimaginative characters, annoying voice-overs and the annoying music are what kept it from being the Mario clone every gamer was longing for. Even Sega's Sonic Adventure lacked the depth of Mario 64. I never thought I'd see the day when I'd play a game with just as much depth, fun and excitement as Nintendo's masterpiece. And it's not even developed by Nintendo, nor does it star Mario, Donkey Kong or any other familiar character.

Since this is not the final version of the game, I cannot say for certain that the controls are perfect, but so far, they're closer to perfection than any platformer I have played this year. Jak moves so smoothly in the third dimension that I am no longer able to play Klonoa 2 without thinking about how much better the game could have been in 3D. That is, if Naughty Dog was at the helm of the project. Jak can run, jump and double jump just like any other platformer, but it's the way that it feels when performing such actions that makes this game so great. Words cannot describe it. The game's magic consumes you the minute you pick up the controller. As much as I hate to admit, Jak and Daxter is proof that it does take a fairly long amount of time to create a truly unique and memorable game. Then again, it took Klonoa 2 three years to get here, and it isn't half as good as Jak and Daxter.

Although this is only a demo, the game appears as if it could go on forever. The only thing holding you back is the time limit, which resets the game every 15 minutes. Within the demo, there are several items to collect, including: seven flies, eight red orbs and 150 eggs. Flies are found inside of red boxes, which must be head-stomped to open. To head stomp, press X to jump and hit the square button to slam your head into the ground. Eggs can be found just about everywhere in the game. There are also green orbs, which are obtained by breaking boxes, defeating enemies, etc. Collect 50 of the green orbs to replenish one of your three health slots.

The red orbs are a lot like the stars in Mario 64. You obtain them by accomplishing by various tasks in the game. Some tasks are  as easy as finding the red orb in a hidden (or in some cases, obvious) location, while others are much more difficult. One of the harder tasks in the demo puts you up against a horde of enemies in a sealed off coliseum. They don't patiently wait their turn to attack -- they all attack at once! Any enemies that are killed are immediately replaced by another. Some of the enemies leave behind glowing red orbs (different from the eight orbs you are trying to collect) that allow Jak to be faster and with more power. If you collect four of these particular orbs, his increased power will last for a longer period of time. This makes finishing off the remaining enemies a lot easier.

One of the coolest things about Jak and Daxter is the A-Gravity Zoomer, a rocket-like hovercraft that Jak can use to freely roam certain parts of the water surrounding the island. Jak can swim, but there's an enormous fish lurking around and if Jak stays in the water for any length of time, the fish will swallow him whole. So it's better (and more fun) to use the A-Gravity Zoomer. Judging by the screenshots released earlier in the year, the A-Gravity Zoomer appears to be one of many vehicles that Jak can control. Such diversity is rarely found in a platformer. Jak and Daxter isn't even out yet and it's already living up to the hype. December 4th is the official release date and believe me, it couldn't come soon enough.