The developer had a chance to improve on the classic formula but they failed where it really counts.
The Bad.
1. Atrocious camera. The camera swivels every which way making you want to barf, it's too close so you can never see what is going on around your character, it restricts your view so you can only see a couple of inches on either side of you and it gets lost behind objects and gets stuck behind collisions all the time. The characters move way to quickly for the camera to follow so that half the time you're not even seeing where Jak is. The worst thing is, is that this was already a broken camera system in Jak 2 & 3 that Naughty Dog failed to fix. You figure someone would have caught on.
2. Bad Controls - Naughty dog had a fairly weak auto aim feature to be used with the guns in Jak 2 and 3. Nothing has changed. The auto aim is just as sloppy as ever, the only way to really win is to simply spam on the button and hope that you'll hit something.
3. Clunky flying mechanics & bad camera get in the way of a truly enjoyable flying experience. The environments are also quite restrictive and with the camera jammed up the plane's butt you can barely see the obstacles as they slam into you when you fly by.
4. Horrible Radar - the textures and symbols used on the radar are fuzzy and even with it you might have a hard time finding your way.
5. Graphics way below Jak 2 and 3 standards. It's almost as if we have taken a ride back in time. The textures and the level composition lack that extra polish that made the Naughty Dog versions shine.
6. Idiotic story with stupid childish plot twists that don't make sense, the pirates are trying to kill me now they're my friends blah blah. The story quality has been slowly going down the tubes with Jak 3 having a fairly weak story plot. The Lost Frontier does nothing to address these concerns as the plot might as well have been pulled form the back of a cereal box. The characters are all one dimensional and forgettable, the surprises and "twists" can be seen a mile away and don't inspire.
7. Jak's character doesn't follow the changes to him and his understanding from the last game Jak 3. Even though Jak 3's plot was weak, at least Jak's darker character or the lose of his father might have left some scars, but no such changes are apparent, it's as if none of the events in Jak 2 or 3 had ever happened.
8. Losing all of his powers & guns and starting from scratch might be a tried and tested way of starting players off on a new footing but the manner in which is done is cliche and only makes the player feel Jak's overall inadequacy.
The Good.
1. Fun Daxter monster change - transforming into Were-daxter is interesting at first but the repetitive bland game-play and horrible camera mar this interesting new addition.
2. Flying a plane - even though it's not fantastic the ability to fly a plane and take part in dogfights is a great idea even if the execution is lacking.
3. Descent interface & menus - easy to understand and providing all the details necessary.
4. Upgrade system - the new upgrade system although rudimentary and not allowing for any particular strategic shopping is never the less a welcome addition over the previous games' lack of upgrades.
4. Descent voice acting - it seems that they managed to retain some of the original voice actors as the voices are well done.
5. Ok looking cut-scenes - they look alright, and you do feel good about watching them, although the art quality is still sub-par and the plot hurts the brain.
There are so many better games out there. Bringing out something on the PS2 which for all intense and purposes is a dead console is worthy of a nod, but unless you really can't afford a next gen console to get the newest Ratchet & Clank or other similar better games, I'd only recommend this to frothing rabid Jak fans.