The Precursor Legacy is one of the finest platformer games ever made.
The story begins as two friends; Jak, a silent and reserved boy, and his loudmouthed friend Daxter go against the advice of their mentor Samos, the Sage of Green Eco, one of the various energies of the universe, and explore the mysterious Misty Island. There, an incident results in Daxter falling into a vat of Dark Eco and turning into an ottsel (a otter-weasel hybrid). When they meet with Samos again, he tells them that Daxter can only be turned back by finding Gol Acheron, the Sage of Dark Eco. With the help of Samos and his daughter Keira, the duo journey north in hopes of turning Daxter back into a human. As they travel, they must also try to stop a plot in order to destroy the world by flooding it with Dark Eco.
The game sort of plays out like Super Mario 64. Jak and Daxter travel around the various areas of their universe in search of the various collectibles scattered around them. The main things to acquire in this game are Power Cells which allow the two friends to progress further north. Some of these Power Cells are right in the open while others require you to do certain things, which can primarily consist of you helping people out in various ways. One of which being you paying them the currency of this game; egg-like objects known as 'Precursor Orbs'. Another way to find Power Cells is to collect Scout Flies; 7 of these are hidden in every area trapped in crates which you need to ground pound in order to open them.
In order to progress through certain challenges in the game, there are various forms of Eco that Jak can channel. Green Eco is used for your health, which operates on a 3-hit system. You can regain health by collecting 50 'pellets' of green Eco. Blue Eco is used to power machinery and will also allow you to move faster and attract certain objects towards you. When you find Red Eco, your attacks will become more powerful. Finally, Yellow Eco allows you to shoot energy projectiles at enemies. You also progress farther and find some Power Cells by riding vehicles like the Aero Grav Zoomer, a hovercraft built by Keira which Jak and Daxter can use to travel across lava and water. However, if you stay over lava for too long, you can risk overheating the vehicle. Also, after finding another Power Cell, you can ride a bird which can double jump across long distances.
Jak's controls are what you would normally expect for a platforming game. The X button is used for jumping, the Square button is your basic charge attack, and the Circle button is your spin attack. When jumping, pressing the Square button will make Jak do a Ground Pound while the Circle button will do a jumping spin attack. When holding the L1 button when you are not moving, pressing X will have you do a high jump. When you are moving, you will do a roll which can also help you to get across long distances. The camera is controlled by rotating the Right Analog Stick and pressing the Triangle button will go into first-person view.
These controls are perfect and does not feel broken at all. For a PS2 game, the graphics are some of the best the console has to offer. The overall design very much feels like something out of a Disney movie. The only real complaint about the gameplay is that the tasks where you have to collect Precursor Orbs in order to pay locals for Power Cells gets a little repetitive. Overall, this game isn't really that long but it's worth replaying a gain at least once. All in all, this is a fantastic game from beginning to end and one of the best platforming games not just on the PlayStation 2, but all time.