Jak and Daxter is highly entertaining for its snappy humor and streamlined playability, so don't miss this platformer!
You essentially play solely as Jak, the mute hero of the story who is accompanied by the very vocal and comical Daxter, your friend that magically has been turned into a small, talking ferret looking animal by a sinister substance called Dark Eco. He resides on your shoulder for the duration of the game, as you pursue not only a cure but answers to the mysterious presence of the Eco. The answers also seem tied to the presence of ruins and artifacts of an ancient civilization called the Precursors. As with any platformer, there are plenty of collectibles in the overworked and levels that are needed to progress through the game, and these are mostly in the form of Precursor artifacts.
Speaking of the levels and overworld, they are completely seamless which is something uncommon to behold in games. When high up, being able to see the rest of an area, or possibly the rest of the whole map gives the world a grand sense of scale, and kudos should go to the designers for that.
If there is anything to criticize about the game, it's maybe two things. One is that as the game progresses, Jak pics up nothing new in terms of moves or skills. You have your move arsenal when the game starts, and nothing changes. And you should definitely read the manual to know what those moves are since there are no in-game tutorials, something that perhaps we take for granted now. Also, there is a very small number of bosses in the game, and there are times when I felt like the challenge would have been welcome.
Jak and Daxter may not bring anything novel to the platformer genre, but it certainly deserves to stand aside the best of the best. It plays incredibly well, and the art direction is superb with beautifully rendered environments, and charming, quirky characters that make it memorable. Perhaps that is why the franchise has always been so highly regarded.