A solid platforming title with exceptional character and charm.
Before time remembers, there were the Precursors. The masters of Eco, they were an ancient society that left the world populated with their mysterious machinery. At the start of the game, while exploring a strange, forbidden island, our heroes, Jak and Daxter, manage to run afoul of the villainous Lurkers and two shadowy figures plotting the destruction of the world.
During the scramble to escape, Daxter is bumped into a vat of a mystical substance called Dark Eco and transforms into an orange weasel-like creature. After the pair have safely returned to their home island, they are chastised by Samos the Green Eco Sage for disobeying his warnings about the Misty Island. Samos then tells the duo that their only hope for returning Daxter to his original form is to seek out Gol, the Sage of Dark Eco....
WIth Daxter perched on top of his shoulder, Jak will run, tumble, and most often, jump his way across the world on the pair's quest to find Gol. Controlling Jak is simple enough, if not entirely intuitive. Your first task will in fact be to complete a tutorial mission that explains most, but not all, of Jak's abilities.
And Jak has quite a repertoire of jumps he is capable of performing. He can jump once and then again, in mid-air, to reach higher areas. He can also spin after jumping to float short distances that would be otherwise unreachable. Also, in order to defeat his enemies, Jak is able to punch, spin-kick, and pounce on their heads from above.
During the game you will also come across the various types of Eco that will help Jak in some way to solve puzzles or defeat enemies. Green Eco is the most abundant type and will refill one segment of Jak's life force every time you collect 50 small pieces or 1 large one. Blue Eco will allow Jak to move faster, collect items from a distance as if they were magnetized, and interact with Precursor technology. Yellow Eco gives Jak the power to fire balls of yellow energy from his hands to destroy enemies and objects in the world. Finally, Red Eco increases Jak's attack power making it easier to defeat enemies. Only one of the three (Blue, Yellow, and Red) can be active at once, and all of them are limited by a timer. But as you pick up more globs of Eco, that time will be increased.
The primary objects you will seek throughout your adventure are the Power Cells. There are 101 of these in the entire world, and you will have to collect specific amounts in order to progress through the game. In any given level there will be as few as 2 cells or as many as 7. Smaller areas, such as towns or one of the game's few linear flying levels, will have 2 or 4 while all other levels in the game will have 7 to find.
In order to collect these orbs you will complete various tasks in each level. These may involve simply finding the cells within each level, solving various time-limited tasks, or trading with characters in the game for some of the egg-shaped Precursor Orbs that are strewn about the world. In total, you will collect 2000 orbs, with each level containing between 50 and 200. They are easy enough to find, typically just laying on the ground or inside steel crates. The final way you will collect power cells is by finding the 7 Scout Flies that are located in each level of the game. This task almost seems like a nod to the classic Rare title Banjo-Kazooie by the Naughty Dog staff.
The puzzles in Jak and Daxter are really more physical challenges than brain-teasers, and at some points will strain not only your jumping dexterity, but your patience as well. But each level has at least one or two tasks that are fun as well as challenging. They could even have you scratching your head trying to figure out how you're going to make it from an Eco deposit to the spot you need to reach, before your Eco timer runs out. But really, some of the funnest (and yet briefest) moments from the game will be when Jak is at the controls of his hovering Zoomer vehicle.
The graphics of Jak and Daxter are impressive to say the least. The horizon of the game seems to go on forever, which means you won't ever see any geometry suddenly popping into view. The colors in the game are vibrant and really help to make the world seem alive. The characters and environments are all extraordinarily well designed and very charming. But where the graphics of Jak and Daxter truly shine are the animations. Whether it's Daxter attempts to hang on for dear life as Jak jumps and spins around the level or one of the many in-game cinematics, all of the animations have all of the attention to detail that you would expect more from an animated feature film than a video game.
While not as striking as the graphics, the music and sound effects of Jak and Daxter are also very solid efforts. The sound effects are all well-done and seem to fit well with the overall presentation of the game. Often you may not even notice the music because of it's more driving, percussive (rather than melodious) style, but each piece also goes very well with the theme of each moment in the game. The ample voice acting is all well-performed with quite a few genuinely funny lines. I loved hearing "Little furry dude!" from the sculptor in Sandover Village....
Jak and Daxter can be completed (with all items to be found collected) in right around 10 hours. And there wouldn't be much of a reason to go back and play it, other than nostalgia. That being said, the game can be found either for $20 new as a Greatest Hits title, or between $5 and $10 used. The production values are absolutely stellar and the game provides a fun & rewarding experience for video game fans of any age. The bottom line is that Jak and Daxter is a title that will be enjoyed by every platformer fan.