Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy

Overview

Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy is the first game in the Jak and Daxter franchise and is notable for being first game to ever feature a fully seamless 3D world. The game was developed by Naughty Dog, Inc. and was released in December 2001 exclusively for the PlayStation 2, though it was later remastered and released as part of the Jak and Daxter Collection for the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita. It was also released as a PS2 Classic for PlayStation 4 on August 22, 2017, alongside the release of Uncharted: The Lost Legacy.

The game reportedly began development in January 1999 with the 24 month development cycle with a estimated development budget of $14 million USD.

The game follows Jak and Daxter as the duo attempt to save their world from destruction by stopping a villainous attempt to flood the world with a Dark Echo chemical.

Setting

Jak's (and Daxter's) adventures take place on a completely open continent similar in tone and visual style to Naughty Dog's previous work on the Crash Bandicoot series. The continent is geographically diverse to the extreme, full of both lava pits and icy mountains, thick forests and sprawling beaches. Curiously, the locations themselves are named, but the continent itself isn't, but that's the least of the mysteries surrounding this universe as it is littered with the remnants of a once great race of beings known only as the Precursors.

Gameplay

While primarily an open world 3D platformer, Jak and Daxter has some limited combat, which is again almost identical to that of the Crash Bandicoot games. Jak is capable of various attacks and moves, including a long punch, spinning kick, jump uppercut, downward smash, roll, double jump, long jump and high jump, which can be used to defeat enemies, activate secrets and speedily traverse terrain. Damage can be taken from enemies, falling long distances or touching dangerous surfaces, each event taking a bar of life or potentially vaporizing Jak entirely.

The main objective to proceed in Jak and Daxter is to collect Power cells, which are used to power vehicles and technology which provide (relatively) safe passage to the next major area. These can be found scattered across the landscape (usually as rewards for challenging platforming or combat situations), bought from various people Jak encounters on his journeys or acquired by completing quests

(sometimes including minigames) for these same people. The main currency in Jak and Daxter are Precursor Orbs, which litter the landscape. In every area, there are 7 strong boxes which Jak can break to release scout flies, the last of which yields a power cell.

A major game mechanic comes in the form of colored energy, called Eco. In total, there are six types of Eco in the game: Green, which replenishes life; Blue, which enhances speed, attracts nearby collectibles and activates Precursor technology; Red, which enhances melee combat power; Yellow, which gives a ranged burst of energy attack; Dark, which deals damage to or kills Jak instantly; and White, which is only encountered at the end of the game as the combination of the first four Eco types. The effects of blue, red and yellow Eco dissipate at a steady rate, which adds a timed element to many challenges that feature or require their use. Eco can be collected in hovering globules of small or large size, but only Eco vents give constant and complete filling of the Eco meter as long as you stand on them. Jak can only use a single type of Eco at a time, so collecting a different type will overwrite the current one.

Vehicle sections separate major sections of the game world, usually involving a timed mechanic (including overheating from lava and chasing down demolition-minded enemys), and there are a few major boss battles.

Comic Relief

Besides many comedic interactions and commentary, Jak and Daxter has a couple fairly unique methods of comic relief:

Whenever the duo acquires a new power cell, it is accompanied by a success dance or tableau cutscene and accordingly triumphant music. Also, whenever Jak keels over from losing all his life (and it makes sense that Daxter might not be out of commission as well), there is a short randomly chosen cutscene. These are viewed from Jak's incapacitated perspective of Daxter standing on his chest and making wisecracks at the expense of his buddy (and the player), including insulting his breath, requesting his change and, as long as he's down there, a foot massage.

Plot

Jak and Daxter, two young elfin rascals, secretly sail off to Misty Island against the wishes of Samos the Sage and discover a sinister gathering of evil Lurkers creatures addressed a pair of floating villains. The protagonists attempt to sneak away, but they are soon discovered by a lone Lurker who attacks them. Jak hurls a barrel of Eco at the Lurker which destroys it and sends Daxter flying into a vat of Dark Eco. He is spat out again as a loudmouthed ottsel (otter weasel). When they return to Samos for help returning Daxter to his original form he chides them harshly and explains that they must travel far, far north to Gol Acheron, who might be able to help them. A firey canyon stands in the way, which can only be traversed by Keira's Zoomer with a heat shield upgrade made possible with power cells.

After successfully passing through the canyon, Jak and Daxter find the next town, Rock Village, under siege by a giant cyborg lurker named Klaww and the Blue Sage, the patron sage of the town, mysteriously missing, his laboratory a mess. After gathering more power cells, a flaming boulder blocking the path to the monster can be dislodged with an anti-gravity device, and the duo proceed via Zoomer through a mountain pass to reach the Volcanic Crater.

Here, they find the Red Sage missing and his laboratory in similarly terrible shape. Gol Akuron and his sister, Maia Acheron, (whom we remember from the Lurker gathering) appear and explain how they have captured all the sages but Samos, and, in an effort to shape the world to their liking, plan to flood the world with the Dark Eco contained in the massive Percursor silos to the north. More power cells and another heat shield upgrade allow Keira's Zoomer to brave the Lava Tube, which leads to the Yellow Sage's lab.

When they arrive, Keira explains that her father has also been kidnapped. Jak and Daxter then venture into Gol and Maia's Citadel, where they learn the sages were being used to power the Percursor robot, which is powerful enough to open the silo. After freeing the sages, the two encounter Gol and Maia with a reworked Percursor robot atop the Dark Eco silo. Jak battles the robot, as its strikes open the silo further and further, and only with the help of all four sages combining their powers to create the fabled White Eco does he defeat it. Although Daxter realizes it would probably reverse his transformation, he decides saving the world is more important.

The Percursor robot containing Gol and Maia is disabled and crashes into the silo, which then seals itself again. Although this might kill them both, Samos is uncertain this is the case. The group's attention is directed toward a massive Percursor door, which requires 100 power cells before it opens, revealing some thing large shrouded in blinding light. This is not explained until the sequel.

Soundtrack