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Review by BlackMagic
	Crash Bandicoot? Whats that? Spyro? Is that something you eat? Whoever has been claiming to be the platform king can take off their crown and step down from their throne. Why? Because one man and his rodent just walked into town. Jak and Daxter is, without a doubt, the best thing to happen to platform games in the history of Playstation. This incredible game came out of nowhere and took the console by storm. Made by the same people as the defeated Crash Bandicoot, Naughty Dog, it surpasses all that have gone before it, and even the people from the platform console king, Nintendo, are bound to be worried. The story-Basically, the whole event starts when our hero Jak and his wimpy friend Daxter disobey rules and sneak off the mysterious Misty Island. While exploring, they come across a pool of the evil substance, Dark Eco, and a pretty unfriendly beast (Or Lurker as the game calls them). Jak manages to defeat him but knocks Daxter into the pool by accident while doing so. When Daxter re-emerges, hes well2 feet high, and covered in fur. After some good ol screaming, the duo head back home, where theyre told that to cure Daxter theyll have to travel north to meet the Sage of Dark Eco. So awaaay you go! The game plays quite well, the battle system is very basic, you can punch or kick, and use different buttons with the 2 for some more elaborate attacks, but you can get through on punches and kicks alone really. One of the best things about the game is drum roll please There is no load! The game is all set in one giant world, without any loading times between areas! This really gives you a feel for how big the game is, and above all its a huge relief to have your gaming totally un-interrupted. The idea throughout the game is to collect power cells rare artefacts which you use to power various machines. It seems dull, having the one task for the entire game, but the game gives you so many different and original ways to collect them that the game always stays innovative and fun. Here are a few examples of the requirements for the power cells-Herding yellow cows into a pen, shooting swamp rats to keep a farmers muffins safe, and finding a yellow squirrel so a sculptor can sculpt again. Weird? Maybe. Fun? Definitely Graphically, the game is rock solid. Not a blur or a rough pixel in sight. The landscapes are beautifully designed, and the characters aint half bad either. A nice thing in the game, which sort of goes hand in hand with the one-world-no-loads thing, is how you often see islands/landmarks/forests way in the distance, and unlike other games which put in things like that for decoration, you can actually reach and explore them if you head in their direction! The games music is wonderful, sets the mood perfectly and is never over-intrusive. Theyre not the kind of tunes youd have stuck in your head for days afterwards, theyre brilliant in their own special way. Well, that about sums it up. If you insist on me finding fault with this game, Id have to say that its a tad short. Having said that, an incredibly long lifespan was never really associated with the platform genre. Youll be disappointed when the game ends, but only because its been such a great experience and you wanted to go on for so much longer. Oh well, dont let that spoil it for you! Well, thats about everything. To sum it all up, heres a quick scorecard. And now that youve read the review, BUY THIS GAME!!!! SCORECARD: GRAPHICS: 10/10 AUDIO: 9/10 PLOT: 8/10 GAMEPLAY: 10/10 OVERALL: 10/10
Reviewer's Score: 10 / 10

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Review by Geoboy
	Introduction Naughty Dog is at it again, and this time with a new set of heroes, ready to lay the Smackdown on a a certain Bandicoot. Who else, but Jak and his furry friend Daxter, two unlikely heroes, out to save the world from evil! But dont let the cliched story line fool you, Jak & Daxter spews excitement and originality right into your face. Are you ready for a new experience in Platform adventuring? Read on my friend, read on. Oh, and be forewarned. This gamer didnt stop himself while he was ahead. Just goes to show how addicting the game really is! Gameplay: (10/10) Jak & Daxter starts off when the two troublesome soon-to-be-heroes adventure off to Misty Island. Where they find the evil Lurkers scheming evil Lurker plans. As the two venture on into the island, they come across a mysterious artifact by a large pool of black liquid. Daxter passes it to Jak. Suddenly, a Lurker appears and Jak throws it at the Lurker, causing it to disappear. Jak flies back and knocks Daxter into the pool. He soon pops out and discovers that he has become an Ottsel, a small rodent. The scene cuts to the hut of Samos Hagai, an overall cranky Green Sage, who isnt too pleased with what Jak & Daxter have done. He tells Daxter that in order to turn back to his former self, theyll need to visit Gol, who might know of a way. And so the unlikely heroes are off to change Daxter back. So thats the story. Now, how does the game play? After all, thats really what it comes down to with platformers. Smooth is a great word to sum it all up, but for this reviews sake, Ill elaborate more. As stated in the sneak peak video in the December issue of OPMs PS2 demo disc, movement is a very precise feature. Unlike most PS2 games, where pressing the analog stick the whole way would make a character run, and part of the way would make him or her walk, Jak & Daxter takes full advantage of the analog sticks and creates new animation for every level of pressure you use when you press the analog stick. While this might not seem like a big deal, the right speed can help you clear gaps, preventing possible overshoots or undershoots. Plus, its so darn cool! Naughty Dog really knows how to make things the best they can be, and it shows in Jak & Daxter. Besides its smoothness, Jak & Daxter dominates as a solid platformer. You got your jumping, you got your numerous attacks, you even got your super cool Yellow Eco blasting action! The gameplay of Jak & Daxter is a little bit of everything; adventure, fighting, action, racing, even some first person shooting. Whats even more amazing is the way Naughty Dog blends all these elements together to create an ideal game that is Jak & Daxter. Ill explain more about these in a bit, but first Ill explain how the game actually works. Basically, Jak and Daxter need to explore their world searching for Power Cells. Theyll have one major task at hand, and will need to get the required Power Cells to complete it. Jak and Daxter can acquire Power Cells in a numerous amount of way. Sometimes theyll be able to find them lying around in some areas, but most of the time theyll need to accomplish several missions or tasks in order to get the Power Cells. This can be as simple as getting from Point A to Point B, or as complex as stopping evil from stealing electricity, and then realigning energy towers to restore electricity to the village (Thank you OPM for the great examples.. =D). After you complete a task, a Power Cell is yours for the taking. There are also objectives that never change no matter what area you area in, such as finding and freeing 7 scout flies in an area. Oh, and you can also get quite a few Power Cells from collecting Precursor Orbs, which are scattered all over different areas, and then giving x amount of them to some greedy villagers for a Power Cell. It sounds pretty cheap of them, but you wont have any use for Precursor Orbs except for trading them for Power Cells, so its not a large loss. Plus, there are very few cases where you can pay for a Power Cell. Thats not what being an adventurer is about! Are you ready to go off and get them Power Cells? Not so fast young whipper snapper. Youre gonna need to know all sorts of maneuvers to pull things off. Besides the standard jumping function, Jak & Daxter sports a variety of moves to aid you in your quest, whether its reaching high places or defeating troublesome enemies, youll need to know what you can do before you go off and try to do it. First of all, Jak can do a variety of jumps, a simple jump, a double jump, a jump spin attack, a double jump spin attack, and a high jump. Believe it or not, youll have to use all of these if you want to succeed. Whats a spin attack? Its just one of the many attacks Jak and Daxter have in store for those nasty enemy Lurkers. But when a spin attack wont cut it, why not a charging run to knock them off their block? Or perhaps youd prefer a powerful uppercut right towards their mouths? It sounds violent, but theres no such thing in the game. Just good, clean fun, and some serious kicking enemy butt! Oh, and as always, each attack will need to be used in order to beat the game, which is great because.. itd be such a waste! Alight, Im done with my so-called informative paragraph. For the sake of the review, Ill start making sense again. This journalist isnt about to rant himself crazy while gamers await my verdict! Jaks attacks and moves might seem like enough, but the thing is they really cant compare with Eco (pronounced EE-ko), the life force of the planet. And get this, there are FIVE different kinds of Eco, Green Eco, Blue Eco, Red Eco, Yellow Eco, and Dark Eco! Wow! Thats a lot of Eco! Every form of Eco (with an exception of Dark Eco) can help Jak and Daxter out, so youll need to be sure to use every Eco to your advantage. The best part of it is that it can be attained from almost anything, the land, a box, a hidden platform, and it regenerates itself. But enough babble, Im everyone would like to know which Eco and which, and HOW it helps. Oh, and by the way, when Eco is taken, Jak can only channel it for a certain amount of time, depending on his Eco gauge, which steadily decreases if he does not recharge himself with an orb or a vent of that Eco. Confused? Well, Im amazed youve made it this far, with all my side comments and such. First up, theres Green Eco, the life Eco. Green Eco almost always appears as little green orbs that you attain from smashing crates. Jak has 3 heart pieces, and each time he is damaged, he loses one piece. Lose all, and its curtains for Jak. This is where Green Eco comes in. If you can collect 50 Green Eco, youll be able to restore a piece of Jaks heart container! And if 50 sounds too much, there are some rare large Green Eco pieces that can restore one heart piece instantly! Like I said, Green Eco appears in crates which appear almost everywhere, which is good, because when facing hoards of Lurkers, youll need all the help you can get! Blue Eco is the next kind of Eco that Ill cover. It is, essentially, the Eco of speed. Blue Eco gives Jak a jolt of energy, allowing him to jump higher and run faster. Blue Eco can also open up special doors and activate Blue Eco Platforms and Precursor Launchers, which launch Jak off high into the air! As if that wasnt enough, Blue Eco can also attract other objects, making Jak a human magnet to Precursor Orbs and other goodies! Blue Eco is the second most common Eco in the game, and youll need it a lot! It appears all around the planet, either lying around, in crates, or in Blue Eco vents, which give Jak and full meter of Blue Eco While speed and health is good and all, Im sure everyone likes the sort of Eco that can give Jak super human strength. Well, I cant promise a super man, but Red Eco gives Jak incredible attack power that can perish enemies in one blow. Talk about power! Red Eco is not very common, and always conveniently appears where a large group of enemies are. It can be found in crates, in Red Eco vents or just lying around. If Red Eco didnt but it for you, how about Yellow Eco, the projectile Eco? When Jak channels Yellow Eco, he can fire streams of energy at enemies and other objects. This is great for hitting tough places. Yellow Eco, like the others, can be found lying around, in crates, or in Yellow Eco vents. Phew... Lastly, there is the one kind of Eco youll want to stay away from, Dark Eco! The Eco responsible for this entire mess! Dark Eco can hurt Jak and his buddy Daxter, so make sure to stay away from it at all costs! It can be found in yellow containers with caution markings on them. Stay away from the Dark Eco! Whew! That was quite the summary! Hopefully you know all you need to know about Eco. But sadly, I am not yet finished with my Gameplay coverage. But dont worry! Ill keep it as brief as possible. Throughout the game, there will be missions where youll need to use the A-Grav Zoomer, a very cool vehicle to complete certain tasks. The zoomer gives the game a whole new sort of feel to it. This is the first great attempt I have seen at tying together the racing genre and the platformer one! Oh! But wait! One more thing! If all that wasnt enough, this special feature will really get the gamers going! NO LOAD TIMES! Ever! The loading that has haunted platformers before Jak & Daxter is no more! Characters move slowly in and out of worlds. Theres no sort of drastic area changing, so its actually realistic! But who cares about realism when you can have to satisfaction of not waiting five hours for the next area to load! *faints of over excitement* Graphics: (10/10) Now that Ive got the gameplay down (and boy howdy, did I get it down!), its time to discuss a less important, but still EXTREMELY well-done aspect of the game. What else could I be talking about, other than graphics! Before I ramble, Ill state my feelings about the graphics in one simple word, for those who cant stand me: AMAZING. A-maz-ing. The character models alone show the true power of the PS2, but the environments... they are about 100 times as powerful. One could spend hours in the game not doing anything but walking around and looking at the fascinating, glitch-free environments. What makes it even better is that each area is entirely different, so youll be able to witness a winter wonder land, a mysterious jungle, and a lava pit of horrors (Sorry for the lame examples!). Naughty Dog has spent a huge amount of time getting environments down, making Jak & Daxter quite possibly the most graphically advanced PS2 game yet. Make sure to check ps2.ign.coms review for some great pictures. Youre gonna have to see the environments for yourself. Characters and such are also highly detailed. It seems that there are more polygons in Jak alone than an entire screen of a Crash game. Its just like that. Plus, characters look very unique and interesting, making their large polygon amount worth it all the way. Enemies also are plentiful, in many different forms. Many different complex and vivid forms. Oh, and theyre all in a cartoonish sort of style, for those who care. If you thought that wasnt enough, get this: There are NO FMVs in Jak & Daxter. The in-game graphics are so good, you can barely even tell. Youll be fooled a few times. Never before have such graphics been used as real time sequences. I really cant elaborate more over the excellence of the visuals in Jak & Daxter. You really need to just see it for yourself. It is amazing. It is amazing (I sound like a broken record). Sound: (10/10) My gosh, this game has everything! Great gameplay, amazing graphics, and if that doesnt do it for you, wait until you take a listen at the audio. First and foremost, the voice acting is the best Ive heard in a video game! The voice actors have very lively and exciting voices, and fit their characters perfectly. I absolutely love Daxters voice, it really gives him so much character. Without the great voices, you would never feel such an attachment to the characters, even the minor ones. Its like youre watching a Disney movie, only without the singing. Sound effects are also topnotch, especially during sequences (As if the voices werent good enough!), which make the game feel like a real cartoon (not to be used as a bad word, mind you). When playing the game, the sounds of crates breaking and enemies being whacked upon certainly sound crisp, and never really become repetitive and annoying. Speaking of which is the music, a very sparse, but still good aspect of the games sound. Because of the no loading time feature, music needed to take up minimal space, and thus, there isnt a whole lot of it in the game. Which is good because I dont know how many times Ive played a platformer with annoying music that gets stuck in my head for hours. No complaint here. Replayability: (7/10) This is where its gonna hurt. The replayability in the game, well, quite frankly, there is very little. Once you beat the game, theres no use in playing again (except for the hidden ending, which isnt all too hard to acquire for an average gamer). What even hurts more is the fact that Jak & Daxter is incredibly short. Ive been able to beat it in 5 days, but hear me out first, because this part shouldnt ruin the game completely. Jak & Daxter can be as long as you want it to be. Its addictive gameplay can tempt you to play for hours a time, but you should take a while to just explore the world around you. Dont feel that you need to beat the game if you buy it, because believe me, if you think that thats the case, like me, youll easily accomplish your task. Its not a particularly easy game, just a very addictive one. My advice is to make sure not to go at such a fast pace. Ultimately, theres nothing to do when you beat it. So let it last, for as long as you want. Not the best advice, but, Im trying to sell this game to you, and I dont want this part to ruin everything. Overall: (10/10) Jak & Daxter is the platformer that has everything youd want. Great graphics, great story, great sound, great gameplay. Its the ideal platformer, and it s setting on the game shelves right now, waiting for you to pick it up. So what if its short? Jak Daxter deserves only the best for its genre-combining, great sounding, great looking self. The best, being a perfect 10, the highest score Ive ever given a game yet (well, Ive only done two reviews). Truly, this is a great game. Truly. Truly. TRULY. (Next in the news, broken records invade the planet) Pros: Beautiful and rich environments A variety of genres blended into one great adventure game Superior voice acting Non-annoying music The best gameplay in a platformer for a PS2 yet! Come on, you know you read my huge Gameplay section. How could you not? Highly addictive (could be a con if you actually have something else do to in your life other than play games!) Cons: Its too short, and theres very little replay value if you beat the game before. Other Comments: If you REALLY want to beat this game, then rent it. If you play long enough, I can almost guarantee youll beat Jak & Daxter. But why waste something good? If you want to really experience the game, buy it. Even if you do beat it sooner than you want, I dont think youll feel cheated. Plus, theres no rule against not playing the game again! Oh, and BTW, dont let the E rating fool you. This game can be enjoyed by anyone, not just kids. Some of the scenes made even me laugh, and Im not even ALOUD to laugh.
Reviewer's Score: 10 / 10

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Review by KabutoHunter
	Jak & Daxter: The Precursor Legacy is one of the best video games to come along in a long time. I had the best time with this that I have with any game in years! GRAPHICS: 9.9 The graphics are nearly perfect, if it hadnt been for the rare time when there would be something that made me think Oh yah, this is a video game, then I would have given it a perfect score. Everything is perfectly suited to the cartoonish environment that the game takes place in. But before I get into everything having to do with the graphics, I want to tell you what makes this game so special. Normally in a video game everything has an animation that it follows. Theres a walking animation, a running animation, a jumping animation, etc. But what this game does is it takes those animations, and then creates new animations while youre playing so that everything goes seamlessly from one thing to another. That means that theres never a snap in between animations like you see in every single other video game ever made. It lends the characters an incredible fluidity that really helps suck you into the game, and I dont think that theres any way I can explain it properly without you actually having played the game. You have to see it to believe it. Now for everything else. The environments in this are massive, massively massive, in fact almost the entire game is just one big environment. There are no load times, theres only one cut scene in the entire game thats used for loading stuff in, and the cut scenes that are used to move the story along use the game programming instead of CG. The sky overhead has moving cloud cover, the world cycles through the time of day, it also cycles through weather patterns, and all of it is done seamlessly and looks great! As I said at the beginning, the graphics are nearly perfect! SOUND: 9.8 Theres not that much to say about the sound except that it sounds fabulous. The music is perfectly suited for each situation, and many times you forget its even there. All the voice acting is incredible; with the exception of the girl thats always with the Green Sage (I forgot her name). It seems that late in development they changed her voice to appeal to younger kids or something, personally I preferred the voice I heard in the previews. Last of all, all the sound effects are perfect. GAMEPLAY: 9.7 Everything can be interacted with, and theres nothing that youd want to do that you cant, and they used clever ways of getting you not to do some things. For instance, I wanted to swim out into the ocean and find the edge of the programming, but guess what, theres Precursor Sharks out there, you dont want to mess with them. The controls are great, although many times I had trouble with the double-jump due to you having to use it almost immediately after your initial jump. While doing all the various challenges and puzzles, nothings ever to hard or easy, everythings always right in the middle where its slightly challenging. Jak & Daxter has a good 20-25 hour play time, but only if you explore EVERYTHING. Many times I spent hours trying to find something important, and it turns out I just hadnt looked over on the right side of the room or I hadnt looked on the other side of something. Oops, I forgot to mention all of Daxters one liners REPLAY VALUE: 9.3 You could play this game many times through and still not be tired of it. Theres just so much to do, theres no order in which you necessarily have to do things, and its always a challenge. OVERALL SCORE: 9.7 This is a video game that people of all ages can find enjoyment in. If youve enjoyed Naughty Dogs games in the past, then youll have three times as much fun with this and should buy it. However, if youre not sure this is the game for you, then you MUST at least rent this.
Reviewer's Score: 10 / 10

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Review by residentevilrocks
	Jak and Daxter is a perfect game in every way, literally. Jak and Daxter was the third game I got for my PS2. I enjoyed it so much I set a goal to beat the game in less than two hours. And guess what? I did not accomplish it! I wish I did and I regret I didnt. Unfortunately, I havent got enough stamina for this game to play it again. But I still remember it and I remember, at that time, it was the best damn game for the PS2. Forget SSX, Final Fantasy X, and Grand Theft Auto III. This game puts them all to shame! Ok, so I never liked Final Fantasy X. Anyway, on with the review. Tally-ho! GRAPHICS: 10/10 They were good back then and theyre still good now! There so stunning, amazing, and breathtaking, it puts many current games out now to shame! These graphics are much better than Budokais, BMX XXXs, and Run Like Hells! Ill never forget how great they were. They are perfect. And I hate to say it, but they dont put Resident Evil 0s graphics to shame. And I hate to say it even more now, but its the other way around. I dont care about the graphics for this game, though. If you read my review for Resident Evil 0, I care deeply about the graphics because they have a reputation to live up to. And since Naughty Dog only has Crash Bandicoot, which could be improved I might add, theres not much to worry about. AUDIO: 10/10 The music is simply amazing. The sound is incredibly amazing! Everything is extremely realistic. It puts you right in the middle of all the scenery. And the awesome backgrounds make the sound even better! It may sound crazy, but if this much obsession is made over audio, it must be good! STORY: 10/10 The story is breathtaking, though not necessarily original. Jak and Daxter go onto a boat heading for Misty Island, a forbidden place their grandfather told them not to go to. As soon as you get to the island, you find out that two people, Gol and Maia, have some big plans for the rest of the world. Since Jak and Daxter have such a curious knack for trouble, Daxter accidentally fell into a vat of dark eco. That dark eco turn the poor, pathetic smart-alech into an ottsel! When they get back to their homeworld, Samos, the precursor of green eco, already knew they went to Misty Island. To turn him back into, uh, whatever he is, they need to find Power Cells and Precursor Orbs. To make things easier, Samoss sexy daughter, Keira, offers them a device that will help them get from place to place. But they need 20 Power Cells to get it working. So Jak and Daxter have to go to various places and get the orbs and cells. Along the way, youll find green eco, yellow eco, red eco, blue eco, and ????? eco. The only reason its not necessarily original is because its genre is a platformer. And as you all know, Mario, Spyro, Crash Bandicoot, and the new Vexx, are all platformers. Now, if you take a game like Disaster Report, you can see what original is. CONTROL: 10/10 The control is magnificently easy to learn! The X button jumps, and if you press X twice, you double jump. The O button makes you do a jump kick. The Square button makes you punch. The Triangle button turns the camera to first-person. If you hold L1 or R1 and X you do a super jump. Start brings up the status screen. L1 or R1 crouches (immobilized). L1 or R1, while moving, rolls, with the option of pressing X, which is a rolling long jump. You use the right analog stick to move. That about sums it up. There are a few combos to know, but its not needed until you start the game. GAMEPLAY/REPLAYABILITY: 10/10 The game lasts about 6 hours your first time. After that, itll take about 3-4 hours. If you were like me, you would set a goal to beat it in less than 2 hours. Despite its shortness, it lasts a long time. Hear me now and believe me later. RECAP: GRAPHICS: 10/10 AUDIO: 10/10 STORY: 10/10 CONTROL: 10/10 GAMEPLAY/REPLAYABILITY: 10/10 OVERALL: 10/10 (THIS IS NOT AN AVERAGE) The game is truly very good. You must buy this game! You will not regret it! This is really one of the best games for the PS2. Its competing against Kingdom Hearts and DDRMAX. Grand Theft Auto III was good, but it gets boring after half of a year. Kingdom Hearts, DDRMAX, and Jak and Daxter never get boring. Hear me now and believe me later. Ok, thats it; its a new expression (Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance review).
Reviewer's Score: 10 / 10