Sony's new platformer looking good

By James Anthony

Is it a bird, is it a plane? No, it's super rodent!

Will young 'uns or geriatrics have more fun playing Jak and Daxter? It really is almost impossible to pick.

The warmth of the visuals, the inviting-looking levels and enticing gameplay will appeal to the teens and under, while even older (adult) kids will get a huge buzz from joining in a 3D-adventure game where they are not limited by stringent invisible barriers and can wander around a lush, rich world almost at will.

I say almost, because the designers will savagely stop you checking out other level areas courtesy of a big and toothy shark that appears and chomps the crap out of you when you try to swim away.

So who are Jak and Daxter? Well, Jak is a cool-dude surfer type with bat-like ears and is dressed in a Japanese-peasant style costume.

Like most console adventurers he can jump, run, crouch, hang off things and has one mean spin kick. This he uses to open crates (hey, who needs keys) and defend himself against all sorts of nasty monsters that are trying to stop him and his mate Daxter from finishing their quest.

Part of that quest is to return the dog-like Daxter to his original human form. The cause of the change was an accident that saw him drop into sludge called dark eco.

Changing him back may not stop him licking himself (well, would you stop if you could?), but at least he won’t have dog breath.

The other goal of the pair’s journey is to help the wise but grumpy wizard Samos stop an evil plot to destroy the world in a very nasty way.

And what a world it is. Fair go, the environments in Jak and Daxter are simply stunning and will have you running around with your tongue out like Daxter on heat.

It's a barrel of fun

They are bright, colourful and exceptionally well rendered and allow you to explore a massive and interesting landscape almost at will.

As said before there are boundaries, however, you can do one hell of a lot of walking, jumping, climbing, diving and swimming before you hit the wall, so to speak.

Via a rather nifty teleporter you can warp yourself around the various maps to complete new tasks set for you by Samos.

If, like me, you are too busy having a good sticky beak at the surrounding environment and forget what you actually have to achieve then there’s a little floating intercom that can get you back on track.

The areas also have great names such as Geyser Rock, Forbidden Temple, Fire Canyon, Lost Precursor City and Spider Cave.

As you make your way around them you will note they have familiar platform-game elements, such as the generic platform bits to jump over or climb on, but in Jak and Daxter the designers have created the best-looking environment I’ve seen on any adventure game.

The main characters, for instance, look cartoon-like, but are extremely detailed. Jak comprises some 4000 polygons and both he and Daxter have many different and quirky animations.

The grass is thick and lush, the sand moves with a perfect crumbly fluidity, dust rises after you jump on the ground, the water is a translucent 3D masterpiece, wood looks like wood, stone like stone and the critters that come for you do so with a natural, life-like smoothness.

One very impressive aspect of the game is that when something happens in the gameworld, it stays that way. If there's an avalanche of rocks, creating a new path, for instance, the path and rocks will be there forever and it's this interaction with the environment that helps create a game that's hard to put down.

"This is my new 100Gb optical fibre 'Net connection"

Jak and Daxter is absolutely huge, set on the one massive stretch of coastline.

Comprising 12 levels, eight mini games (including the ever-present fishing game), various villages, two end-bosses and three bonus races, you'd be hard pressed to get through everything in under a week.

On top of this, the entire gameworld is rendered on the run - there's virtually no loading to speak of. The clipping range is perhaps many kilometres to the horizon, to scale of course, and the effect is impressive as well as useful.

Also, seeing the weather conditions change on the fly is pretty darn cool!

And if you tire of trapesing around on foot, just fire up the A-GraV Zoomer - after acquiring it, of course. This vehicle is the result of blending a hovercraft, jet ski and motorcycle, as it can fly across land and sea with ease.

Inhabiting the lands are giant snakes, crabs, dogs, sand monsters, sharks and a multitude of other nasties out to stop your progress through the jungles, fiery gorges, underwater cities and snow-covered peaks. And, at one stage, there’s a rather pesky pelican that makes life difficult...

Along the way you get the chance for powerups and to add to your collection of precursor orbs and power cells. These last two items are your platforming bread and butter, like rings in Sonic, or stars in Mario.

Anyway, it is fair to say that Jak and Daxter is the most impressive 3D-adventure game seen in a very long time. Great graphics, sensational environments and a whole lot of charm make this a must-have. The game is very absorbing and head and shoulders above the Naughty Dog's previous outings with Crash Bandicoot.

This game is up there with the best 3D platformers ever, cementing the characters in videogaming history. We liked this game a lot, and we're willing to bet you will, too.

Game: Jak & Daxter
System: Playstation 2
Players: 1-2
Memory Card: Yes
Developer: Sony
Distributor: Sony

Rating: 90%

(Ratings Key/Explantion)

Jak & Daxter is on the shelves now.