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Retro|Spective 198: Jak & Daxter

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    Retro|Spective 198: Jak & Daxter



    History in Games:
    2001 - Jak & Daxter
    2003 - Jak II
    2004 - Jak 3
    2005 - Jak X: Combat Racing
    2006 - Daxter
    2009 - Jak and Daxter: The Lost Frontier

    Overview:
    How do you make a fourth Crash game? You don't if you're Naughty Dog. For our final franchise focused entry in this thread line we look at their 128-bit era offering, the Jak and Daxter series that successfully launched a new IP with it this time beginning as a full 3D platformer before evolving ever more into an open world platformer. With two handheld entries and a racer in the series as well this was a heavy push on the series before the studio moved on and left it behind where it remains one of Sony's abandoned properties.



    Were you a fan of Naughty Dog's series or did you lean more to Insomniacs longer running Ratchet franchise?

    #2
    I loved the first game when it released. It felt truly next gen compared to the Crash games - I was amazed by the way you could move from the initial beach village setting to the lava world with no loading times, just a seamless transition streamed directly off the DVD. The cutscenes and dialogue were great, too. They felt like something out of an animated film, and well beyond what we got in most videogames at that time.

    But going back to it a few years ago via the Vita rerelease, I was deeply underwhelmed. The Vita port is horrible, but the game itself just doesn't play well enough to justify going back to - for me personally, anyway. The controls just felt woolly and imprecise.

    For whatever reason I never played anything in the franchise except that first game. Speaking for myself personally it's something I'm more than happy for Sony to leave parked in favour of new ideas.

    Comment


      #3
      Originally posted by wakka View Post
      For whatever reason I never played anything in the franchise except that first game. Speaking for myself personally it's something I'm more than happy for Sony to leave parked in favour of new ideas.
      From what I remember hearing at the time, Jak-2 is the franchise's peak, though I haven't played it either. I just remember people going nuts for it.

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        #4
        I enjoyed the original enough and I even enjoyed the two that followed but to me they felt a lot like they were increasingly reactions to both the similarities of Ratchet and the popularity of GTA and progressively the identity and fun of J&D was sucked out of the series. Whereas Ratchet is very consistent and unambitious in many ways it's also much more confident in being what it is which is likely why it's survived where Jak has failed. It was a solid series but there's no real need for it to return.

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          #5
          I feel like these just hit at the wrong age for me. While trying not to be dismissive of those who love them, I feel like they connect better with a younger audience and younger people have a fondness for them that I just missed.

          For me, along with the Ratchet and Clanks and Spyros of the world, I found a generation of 3D platforms struggled to give me a real sense of purpose and, with it, a sense of achievement. Most of them were just driven by collecting stuff which was mostly just about wandering around a level until you found all the things (orbs, sparkly things, whatever they are). And they hit at a time when 3D games were really branching out and getting a whole lot more interesting. So these just struggled to hold me.

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            #6
            That sounds about right. I was 11 when the first one came out and had been a keen player of Crash, Spyro and Croc on PS1. Jak and Daxter felt like those on steroids, which was great on release. But even for me, it was soon eclipsed by Devil May Cry, the 3D GTAs and MGS2, which took things a significant step further than J&D had*.

            *not to mention J&D had a severe lack of prostitutes to beat up with baseball bats and girlie pin-ups to photograph

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              #7
              I have only played Jak 2 and it's a cracking game. Spent hours with it but it is plagued with difficulty spikes and I eventually gave up on it. People laugh about the dark jak stuff and it is very edge lord but not nearly as off putting as people would have you believe. Always wanted to give 3 a go as driving around hunting dinosaur things looked good fun.

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                #8
                The first Jak is one of the best platform games around. It came out when I was 21 and not at all into the genre but it's just so fresh. No guns, pure exploration and some puzzles. Also varied gameplay.
                It's just brilliant and I've played it through so many times.

                I hated Jak 2. Never played the others.

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                  #9
                  Originally posted by Dogg Thang View Post
                  Most of them were just driven by collecting stuff which was mostly just about wandering around a level until you found all the things (orbs, sparkly things, whatever they are).
                  Yeah, I think this was my issue with Jak and Daxter (and similar games around the same time). Very polished, but lots of not-very-interesting tasks to complete, especially collecting loads of orbs. I played Maximo around the same time and really enjoyed that, but I recall it being more about working your way through the levels. There was a bit of a challenge to it, rather than "collect 20 orbs", "close 5 gates", "climb to the top of a tower".

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