Reviewed by CL on 6/19/2004
Jak and Daxter is another game that's made it to PS2's exclusive list of Greatest Hits, and it certainly deserves to be there in my opinion. Jak and Daxter is like the PS2 version of Mario 64. The idea of the game is to go to various levels, and try and complete a multitude of different tasks set out for you. With each task you compete, you obtain a power cell. By winning or buying more power cells, you can access different areas where you can try and get even more power cells. This sound very simple, but in practice, some of them can be very tricky to obtain. This game even feels more polished than Mario 64 because it has a great storyline and the goal in each level have a purpose rather than being somewhat random. What I mean is that in Mario 64, when you start the level, there are simply a set of goals set out for you such as race the Big Koopa to the top of the hill. There's no real reason to do it, you just kind of do it. However in Jak and Daxter, you'll be walking around the village and come across some guy who lost his pet on one of the neighboring islands. If you go travel to the island and rescue his pet and bring it back to him, he'll give you a power cell. This adds a lot of polish to the game.
Speaking of polish, the graphics and sheer size of the levels in this game is sometime to be reckoned with.
The graphics are standard polygon but with the power of the PS2 behind it, the developers were able to use a lot of polygons in the character models and in the environments. This makes for beautiful scenery and a true sense of awe when you look around a level and see how big it is and all that there is to do.
The great thing about this game is also the variety that it has. There are many different ways to get power cells and different types of levels. The majority of the power cells are obtained in the 3rd person perspective where you might have to climb to the top of a mountain or align some beams of light, etc. But there are also levels where you need to drive a hovercraft type vehicle and perform tasks. There are also fun mini-game type levels where you need to catch a certain amount of fish in a net to get a power cell. This variety always keeps the game interesting and fun to play.
In conclusion, this is a great addition to any collection because it is one of the PS2's most unique titles. The fact that it is older and still plays well is a true testament that it indeed deserves the title of PS2's Greatest Hits.
