4.5/5 ★ – WrathofBen's review of Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy.

I’m probably pretty biased here, but I LOVE Jak and Daxter. All of them. Each and every one. I probably replay these once every few years or so. And this time around, I am playing the main trilogy on the PS3, technically the best versions out there. I was disappointed the PS4 versions were lackluster ports of the PS2 versions, so I chose to go with a collection that actually touched up the games and made them run better. Anyway, this game is a classic collectithon game with tons to do and see. The visual art style alone is so unique and interesting, especially for 2001. Each biome is so fun to explore, you can’t help but WANT to 100% complete each stage. While Jak has no dialogue in this game, he expresses himself well throughout the game, thanks to his ottsel partner in crime Daxter. Supporting characters like Samos and Kira are also welcomed, as they pretty much help move the plot forward. Yeah, okay. The plot is pretty simple. Eco is the life source of everything in this world. Blue eco powers people and objects, yellow gives you ranged abilities, red eco gives you power, and green eco provides life. However, dark eco corrupts and even kills! Some ex-eco sages, Gahl and Maya, discover dark eco and become corrupted and seek to unleash these hidden silos of dark eco onto the world. Samos, the green eco sage, sets Jak and Daxter on a quest to save the world by assembling the rest of the sages and saving their villages. Like I said, the visual style of this game is incredible, but the gameplay has aged like a fine wine. You have a double jump, a roll, a roll jump, a high jump, and multiple attacks that can be used in conjunction with those moves. Each act of the game is divided by a vehicle section that honestly controls pretty well! The one thing I’m sort of Mandela effecting myself on is how quickly you can double jump in conjunction with each button press. I swear you could hit it however fast you wanted to, but you sort of have to time it right. Sound design and music are also extremely iconic, from the sounds each precursor orb makes, or the music that plays when you collect a power cell (with Jak and Daxter dancing to celebrate). The personality of this game is just infectious. Weak story aside, this game is an absolute blast! I’m really surprised Sony and Naughty Dog haven’t at least TRIED to revive this franchise, seeing as these two were Sony mascots for a long time! While the next games jump ship from the collectithon style, I’m very excited to revisit Jak II and its edgy GTA-style gameplay. Until then, I give Jak and Daxter an easy 9/10.