Jak & Daxter was developed by Naughty Dog, the company behind the popular Crash Bandicoot series for the PlayStation. It's pretty clear, however, that they didn't learn a damn thing about improving game design after walking away from the Bandicoot series because Jak & Daxter basically feels like an extension of the series, just with new characters. The game received significantly high praise from critics upon its release. They obviously weren't paying close enough attention.

We are planted in the shoes of Jak, a village boy who doesn't know how to spell "Jack" the right way, and his pal, Daxter, a wise-cracking sassbacker who has been transformed into some sort of strange hyena-weasel combination after falling in a gross pool of tarrish liquid. You'll also know who is who because Daxter's the one throwing cringeworthy one-liners at you, making you feel as though Jimmy Carr is sitting right next to you as the game treks on. Let me say one thing about this: it didn't work for Bubsy, and it sure doesn't work for Daxter. These two have basically two goals: one is to try and get Daxter transformed back into the goofy human he was before, and the other is to save all the sages (who have powers that could speed up the rehumanization process) that have been kidnapped by Lurkers and prevent the world from being overtaken by dark energy.

True to the spirit of the time, Jak & Daxter also falls under the "collect-a-thon" genre, this time under the guise of three primary objects. Power cells are what our comical duo seek the most; they are used to power up machines that basically help get you to the next part of the world and find the next sage. There are seven Scout Flies, these buggy little devices, placed around each area; getting all of them will net you another power cell. Also hidden all over the place are Precursor Orbs, relics of previous civilizations that you can offer to villagers in exchange for more power cells.

Another interesting feature is the focus on something called "eco" as a gameplay mechanic. Eco is a strange element that can be absorbed for temporary new abilities, and depending on how much you find at a time, you will have a certain amount of time to use it before its effects exit Jak's body. Yellow eco, for example, lets you shoot fireballs, while blue eco gives you a burst of speed, as well as an electric charge. Spheres of eco can be found in chests or just sitting loosely o'er the countryside; spouts of the stuff are also available in some locations to give you the max out your eco meter. There are some interesting puzzles that involve the effective use of eco, such as having to destroy a patch of poisonous plants using the healing powers of the green eco (which can also heal Jak) before they regenerate. I really like this inclusion, although why eco is so conveniently close to wherever I need to use it is a total mystery.

The platforming in this game, however, is nothing special beyond the usual adventuring tropes of every game: the running, the jumping, the double-jumping that works about 50% of the time, the using of a hyena-weasel as a weapon... And I swear they even used some of the same code from their Crash Bandicoot games: Jak has the exact same spin jump as Crash did — I think even the sound effect is the same. The only difference between this and Naughty Dog's previous works is that this is a free-roaming environment, unlike Crash Bandicoot, which was on a set path forward.

Where Jak & Daxter differs is in its integration of vehicles into this world. And when I say "differs", I mean "made worse". In particular, the A-GraV Zoomer is one of the most pesky things I've ever ridden in my life. (Yes, that's the name of a vehicle. I couldn't concoct such a weird 2001 name for a hoverbike.) It controls like a flap of bologna. At least the other vehicle (a BIRD impressively called a "Flut-Flut") controls well enough.

Jak collects a power cell... or possibly a floating expired mushroom.

I will give them credit for creating a completely unified world, something that often isn't done (like in Crash Bandicoot or Super Mario 64, where you just hop into portals that lead to different worlds, thus eliminating the need for a cohesive world). Unfortunately, travelling within this world is a bore and a chore, not something to explore. Poor and uninspired level design (along with Naughty Dog's affinity for pretty much drawing anything wacky and pasting it into the game) absolutely kills much of the fun factor. Tough, inaccurate jumps — exacerbated by a picky double-jump — dampen the experience as well. Of particular note is in the Precursor Basin, where you are required to hop across a series of thin clifftops; coupled with the fact that the Zoomer controls like it's coated in melted butter, it was easily the most frustrating part of the game, watching myself fall off the cliffs over and over again, struggling to succeed for over thirty minutes on a part that should've taken thirty seconds, it drives the point home that something is amiss. I can't be THAT bad, can I?

Another point of trouble comes during — surprise, surprise — another race on the ol' Zoomer. You have to beat a few flying Lurkers to the end of a mountain pass before they set off explosives there. But there are two things horribly, horribly wrong with this level. One is that it's so terribly designed, it feels unplayable. Trees get in your way right at points where you receive eco boosts of speed, and there are too many insta-kill explosives in your way, forcing you to restart from the beginning for one little mistake (on Naughty Dog's part, not just the player's). Did no one look at the level design and cry out, "Are you sure we should have coded your infant son's drool patterns into a full-on driving stage?" The other is that it's hilariously buggy: you can very easily get caught in a patch of trees, unable to move your racer or dismount, within the first seven seconds of this area. Instead of fixing this, the programmers took an alternate route: you just self-destruct and restart back at the beginning. Re-doing seven seconds of a game doesn't seem so bad, but there are other patches like this later on that ruin progress without apology.

Enemy placement isn't bad, but when the game suffers from the same problems as Crash Bandicoot — troublesome distance judgment, resulting in enemies smacking you first when it should've been the other way around — you're looking at some seriously cheap deaths. And this is the point where I just throw my hands up (and my controller falls to the floor, causing considerable damage to the laminate), with no desire to try for a fifth, eighth, tenth time...

After about an hour of play, the game froze. Now you may be thinking that it's just my dusty old PlayStation 2 and its ancient laser, and I thought the same. But after consulting with fellow staffer FlagrantWeeaboo, it turns out that the exact same thing happened to him while playing Jak & Daxter, which was one of the reasons why he did not continue with the game (likely favouring some odd Japanese game about brawling female robots or something of that nature). Luckily, this didn't happen later on, but it is interesting that Naughty Dog didn't catch an issue that occurs early on. ...Maybe it's just both of our discs and no others!