Jak and Daxter

     Have you played Jak and Daxter? Starting with Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy, the series continued on with Jak II and Jak 3, each game taking the gameplay up another level. This culminated into a perfect trilogy of games. The first entry, the Precursor Legacy, established the series as a 3-D platformer where the player took control of Jak and ran, jumped, and punched your way through a journey to find a cure for his friend Daxter, who had been transformed into a weasel-otter fusion known as an ottsel. Along the way, a sinister plot to awaken ancient Precursor technology and take over the world is discovered.

     After foiling that evil plan, Jak and Daxter are thrown into a dystopian future in Jak II and join an underground resistance to restore the rightful heir to the throne into power. Along with a much darker, more mature story, the second game in the series adds multiple new game features. The game takes place in the open and fully accessible Haven City. Also new is the way you travel across the city. In addition to walking around like in the first game, new hover vehicles are available to pilot around the city. These additions pale in comparison to the innovations in the combat. In the original, you could punch or spin kick. Jak II added four unique guns and a transformation into the powerhouse "Dark Jak".

Jak and Daxter Collection
Belongs to Sony, Naughty Dog

     Following the trend of improving a perfect game already, Jak 3 came along and took the formula of Jak II to the next level. Aside from Haven City, Jak 3 also allowed access to another city, Spargus, where you could get around on horse-sized lizards known as Leapers, and the Wasteland, a vast desert crossable by the new cars put into the game. These cars come with extra speed, and guns. The four guns from the second game all make a return, but also gain two new variations of each one, raising the total to twelve. This final entry also added a new "Light Jak" form, to complement "Dark Jak". While "Dark Jak" grants powers of destruction and power, "Light Jak" offers flight, healing, and a time-freezing ability.

     These are some of my favorite games of all time. I even set it as the background of my game review blog. I can not recommend them enough. Do yourself a favor, stop reading this, and go play these games. You can find them on Playstation 2 and HD versions on Playsation 3.