Jak And Daxter Collection Review

Jak And Daxter Collection Review Rating: 9,7/10 4292 votes

Read reviews and ratings of Jak and Daxter Collection from our experts, and see what our community says, too! The Jak and Daxter Collection is a wonderful way to revisit an excellent series, but a lamentable control decision makes what should be a fun experience a bit bothersome.

Like watching a band fall apart after a great first album

As much as I love the game, I have to admit it has some issues that opened old wounds from my PS2 days. Checkpoints can often be infuriatingly sparse and a few collision detection issues see Jak sliding off the edge of platforms that you know to be a platform. The handling for the hoverbike is terrible, but at least it’s only used for small sections of the game. Imagine if they built most of the game around it..

Oh Jak II: Renegade, this is where it all started to go wrong. Ripping you from the colourful island of the first game, you’re dumped into the grey urban hell-hole of Haven City where the main vehicle of choice is the hoverbike, or a fatter even poorer-handling hovercar.

This was a time in gaming where everybody was blown away Grand Theft Auto III and foolishly tried to copy it. Hence open world cities in everything, with ahem, somewhat mixed results. So, using boat-like vehicles to avoid the perma-pissed Crimson Guard soldiers through narrow streets and slums is a frustrating bore from start to finish. Almost every mission forces you to drive from one side of the city to another with a harsh time limit, with every failure leaving your sanity begging for it to end. Some missions allow you to leave the city for sewers and caves, nothing resembling the lush locales of the first game.

Not content with aping GTA, the series also jumped all over the success of Ratchet & Clank by introducing guns. Horrible aiming and a serious lack of punch and variety made them a chore to wield and shooting sections seem like punishment for a crime you haven’t yet committed. Vue blockly.

As PS2 gamers may recall, there was a sudden trend of leading characters becoming utter dicks (hello, Prince of Persia: Warrior Within). Jak was mute throughout the first game and perhaps he should have stayed that way instead or growing a goatee and being such an emo cranky-pants. At least there’s a semi decent story buried in this dull game, with a much darker tone than the original. It’s linked closely to the third game too, whereas the first one stands alone.

Jak 3 thankfully turfs you out of the city, into the vast desert wastelands. Buggies replace the hovering vehicles and there are thankfully many variations available. The handling is far from perfect and they seem obsessed with spinning out from the slightest knock but the attached weapons or leaping abilities some of them have will force a smile from you. A lot of back-and forth between the same locations really tested my patience though.

The story pacing is much better than Jak II and even the checkpoints feel less like they want to trap you in the game forever. Amy Hennig, the respected writer/director of the last two Uncharted games, joined Naughty Dog for this game and you can feel that it’s a much tighter and balanced experience than the miss-step of Jak II. There’s no getting away from the fact that the first game towers over the sequels though, who can’t even rouse an interest in the once delightful collectables.

Our ratings for Jak and Daxter Collection on PlayStation 3 out of 100 (Ratings FAQ)
85
Smoothed edges and a nice widescreen update complement what was an already fine looking set of games. The colourful environments of the first game benefit the most from the HD polish.
70
The first game is a lesson in platforming and stage design excellence. The awful middle title is letdown by ‘me-too’ guns and terrible vehicle mechanics that will test the patience of most gamers. The third game tries to repair the damage though.
70
Three very different experiences show a series that lost its identity after the fantastic first game. But an improved story and escaping the confines of Haven City in the third game rallies the fond memories.
NR
Performance
No loading times or any signs of screen tearing or texture pop-in like we’ve seen in some of the other HD collections. Invisible barrier issues around the odd platform is something I would have like to have seen erased from the PS2 days though.
Jak II is the gangrenous limb of this collection and should be ignored by most, prompting even the suggestion that you buy the first and third games separately on PSN if you can get them cheaper than the whole collection on disc. Any platforming fan owes it to themselves to try out the excellent first title and if anyone is to take over the reins and continue the series, that is the blueprint with which they should start.

As much as I love the game, I have to admit it has some issues that opened old wounds from my PS2 days. Checkpoints can often be infuriatingly sparse and a few collision detection issues see Jak sliding off the edge of platforms that you know to be a platform.

The handling for the hoverbike is terrible, but at least it’s only used for small sections of the game. Imagine if they built most of the game around it.Oh Jak II: Renegade, this is where it all started to go wrong. Ripping you from the colourful island of the first game, you’re dumped into the grey urban hell-hole of Haven City where the main vehicle of choice is the hoverbike, or a fatter even poorer-handling hovercar. This was a time in gaming where everybody was blown away Grand Theft Auto III and foolishly tried to copy it.

Hence open world cities in everything, with ahem, somewhat mixed results. So, using boat-like vehicles to avoid the perma-pissed Crimson Guard soldiers through narrow streets and slums is a frustrating bore from start to finish. Almost every mission forces you to drive from one side of the city to another with a harsh time limit, with every failure leaving your sanity begging for it to end.

Some missions allow you to leave the city for sewers and caves, nothing resembling the lush locales of the first game.Not content with aping GTA, the series also jumped all over the success of Ratchet & Clank by introducing guns. Horrible aiming and a serious lack of punch and variety made them a chore to wield and shooting sections seem like punishment for a crime you haven’t yet committed.As PS2 gamers may recall, there was a sudden trend of leading characters becoming utter dicks (hello, Prince of Persia: Warrior Within).

Jak was mute throughout the first game and perhaps he should have stayed that way instead or growing a goatee and being such an emo cranky-pants. At least there’s a semi decent story buried in this dull game, with a much darker tone than the original. It’s linked closely to the third game too, whereas the first one stands alone. Jak 3 thankfully turfs you out of the city, into the vast desert wastelands.

Buggies replace the hovering vehicles and there are thankfully many variations available. The handling is far from perfect and they seem obsessed with spinning out from the slightest knock but the attached weapons or leaping abilities some of them have will force a smile from you. A lot of back-and forth between the same locations really tested my patience though.The story pacing is much better than Jak II and even the checkpoints feel less like they want to trap you in the game forever. Amy Hennig, the respected writer/director of the last two Uncharted games, joined Naughty Dog for this game and you can feel that it’s a much tighter and balanced experience than the miss-step of Jak II. There’s no getting away from the fact that the first game towers over the sequels though, who can’t even rouse an interest in the once delightful collectables.

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