An initial analysis - Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy

I am back with an update at the very tail end of May after not having posted for March and April. The break got a bit longer than planned.

In this post I am going to use the same approach I did on taking a first look at Penny’s Big Breakaway back in October of 2024.
But this time I will be taking a look at an old classic I never got around to play due to not having had access to a Playstation. The game that will be the focus for this post will be Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy. As I get hold of both the sequels and other Playstation based 3D platformer collectathons, it is likely that this kind of blog post will be a returning feature. As with the previously mentioned post, this will be my initial look at the game, and therefore mostly cover one or more introductory levels.

Disclaimer: Due to not having access to a Playstation to play this on, I am running it via OpenGOAL and will be judging the version as is, not knowing if there are any differences due to how my pc runs it via that.

First impressions

The game has a nice cartoony look to it, as well as some silly animations on the characters when using attacks or even when leaving the controller for a while and having idle animations play. The voice acting is spot on for the type of game and visuals it has.

Opening sequence

Jak and Daxter opens with a more ‘classic’ animated intro. The pacing is good and we already see some character traits of our main protagonist(s). The intro ends with them being sent to another area, which will work as the introduction area to mechanics and skills

Main menu

The menu navigation is easy to navigate and most of the options seem to be where one would expect them to be. Even though I sometimes have to guess/remember button placements due to not playing on a PS controller.

In-game

Controls -

Feels very responsive and the character movement flows well. So far it’s easy to see why this is a popular game amongst fans of the genre.

Camera -

The camera reacts well to the 2nd stick on the controller and offers a full turn around view in 3rd character view in most locations and controlling a reticle/crosshair for aiming in 1st person. The game offers full control via the menu on having it behave as normal or inverted for each axis in both views which is a very welcome option to have access to.

Level design - 

First/Tutorial

On entrance after exiting the portal that is used at the end of the intro, the first view the player is met with is a few climbable ledges straight ahead with the first type of collectibles being breadcrumbed for ease gathering. This leads the player into a somewhat narrow corridor leading to the next type of collectible as well as ‘training dummies’ for the player to test their attacks on. These dummies break in a nice satisfying manner.

Sandover village

For the initial impression the houses of the first villagers are easy to get to, and interacting with the villagers provides the player with some objectives for finding X amount of precursor orbs to gain some power cells in return. Orbs are still used as breadcrumbs to indicate routes for the player to move for exploration. There are a few enemies spread out across the different areas away from the huts, but these seem more placed to provide practice for the player than to present any real danger or challenges. The layout of the level feels open but with points of interest clearly in view and with the collectables further enticing the player.

Gameplay -

The game so far has been paced well. The tutorial level was brief, but contained all the info the player needed to get on with the game and which things to collect and use. The 1st person view has not become relevant yet, as I head into “the village”, which I suspect will work as the first hub world for this game. So far the reward for gaining/picking up a power cell has been a silly reward animation and short musical fanfare with especially Daxter going ham on the animation side, which feels very rewarding. I am really looking forward to delving deeper into this classic. The tasks presented to me as the player has also seem varied, which is nice.