Jak and Daxter was one of PS2's most prominent and well known IPs, serving as Sony's take on 3D platformers during that era. However, since its glory days on the PS2, it's pretty much disappeared off the face of the earth save for remasters of the original trilogy. With nostalgia for 3D platformers fueling the release of games such as Super Mario Odyssey and Yooka Laylee, should Sony revisit Jak and Daxter and try to revive the series on PS5? What would a modern game in this series be like? Should Naughty Dog continue to develop it or should it be passed on to another studio?
Pretty sure Naughty Dog strongly considered making a Jak and Daxter for the PS3 but in the end they went with TLOU instead. It's worth looking up if you hadn't heard about that, I seem to recall there was some concept art for it.
Maybe a different developer could do something with those ideas if ND don't want to come back to it themselves.
@Octane Hey Octane! Nice to see a familiar face around here.
Anyway, Jak and Daxter is a 3D platformer in the vein of Super Mario 64 and Banjo Kazooie in the tail end of the era where those games dominated the industry. It had the usual strengths of having a lot to explore and collect. As for what's unique to Jak and Daxter, for one the game has a nearly seamless world with no loading screens and few instances of pseudo loading screens (there were a few levels where you had to ride an elevator or a vehicle to get there which functioned as loading screens, but not many). Beyond that, the gameplay featured a type of energy source called Eco which temporarily gave Jak special abilities. Sadly, the series also fell into the same trap as other mascot platformers and tried to make the series darker and edgier to compete with other shooters once those became the next big fad in the industry, with the second two games becoming somewhat like GTA clones, but even so they did add some neat things to the gameplay such as new Eco powered forms in Dark Jak, which enhanced his combat abilities, and Light Jak, which enhanced his defensive and healing abilities.
As for what a revival could do, it should feel more like the first game and less like the latter two, although the additions from the latter games could be worked into the formula in a way that feels more true to the series' roots. To me, Jak has always been about exploring, collecting, and interacting with the environment using Eco. So they should go back to having collectibles such as Power Cells and Precursor Orbs and having Eco scattered around for Jak to use. To modernize it, they could also make the game fully open world and have plenty of Zoomers to help get around faster. Now as for the latter games' mechanics, Dark Jak and Light Jak can stay. The guns though? The guns either need to go or be completely reworked. They feel somewhat out of place as is. If they're to stay, they should be more in line with the game's Eco abilities and either fire Eco directly or use Eco enhanced ammo with effects more directly related to the type of Eco used. For example, Yellow Eco could burn things or Blue Eco could knock back enemies. That would be the best of both worlds which would make it feel more like its own thing instead of shamelessly trying to copy the flavor of the day.
Sure thing, the Jak games are fun. I don't think Naughty Dog would be interested in revisiting this franchise though. They're clearly more interested in creating more realistic, cinematic games these days. Perhaps Insomniac could make an excellent Jak game after they're done with the next Ratchet and Clank game.
@Bolt_Strike Dark Jax and Light Jax sums up perfectly what was wrong with many of the western made platformers 15-20 years ago
I like 3D Mario a lot, but most the clones were a hit or miss. Banjo Kazooie is just weird. I can barely stand the designs of Ratchet and Clack, but Jak and Daxter takes everything I don't like about Ratchet and Clank to a whole new level. Weird elf-man and kangaroo rabbit, I just don't see it. And yeah, I'm judging a book by its cover, I know. But first impressions are important I think.
I'm all for Sony to explore the platformer genre, but preferably with a new IP. Heck, even Sackboy looks plain stupid, at least the rest of the game looks fine, but as a character it's quite bad. I do like the design of the monkeys from Ape Escape, so maybe they could do something with that.
@LieutenantFatman You're right, there's quite a bit of Jak & Daxter PS3 reboot concept art in the various Naughty Dog art books available. It looks... quite jarring, actually. As such, I'm glad they decided to go in a different direction; not because I'd ever enjoy The Last of Us (the end result of their musings) but because I think the vast change would've been a tough sell. It might've been a rare flop for Sony.
I'd love to see them back, and still have replays planned for Jak 3 and Jak X: Combat Racing as their PS2 Classics are still sitting on my PS4 dashboard.
But it's gonna be interesting to see what happens to all this 90s platforming popularity when the remasters and remakes dry up, and developers start trying to make new iterations. Nostalgia accounts for a massive percentage of revenue; without that, they're gonna have to be something real special.
"We want different things, Crosshair. That doesn't mean that we have to be enemies."
@RogerRoger
Jak 3 and Jak X: Combat Racing could be worth nominating for game club, I haven't played those two.
But I agree, nostalgia is a huge seller for platformers at the moment. Having not properly played Ratchet & Clank, I struggle to be excited for the games, even though the newly announced PS5 game clearly looks really impressive.
I don't know why they don't just give it to a fledgling studio and let them bring it back. Might as well use the IP. I could play one of these every couple of years.
After the first game I feel the Jak & Daxter games lost their way. Never liked 2 or 3. But I thought the first game had a nice "feel" to it. I always preferred the ratchet & Clank games and Sly Cooper. However, broadly speaking Sony are sitting on some amazing IP, and I'm certain there's plenty of people who'd love to see Jak & Daxter back. Had a conversation with some old colleagues about how Sony should approach how it handles it's legacy. You don't want teams like Naughty Dog, Sucker Punch or Guerilla being forced to develop games in franchises they feel they've "done". Seeing Guerilla set free to do Horizon, and Sucker Punch to do Ghost of Tsushima shows the value of allowing creative people to move forward. However, seeing Sumo Digital do Sackboy's Big Adventure shows other teams might be able to continue some of Sony's legacy franchises. Maybe find a studio willing to, and with the skill to revive J&D and see how it goes. What harm could it do to test out?
Always preferred the J & D games to the R & C games back in the day, but the PS4 version of the latter was so much fun to play. There is no reason why the Insomniac studio could work not work on a J & D in a similar vein. They are big enough to work on multiple projects at the same time.
@Bolt_Strike This. While the character designs are somewhat offputting, the games themselves are actually pretty fun. Although, I do have to agree with Octane here about Dark and Light mode, since it's basically just a "rage mode". I do appreciate being two types with their own unique benefits but I digress. Though this might just be an unpopular opinion but Jak X is possibly my favorite fame out of the franchise. Maybe it's because I'm just a sucker for vehicular combat games with killer soundtracks lol.
As I mentioned before, I would love to see a new Jak game, although I don't know if Naughty Dog would work on it.
That had some of the best characters in! (Krew and his unscrupulousness, Baron Praxis voiced perfectly by Clancy Brown) not to mention Jak actually talks, the story's quite interesting and rather well done The shadow being Young Samos?. Gameplay was fairly enjoyable too.
The third was a bit weak though in my opinion.
The driving mechanics never really added anything and the story was nowhere near as interesting. The light Jak powers were neat though and there was some decent set pieces.
@Foxy-Goddess-ScotchyJak II was always my favourite of the trio. Really liked the story and the characters in it. Most of all though I enjoyed the atmosphere of Haven City. In Jak II, everything was in strict order, giving the city this eerie feel to it.
The other games are also great though, I enjoy all of them.
Wasn't a fan of the grittier nu metal influenced vibe of Jak II for starters, and I always felt like Haven City was just one big loading screen. Pacing was also off and it had really weird difficulty spikes at points. Jak 3 was a more focused game, but I felt they missed a trick with the driving, it was actually good but I don't think they did enough with it. If Naughty Dog want to revisit Jak & Daxter then they should, but Sony shouldn't force it on them. Which is why maybe a Sumo Digital type deal with somebody to take the franchise somewhere might be better. The only thing I'd question is whether Sony's line up of games currently needs it. I'm not sure it does.
I admitedly only played the 3rd for the first time 2/3 years back (compared to the first and second round release) and came away a bit disappointed with it.
Though it probably would be good going back to it at some point. I do like the first and definitely the second.
Seeing as I played it back when it released more or less I can't properly view it through the lens of you whom has only just come round to playing it now? (I assume it's your first time playing by the sounds of things)
I can only really say I found the slums seal piece particularly challenging (But even then it was only maybe 5 or so tries at most) and I guess the checkpoints were a smidge unfair at times... I'm pretty stubborn though when it comes to gaming.
... Perhaps we need to play Dark Souls next in game club to awaken that inner masochist in you
Previously known as Foxy-Goddess-Scotchy
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"You don't have to save the world to find meaning in life. Sometimes all you need is something simple, like someone to take care of"
@KratosMD Yes, yes you do need to play through Sly 2. Easily the best game in that series and one of the best games I've ever played.
As for my past experiences with Jak and Daxter, I played through the first game several times and the second one once. I played through part of 3, but I got stuck on that stupid Pac-man minigame and never finished it. I might go back and finish it later, but I've got a huge backlog to get through so IDK when I'll get back to that.
I'd enjoy a revival because I was a fan of the first game at least. I have the other games, I just never got around to playing them. I think the first game was brilliant considering it was PS2, and I tend to forget how old it is. The art style has aged well enough for it to still look good.
@LieutenantFatman@KratosMD Considering how long Jak 3 has been sitting on my PS4's dashboard, I'd welcome a motivational kick in the pants anytime.
@Foxy-Goddess-Scotchy As I played Jak II on PS4, I captured every cutscene and when I'd finished, I made a supercut of all Daxter's funniest moments. I did this so that I could enjoy them without having to play the game ever again; whilst the individual levels were great, the city sandbox was, and is, a nightmare for me to navigate in one piece. I loved the story, loved Jak's voice and the hilarious script, but it's only a testament to their overall quality that I endured all that frustrating, randomised traffic-dodging timed objective nonsense between the game's cutscenes.
If I may presume, however, I think we're more aligned than it might seem, given that your defence raved about the characters and story, before adding "gameplay was fairly enjoyable, too".
"We want different things, Crosshair. That doesn't mean that we have to be enemies."
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