The Nerd Next Door

With Halo 2 out of the way it's back to Jak (heh), specifically Jak 3 . With the tone for the entire franchise shifted in Jak II , how does Jak 3 continue from there? Now, I like Jak II , thought it a big step up from Jak and Daxter . But I also felt Jak II had an obnoxious difficulty spike that almost made me quit entirely. Can Jak 3 fix the problem that Jak II had? Well it better have otherwise I don't know why we're here. Jak 3 is set not long after II and sees Jak, Daxter, and Onin's traslator Pecker being tossed out of Haven City by new villain Count Veger thanks to being framed for unleashing Metal Heads in Jak II. Stranded in the desert, Jak, Daxter, and Pecker find themselves in the Wasteland town of Spargus, ruled by Damas, the King. Now Jak and Daxter must work to survive the wastes, get themselves back in Haven City, and stop the Metal Heads while dealing with a new faction of Deathbots commanded by returning villain Errol (who I didn't menti...

With 3D Platformers coming back into vogue with Crash, Spyro, and Mario Odyssey, I decided to take a look at a Playstation 2 Platformer that my brother in law tries to get me to play, Jak and Daxter. Developed by Naughty Dog, the same team behind the original Crash Bandicoot games, this was actually their spiritual sequel to Crash after they finished Crash Team Racing on PS1. But that leads to a question, how does this spiritual sequel from 2001 hold up in 2019? Stand amongst the cream of the crop? Or is it just a dated relic of the times? The first thing to note is that Jak and Daxter has aged pretty well presentation wise. It's artstyle and graphics hold up pretty well, something I attribute to the cartoony style that Naughty Dog went for. Music is sort of a mixed bag, it does it's job but is just kind of forgettable, more atmospheric than head bopping with some exceptions, like the final boss theme. The environments are also nice and varied, from snowy peaks to boggy s...