The Nerd Next Door

After playing through the first Halo, I threw myself back into Jak II in the PS3 Jak and Daxter HD collection, I had previously thought the first game, while unremarkable in 2019 (literally just the PlayStation version of Banjo-Kazooie now that I think of it), was pretty good. Seeing as I owned the PS3 collection, I thought Jak II was worth looking at and goddamn I am glad I did because Jak II is just... well let's get on with it because I have thoughts on this one. Jak II is set about some time after Jak 1 where, while testing a device with Keira, Jak's mechanic (and love interest?) from the first game,  Jak, Daxter, Keira, and Keira's father Samos are hurled into a mysterious land where Jak is immediately arrested with Daxter promising to free him before he knows it. Two years (and a PSP game) later, Daxter finally does it and we finally get a first, Jak talking; and his first words are a declaration to commit murder. Yep, Jak II is the definition of whiplash and Jak...

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...

We all know 007 Goldeneye for the Nintendo 64, a revolutionary shooter for it's time with a decent singleplayer and great multiplayer. But what some might not realize is that Goldeneye wasn't James Bond's only FPS adventure, he had plenty of them in later years going from N64 all the way to Wii U. But one always stuck out to me, 007 Nightfire on the Nintendo Gamecube, this was actually a game I grew up with, playing it on a little CRT my Mom had in her office. But it's also been almost 16 years since then, does Nightfire hold up or is this Bond adventure dead in the water? First off, Nintendo Gamecube through HDMI on a generic upscaler looks like ass, if you have the game and a decent PC you're better off emulating, which is how I did it. There are HDMI solutions and I intend to give them a shot but given space in my area is limited and that shit costs $150 anyway, Dolphin it is. Nightfire is still set in the Pierce Brosnan era of Bond so if you're ...