Well, the Jak series is winding down, and with all of the success it has garnered, Naughty Dog is taking a victory lap of sorts with the upcoming Jak X: Combat Racing for the PS2. We recently had a chance to pick the brains of a couple of the masterminds behind this new game, Dan Arey (Creative Director) and Richard Lemarchand (Lead Designer), as we discussed track design, weapons, story, game modes, and everything in between. Thanks for your time Dan, and Richard!

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Preview: Jak X Combat Racing (PlayStation 2)

Review: Jak 3 (PlayStation 2)

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Jak X: Combat Racing Q&A

with Dan Arey (Creative Director), Richard Lemarchand (Lead Designer)

Conducted by Mr. Nash

June 3, 2005

With the Crash Bandicoot series we saw Naughty Dog release three Platformer titles followed by a racing game. We're seeing this pattern again with Jak. Was this the plan from the start, or did it just sort of work out this way?

Dan Arey - Yes and no. With Crash Team Racing we sort of fell into the idea that the Crash universe translated well into a kart racing franchise. There wasn't a good kart racer on PlayStation at the time. We had great characters and great world locations, so we went for it. As for the Jak and Daxter series, from the beginning racing was built into the DNA of the Jak franchise. In fact, our first pitch to Sony in early 2000 included the phrase "it's a race crazy world" where the primary sport of the planet was in fact vehicle racing. This is why Jak's character design included racing goggles from the very first iteration. Looking back on the series, you can see where we were constantly peppering racing elements into all three-adventure games. But as we wrapped up the Jak trilogy and the primary story about Jak's search for identity, we realized that with our new rigid body physics model and a multitude of players telling us they loved the new vehicle driving in Jak 3 (saying it was "a game itself"), we got excited to see what we could accomplish by devoting all of our energies to a whole game centered around vehicles. Jak X is that expression.

What will set Jak X apart from other combat racing games both in term of looks, and gameplay?

Richard Lemarchand - At Naughty Dog, we're constantly trying to outdo ourselves in terms of gameplay and graphics. We think that one of the main things that will set Jak X apart from other games is the variety of gameplay the game has. We cover a whole lot of ground, between combat races, arena deathmatches, multiplayer versions of some of the events from Jak 3, and some novel new styles of play that haven't really been seen before. The vehicle handling and rigid body physics that we developed for Jak 3 have come a long way further forward in terms of fun, explosive playability.

At the start of this project, we gave the Jak engine a comprehensive makeover, so that it could handle the high-speeds we hit as we race through the game. The Jak engine spools the levels, which means that we're continuously loading new parts of the world in front of the player. That allows us to have a much better density and variety of artwork than most other games, and we've received a lot of positive comments about the look of the game. Overall, we're pretty excited that we're delivering a package of top-quality fun that's also terrific to look at.

How are you going about choosing the environments that players will racing in for Jak X Combat Racing? Is it a "Best of" of areas from previous Jak games, or something completely different?

Dan Arey - Jak's world has a definite geography built around the cities that were the hubs in all three of the previous games. Jak II's Haven City, Jak 3's Spargus city,

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the Wasteland and references to other people and places in the ongoing story gave us a wonderful palette of places for racing both on courses and wide open terrains. I guess you could say it is the "best of" areas from the universe and some new places the player has never seen before - the grand tour so to speak.

What are some of the weapons and power-ups players will be able to get during a race?

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Richard Lemarchand - At the start of the project, we decided to look back to Jak's roots to inspire the power-up mechanics, and players of the first Jak and Daxter game will probably be interested to know that, this time around, Blue Eco speeds you up, by charging the Turbo Boost tanks of the cars, while Yellow Eco gives you Projectile Weapons. We have a good mix of forwards-facing projectile weapons; some familiar, like Machine Guns and Homing Missiles, mixed in with some new race-reversing surprises like the Seismic Blaster. Collecting Red Eco will give Jak Defensive Weapons, which is where a lot of strategy comes into the game. As well as standard-issue defenses like mines and shields, Jak can use smoke screens, oil slicks and attack drones to lay a little hurt down behind him - and all of his Defensive Weapons can be used as countermeasures, to throw any incoming Homing Missiles off the scent. As ever, Green Eco will heal Jak, by restoring the armor of his vehicle.

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