Jak & Daxter HD Collection - Playstation 3 Preview


	Platform Playstation 3 Genre Action / Platformer Publisher SCEA Developer SCEA ETA February 2012
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Jak & Daxter HD Collection

Any PS2 gamer worth their salt has at least played one of the Jak & Daxter games (later simply known as Jak II and Jak 3). Really dedicated gamers have also played the Crash Bandicoot games that originally shot developer Naughty Dog into the stratosphere in terms of game design. As great as the Uncharted games are on the PS3, many gamers have been just a tad sad not to see Jak make his way onto the PS3. After all, Ratchet & Clank has made a big impact on Sony’s current console

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and Ratchet and Jak went together like peas and carrots on the PS2.

So PS3 owners are finally going to get a chance to play Jak although it won’t be an entirely new experience. A remake of the first three games (Jak & Daxter: The Precursor Legacy, Jak II and Jak 3) are coming out in high definition with trophy support in February 2012. The games are also going to be

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available in stereoscopic 3D for those that have the right hardware.

The first three games originally sold a total of over 7.25 million copies. Interestingly enough, sales of the series declined as time went on (as did the overall review scores). The first game took almost three years to develop with a staff of around 30 people, and the second one only two years (but with a staff of around 75). The final game took only one year but again had more people working on it.

Series co-creator Andy Gavin attributes the lower sales numbers of the sequels to a shift in the market. “The rage was all heavy violence like Grand Theft Auto 3 and Metal Gear Solid. We thought [the first game] was perhaps too ‘youngish’ and tried to darken it up. This made Jak & Daxter: The Precursor Legacy the purest expression of its open world game play and lighter more ‘awe’ inspired aesthetic.”

Overall, the three games provide a great blend of platforming, vehicle driving and shooting. It will be interesting to see if a second collection is produced that brings Jak X Racing (originally on the PS2), Daxter (originally on the PSP and ironically the best selling single title in the franchise) and Jak & Daxter: The Lost Frontier (originally on the PSP, then ported to the PS2). If sales of the first collection are decent then this seems to be a good chance of seeing more (such as what happened with God of War).

The only questions left are a) can I wait until February and b) what about Ratchet & Clank?

- Syd Bolton

(November 24, 2011)