Summary

• The Jak and Daxter franchise includes the main titles and a few spin-off games.
• There are not many poor entries in the series, but we examine the quality of each one's gameplay mechanic, humor, and narrative.
• The best Jak and Daxter games deliver more of what fans love about the series, with new powers, expanded battles, and dynamic settings. And of course, the iconic Jak and Daxter wit.

The PlayStation 2 was arguably home to some of the best 3D platformers of the early 2000s; with Ratchet & Clank, Sly Cooper, and 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Jak and Daxter forming something of a 'holy trinity' of classic Sony goodness. Whether it's the runnin' and gunnin' that the Lombax brings, or the stealth of Sly and pals, you're covered, no matter your (overly specific) preference.

Jak and Daxter, meanwhile, hailed from Naughty Dog – the same team that developed the legendary 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Crash Bandicoot franchise. Though it started off as your bog-standard Banjo Kazooie clone, complete with lurid colo🦹urs and Saturday morning cartoon vibe, it soon developed an identity all its own, veering off into far darker 💫territory. Here are all six entries in this childhood favourite, ranked.

The ranking of these games is based on both author experience and the sheer awesomeness of Jak and Daxter in each 🦋entry.

Updated December 30, 2023 by Bobby Mills: Though we've not seen a new entry in the Jak and Daxter series in over a decade, the gruff adventurer and his snide Ottsel buddy continue to win over fans. Perhaps it's the whip-smart dialogue, the tight platforming, or the gruelling challenge? Then again, it might be the copious amounts of edge that would make even Shadow the Hedgehog blush. Who really knows? What matters is that we honour this classic series, so grab yourself a bottle of Blue Eco to nurse and enjoy our revised list!

6 Daxter

Half The Title, Half The Fun

In all honesty, the lower end of this list is a bit of a race to the bottom. Outside of the core trilogy, the Jak and Daxter franchise experimented in the PSP era with a variety of spinoffs, yielding mixed results (at best). There's not a whole lot of distance between our two runners-up, but Daxter just about steals the undesirable crown for being focused entirely on the more irritating contingent of the duo. Bundled in with PSP systems from 2006 onwards, it's highly likely you've never even heard of it.

This brief experience that functions more as a tech demo for the PSP's graphical capabilities sees you play the titular Ottsel as he decides to indulge in a spot of bug extermination while searching for Jak. It's set between the stories of Jak 1 and 2, and thus occupies an odd middle ground between the saccharine tweeness of the first game and the grit of the sequel.

Gameplay-wise, it's pretty rote stuff; Daxter is athletic and can scurry up walls, and there's fun to be had in using your Eco-powered swatter to smoosh insect enemies. It's just all been done, and done better (in this very series, even!) so it doesn't last long in the memory.

5 𒅌 Jak And Daxter: The Lost Frontier

More Like The Lost Development Time

Another PSP entry, The Lost Frontier notches one spot above Daxter for at least keeping the iconic chums together; and in that sense, it does technically qualify as a mainline entry. All the pieces are here: a variety of 💟weapons to take down grotesque foes with, a comically over-involved storyline, an endless conga line of quips from Dax. You will be hard-pressed, however, t💎o find any fans willing to recognise it as canon.

This one wasn't developed by Naughty Dog, instead being the product of High Impact Games – whose middling resume includes DreamWorks Kartz and a Phineas and Ferb game on the Wii. That should likely tell you all you need to know; and The Lost Frontier is pretty poor indeed. The camera is craned at an awkward angle, prohibiting accurate shooting, and the damage-sponge bosses wear on your patience.

Gimmicky segments spent in control of bizarre creatures handle like cotton wool, as does a late-game sphere-rolling sequence that deserves the same watery fate it repeatedly bestows on poor Jak. Top that off with a glitchy engine, atrocious flight controls, and an impenetrable narrative, and you've got a Precursor-sized stinker.

4 ꦗ J🍌ak X: Combat Racing

Every Platformer Has Its Kart-Racer

At its core, the Jak and Daxter series is, of course, a mascot platformer – and what mascot platformer is complete without an obligatory kart-racing spinoff? It's like one of the commandments of gaming, alongside such time-honoured maxims as: "when thou art finding collectibles, the last one shalt always be impossible to find."

Unlike previous entries, Jak X: Combat Racing focuses solely on the very thing the title implies. There ain't a gun to be shot, or a ledge to be grabbed in sight. Jak 3 toyed with this idea, with its loosely-handled dune buggy, and evidently someone at Naughty Dog saw potential, as it now has an entire game to itself. Choosing between a story-based Adventure mode or a standard race, you'll barrel down a selection of courses against the (curiously sadistic) AI. Watch out for that Red Eco.

Now, fair's fair: as karting spinoffs go, this one's pretty decent. The vehicles all look sick, and there's a genuine punt at tying the game's events into the narrative that Jak 1, 2, and 3 established. Characters that were massacred in the latter portion of the trilogy - poor, sweet Keira - are given a new lease of life here. Likewise, you can customise your karts to within an inch of their lives, and the soundtrack slaps. Sadly, the controls are just too slippery, and the visual design too monochromatic, for it to ever be in with a shout of dethroning Mario Kart or Crash Team Racing.

3 Jak 3

More Of The Same, But The Same's Pretty Great

Phew. We've covered the spinoffs, so now we can get into the good stuff. Jak 2 laid down a tremendously strong framework, and dazzled so much with its irreverent badassery and open-world city that any threequel was going to have a tough time measuring up. Much like fellow trilogy-cappers Sly 3 and Ratchet and Clank: Up Your Arsenal, though, Jak 3 isn't particularly interested in levelling up on its predecessor. It just wants to deliver more of what you loved, and we can respect that; but it perhaps loses points in the innovation department as a consequence.

Still, don't get us wrong. It's a blast. On top of the usual business, wandering a map looking for Orbs to loot and enemies to blast (this time across a desert Wasteland, in addition to the engrossingly dystopian Haven City), you're given new powers. Light Eco will enable you to slow down time, which makes dodging enemy attacks, and certain platforming segments, far simpler. Arena battles from prior titles are also expanded upon – if you always dug those endless bits in Jak 1 where Daxter screams "It's an ambush!", you'll be right at home.

Jak 3 is scuppered ever so slightly by the aforementioned over-reliance on the dune buggy, and a handful of narrative and character failings. Jak 2 wrapped up a satisfactory number of loose ends, so the conflict here feels rather forced, and like the writers were struggling to give our heroes something to do. Revelations about Jak's past land with a thud, and Keira is reduced to a walking cardboard cutout of a love interest.

2 ꦦ Jak And Daxter: The Precursor Legacy

The Original, But Not Quite The Best

Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy is the very definition of 'safe'. Coming off of Crash Bandicoot, Naughty Dog needed a project that would be a surefire hit in order to stick their landing into the PS2 era – and so we have a pretty standard platformer that ticks all the Banjo Kazooie-esque boxes it needed to tick. Mute protagonist with a sassy sidekick? Check. Collect-a-thon gameplay that gates off areas? Check. Progression tied to mission-based McGuffins? A rotisserie of quirky NPCs? Insane difficulty spikes? Check, check, and check.

This inaugural outing, though, ranks as highly as it does because of the way in which it puts a spin on these ancient tropes. Banjo and Mario are fairly passive leads; Super Mario 64 is, to date, the only place outside of Smash Bros. that you'll see the plumber throw a punch. Not so with Jak. He'll beat the tar out of any enemy that strolls on by, and from the outset you have a surfeit of moves to try out. Some of them, like the uppercut, can even be used to skip platforming segments if you're skillful.

There's also something to be said about the game's charm. Its animation, for the early 2000s, is exquisite, and its simple tale of black-and-white morality is a breath of fresh air compared to the brooding its stars would be indulging in come the sequels. Gol and Maia are naff villains, sure, but they wear it on their sleeves. You've also got some wonderfully diverse stage design and vehicle sections that, by some miracle, don't suck. Just don't mention Spider Cave.

1 Jak II

Sometimes Change Is Good

Jak II makes its thesis statement abundantly clear in its first ten minutes. Jak, Daxter and Keira leave their candy-coloured tropical paradise via a portal, and are promptly deposited in a industrial city hellscape. Jak is immediately captured by a shady overlord named Baron Praxis, strapped down to a table to be experimented on, and we then don't see him for two in-game years. Apparently, that's how long it took Daxter to find him (it seems he was too busy battling bugs).

When the pair finally reunite, Jak's grown a macho beard, learned to talk, and wastes no time cussing up a storm and threatening to throttle Daxter. Yep, kids – this ain't your pappy's Jak and Daxter anymore.

In any other series, such a jarring tonal shift would be laughable. However, so thoroughly and earnestly does Jak II commit to its sudden maturation that it circles back round to awes✃ome. Seeing formerly wide-eyed Jak pump a plasma rifle, and Daxter flip off a member of the local mafia, is just inherently amusing. Luckily, the stellar gameplay more than buoys the packag𒁏e, to boot.

Jak II adopts a Grand Theft Auto style, by allowing you to hijack cars from pedestrians across Haven City. Praxis' goons are swarming the streets, so it pays to be able to make a quick getaway; and the sense of freedom is intoxicating. There are races to partake in, assault missions down in the sewers to stumble across, and NPC conversations that build upon the lore to eavesdrop on.

Tying everything together is a legitimately gripping story, and a hard-as-nails difficulty level explicitly designed to weed out the inexperienced. Be prepared to game over (and over, and over). Stick at it, though, and you'll have conquered one of the finest action-platformers of all time – and that's no Eco-xaggeration.