Capsule Review: Jak and Daxter: The Lost Frontier
Another handheld followup to the Jak and Daxter series that - unlike Daxter - attempts to be a full sequel and evolve the formula with middling results.
The game is not open-world and missions are in a specific sequence. The setting is far removed from the areas in the previous games and very few characters recur. Gameplay does feature platforming and gunplay similar to what came before, but Jak’s moveset has been substantially changed. There’s more of an emphasis on combat then before but the aim-assist that enabled fast-paced run-and-gun gameplay in the previous games is missing.
Alongside this are some bizarre tacked-on-feeling “Dark Daxter” segments where Daxter gets seperated from Jak and hulks out, which play as a plodding brawler with some uninteresting puzzles. The most substantial addition is the aerial combat, but this feels even more out of place. Dogfighting has shown up before, but here there’s an almost RPG-like upgrade and mod system that has you launching Daxter onto enemy planes to complete QTEs to steal scrap and components.
All in all, it doesn’t really feel like Jak and Daxter. While it has the foundations of a solid game, the polish level just isn’t there. It’s a really disappointing note for the series to go out on, but Naughty Dog has moved on and in the meantime we’ve only seen ports of the earlier games.
I Stopped Playing When: I played for an hour or two and experienced some platforming, some Dark Daxter gameplay, and some air combat and wasn’t really wowed by any of it.
Two Stars: Meh. The game has some merit - it probably held my attention for at least an hour or I came back to it for more than one play session. But there wasn't enough draw for me to stick with it for the long haul.