Thursday, August 12, 2010

Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy



Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy



If you’re new to the blog, you are probably unfamiliar with my video game blog posts. I’m terrible at video games and tend to break them in hilarious and new ways, so 1) these posts are few and far between and 2) I usually write them about older games.

Like this one. I recently finished Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy for the Playstation 2.

I bought this game used for about $3 from Gamestop and I really enjoyed it. When I first bought it, I actually struggled to get into it. I mean, the type of game doesn’t really lend itself to extended game play. You’re pretty much jumping across things and punching things in order to collect power cells. You need x number of power cells before you can open up new levels. You pretty much do this until the final boss level. It’s not a linear game and, while there is plot and storytelling to be had, it doesn’t depend on your completion of the individual areas; you get new parts of the story when you complete certain groups of areas. There’s not really much compelling you to proceed.

However, these past couple of weeks, I’ve been trying a new productivity technique. I spend only about an hour doing any one thing (computer stuff, reading, video games, etc.) and giving myself breaks from the game this way motivated me to continue the game. If I was having trouble with one area or one task, I’d end my hour earlier, do something else for a while, and then come back to it without all that frustration that builds up when you just can’t quite get something.

One thing that I really like about this game is that you can’t really die. I mean, you can, but the game doesn’t end in any way when you die. You just start back at the last save point or area entrance. Also if you die, the things that you did before dying still happened. The level doesn’t reset, which is handy when you’re trying to get those hard to reach precursor orbs and really makes this game fun to play through.

I really enjoyed it. If you’re feeling nostalgic for your PS2, pick this one up. It’s cheap and fun.

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