Jak X: Combat Racing review

If we’re honest, the Jak series of platformers have been feeling pretty tired of late. Tough in essence they may share certain qualities with the pinnacles of the genre, the whole hasn’t always added up to the sum of its parts, with the series consistently finding itself in decline. Plus the trend of transforming a more cutesy main character into someone with an ‘attitude’ isn’t one that’s welcomed with wide open arms in recent times.

So you could forgive me for being more than a little worried when a forth in the series was found out to be in the works. The phrase a sequel too far immediately popped into my head as the review code finally came into view. But it only takes a few minutes of play to shove all such thoughts completely out of mind.

If it’s broke, then damn well fix it

You see, Naughty Dog has decided to travel down that well worn route of taking a solid platforming title that’s obviously stumbling on its very last pair of legs, and turned in into a Mario Kart-esque karting title. I kid ye not, once one of Sony’s great hopes of platforming genius, has chucked out all its platforming know how and tried to cram all the character into a fairly small go kart.

Now as much as these lazily developed titles are widely detested throughout the wide range of gaming devotees, Naughty Dog has one major trump card up its sleeves. It's talented enough to actually turn what is such a terrible idea on paper, into quite an appealing, and I’d go as far as to say exciting title.

If you can’t beat them, blast them away

Right from the off the on track action is surprisingly enjoyable. At its base, Jak X doesn’t really anything new over examples of the genre. Taking a selected kart onto the track (which you can pimp beforehand to show off your creative talents), you race against a number of opponents, utilising boost and blasting your competitors into oblivion with weapons pick-ups in order to get into first place.

The engine pushing everything along just happens to be one of the most impressive so far on the PS2. The solid and attractive visuals and the flashy effects which occur throughout each race would easily be enough, but the sheer pace that all this flashes past your eyes has to be seen to be believed. Like the Burnout series before it, the dazzling speed helps turn what could’ve been an average experience into something that simply needs to be played.

This speed only helps accentuate the fact that Jak X is a game played purely on adrenalin and instincts. There’s no time to be working out race strategies, or sticking to the racing line. You just need to keep up the pace, avoid your opponents numerous weapon blasts, and make sure you use the generous amounts of boost wisely and to its most affective.

Like the boost, which is collectable throughout the race, you’ll pick up numerous items of weaponry to take out the man in front, or shake off the racer on your tail. With one set of weapons firing forward, and another backwards, you’re bound to have something in your armoury to help you out in every possible situation.

I’m a thespian don’t you know

As enjoyable as these races are, there’s always the risk that things could get tired far too quickly. That’s when the career mode comes into the equation. The adventure based routes are only too obvious, as the career mode includes wide varieties of challenges, and cut scenes to help develop what transpires to be a quite entertaining story. It’s all surprisingly lengthy too, with easily over 20 hours worth of gameplay in the career mode alone.

Over 20 hours of single player racing doesn’t really lend itself to arcade racers of course, and thankfully Naughty Dog have tweaked the genre quite a considerable amount. Instead of mere race after race, you’re instead expected to complete particular challenges, destroying a particular number of other racers during proceedings, achieving certain lap times, or even collecting a certain number of artefacts. There’s an incredible amount of variety crammed into the career mode, and the game is all the better for it.

The story itself involves Jak and Daxter being coerced (by evil means of course) into taking part in this televised karting championship, which makes heavy use of many types of violent weaponry. Not a storyline that’d you’d expect to have too much emotional content, but the wonderful voice acting and sly humour that the series is most famous for makes a much craved return and you can’t help but be drawn into the situation that Jak finds himself in.

As eager as I’ve been to praise Jak X throughout this review, this is certainly a case of try before you buy. As enjoyable (and long lived) as things can be, if the hectic style of gaming cant initially grip you and frustration occurs far too often, then at full price this could be a title that you’d be all too eager to ridicule. However, if you can find yourself falling in love with the slightly twitchy handling, and look past the few failings involved with the enemy AI especially on later levels, then this could just work it’s way gaining a large portion of your Christmas gaming time. Not one for everyone, but certainly worth a try.