Jak and Daxter: The Lost Frontier (PS4, 2024 - originally PSP, 2009)
I own three Game Boys. A Game Boy Color, a Game Boy Advance and a Game Boy Advance SP. I played these all regularly over the years I had them. As time went on I gradually shifted to playing full console versions of games rather than a handheld equivalent, but there was still occasion to play and really get something out of the games I had for these handhelds. There's a chance I'm just thinking of Pokemon and extending that to any other thing I might have played on them, but I definitely remember them being a significant part of my early gaming life.
I got a PSP when they were released in 2005. I remember trying to crack open the plastic case the discs were in because I didn't realise how they were supposed to work. My abiding memories of games on this platform are WipEout, Ridge Racer, NHL 07 and buying Final Fantasies 1 through 8 and getting about a quarter of the way through the first one and never touching them again. I also remember using my neighbour's wifi to do the sort of browsing an unsupervised 13 year old would do. Ah, youth.
Once it became apparent that digital distribution was the way forward for games I remember buying two games from the store - Gran Turismo and Jak and Daxter: The Lost Frontier. Looking back at the amount of content in Gran Turismo, the fact they managed to release it on a platform like that is remarkable. Looking back on The Lost Frontier and comparing it to my experience playing it now, I think I played it for about five minutes and then never went back to it.
Happily, because I bought it all those years ago on PSP, PlayStation decided that this entitled me to the rereleased versions on PS4 and PS5, without having to buy them anew or sign up to one of their hilariously overpriced PlayStation Plus subscriptions. It's rare that me managing to overpay for something video game related ever pays off, but I've managed it here so that's nice.
The Lost Frontier is the only Jak and Daxter game to not be fully made by Naughty Dog. Apparently they were too busy making the first Uncharted game, so we can add another victim to Nathan Drake's list of crimes against humanity. Set some time after the events of previous games, Jak, Daxter and Keira are... somewhere. And Eco is running out.
I'm writing this quite a while after actually playing the game but the plot was very, very thin even as I was playing it. Perhaps the game's biggest problem is shifting from the distinctive locations of the original trilogy to an entirely new setting. The game's story passes through five separate locations which you can also fast travel between, and there's little in any of them to really immerse you in. I feel as if I could talk about this game and write "this can be excused because it's a handheld game" but is it, really? If your game does end up lacking because of a clash between its scale and the capabilities of what it's being played on, does that absolve any issues? Am I just missing the satisfying sound effects that come from walking on giant piles of Precursor crap?
Gameplay is your standard Jak platforming/melee/shooting mixture. Each world also has an open, flying vehicle area with side-quests, collectibles, combat and races to participate in. These are enjoyable enough, but again there's very little variety between each of them. There is quite a substantial amount of variety in the ships and upgrades you can unlock though, so there's enough to provide a sense of variety in control, even if the things you do with them are ultimately quite repetitive.
On-foot gameplay sees probably the biggest additions to gameplay, which come with positives and negatives. Coloured Eco returns for the first time since The Precursor Legacy, with Jak unlocking new powers as you progress. Some of these are contextual like creating a platform you have to use before it disappears, some can be used in combat any time like making a shield or slowing down time. While there is strong variety here, there's almost too much. Some powers will only ever be used once or twice. Some might sound like a good idea like the shield, but actually coordinating the buttons to use them will confuse you and slow you down, making it more likely you'll be hit by enemies.
Remember that this is a port of a game from a platform which had fewer buttons than the one I'm playing on now, so switching between weapons and powers with the d-pad will, and does, lead to several cases of using the wrong thing and having to stand there as something hits you over and over while you eventually scroll through to the right weapon or ability.
I should also add here that since it only had one stick, camera control with the PSP was usually with the shoulder buttons. Not only did I never get used to this, but I'd almost always press the wrong button and rotate the camera in the opposite direction to what I wanted. And not only that, but I discovered about an hour before the end that there's an option added here that lets you change the camera to the right stick. Check for that if you're playing any PSP ports. Even with this in mind, aiming your guns feels very vague and it's never really a guarantee you'll aim it where you want to.
Characterisation has always been a strong point of Jak and Daxter games and this is largely still the case. Daxter is as brilliant as ever. Genuinely hilarious. There are sections (slightly tacked-on) where he transforms into a Dark Eco creature and gets all ugly and angry which add another layer to his character which is great. Jak and Keira are sort of... there, and even though Jak's usual voice actor was changed I, rather embarrassingly, didn't notice. The rest of the characters you encounter are largely all forgettable. As I've been typing this I think I've realised that any enjoyment I got from this game was about 99% residual appreciation for the familiar characters.
That said, there is still a simplicity to The Lost Frontier which I think anyone could appreciate. A game where you sit down for a period of 8-10 hours and experience a completely straightforward story, simple and intuitive gameplay and minimal external bullshit designed specifically to waste your time rather than provide anything thematically or mechanically satisfying. The game is lacking in areas - some due to the limitations of the format, some not - but ultimately I think I really needed to play this just to enjoy something simple and self-contained again.
All I need now is Daxter to be ported to PS4/5 and I'll have the complete set of Jak and Daxter games on my profile. Who says a creatively bereft, multi-billion dollar industry is at its worst when it's recycling itself?
