Jak & Daxter: The Lost Frontier

It’s a little odd for Sony to release a new Jak and Daxter game five years after the last one. Not only that, but the game is only available exclusively for the PSP and the PS2. Although Jak and Daxter: The Lost Frontier adds a few new features to the series, you’ll notice straight away that the game is a little dated.The core gameplay is your usual, run-of-the-mill platformer, although the new flying missions have added more variety. However, the game still manages to be fairly repetitive. It can become very formulaic in that, if you're not jumping and bashing baddies, you're flying in a plane shooting down turrets. This may sound like it’s all fun and games, but it’s not. You'll soon become bored with repeating the same style of missions over and over...Visually, this game doesn’t have the bright colour palettes seen in previous entries into the series. The game looks mostly washed out and faded. The character models are also noticeably less detailed than before. Even by PS2 standards this game is very dull to look at.The controls aren’t up to date either. You don’t have total control of the camera, nor can you manually aim at the enemies onscreen, which makes for some very frustrating moments of gameplay. Not only that, but the animation isn’t as smooth as it could have been. However, there are some redeeming features to the game that go a long way in freshening up the often-mundane gameplay. Jak now has a new set of abilities that include an exploding bomb and the ability to slow time, among many other moves that are steadily unlocked as you progress through the game. You can also customise the many planes in your hangar; this becomes almost essential when your enemies grow in number. Unfortunately, Jak and Daxter: The Lost Frontier is four years too late to make a good impression. It’s quite frankly a disappointing effort that could have been an enjoyable addition to the series.