Spin-off games from popular franchises are pervasive in the gaming market, but they are a risky venture as they tend to either be hit or miss. Nintendo demonstrated the success of such an idea by taking the popular platforming hero, Mario, to the race track in Mario Kart. Naughty Dog is trying to do the same with their popular franchise Jak & Daxter with the new racing title Jak X Combat Racing.

The game itself is strictly a racing title in the Jak & Daxter world, but it does follow a modestly interesting storyline as our friends and other familiar characters including Keira, Ashelin, Samos and Torn come to the reading of Krew’s will, a recently deceased gang leader from Jak II. Here the hologram of the deceased offers a toast to all of our friends and after they drink, they find out that Krew laced the wine with a slow-acting poison. You and the rest of your friends must win the Kras City Grand Championship to get the antidote.

Graphically, the game is very impressive particularly when you or enemies are blown to pieces. Cars break apart in different ways every time across the track and wheels fly everywhere, just as you’d expect. It’s quite reminiscent of Burnout 3. The background graphics and tracks are also well done as you’ll drive through waterfalls and over jumps amongst other things; all of these elements look very good. The missiles and weapons are done well too and the vehicles are finely detailed. Throughout the race you’ll notice that your dune buggy does bounce appropriately in situations and even Daxter jumps around on the car.

All the graphics in the cutscenes are beautiful, amazing and many are surprisingly long. The opening scene for the game in particular is impressive as Daxter is talking in a bar and Jak drives through the window. The poisoning scene is also very well done and the hologram of Krew looks great. These cutscenes are just as good as and probably better than what you’ve seen in previous Jak titles. 

The game features plenty of single-player racing action, customizable options and multiplayer features. The single-player adventure mode is broken up into four cups with a wide variety of game modes. One of the many modes featured in Jak X is circuit races; the goal is to pass the finish line first. Deathrace is another, which has you destroy as many computer vehicles in the time limit. Turbo dash has you pick up power cells and then you get points for firing each one. Freeze rally has you driving through blocks that freeze time and your goal is to get the least amount of time. Finally there is rush hour in which you have to hit cars rushing at you to add time to your lap. Each game offers a very different experience and also a different strategy, which is a nice change of pace. In total, the game features 24 different tracks to battle through and along variations of those.

Players can play these games and a handful of others outside of the adventure mode in the offline multiplayer game too. Other games in that mode include sport hunt which has you trying to kill the most dinosaurs in a set time limit. Time trial has players racing as fast as they can through a race. Deathmatch has you killing as many of the competition as possible in the arena. Capture is a team-based game where you’re either on the red or blue team and you have to get the most power cells to your team’s base in a set time. Artifact race has you trying to collect the most artifacts in a set time. Finally, Assassin has you gunning for one specific enemy in the arena and once you destroy them, you move to the next where your goal is to get the most in a set time. These games are offered in one of seven arenas to give players a nice variety.

If that’s not enough the online mode has all these games available for up to six players; the only games missing from online are freeze rally and rush hour. That’s a total of nine online playable game types which is a lot to offer from a racer. I can already tell that capture will be very popular when the title releases as it’s a lot of fun to play just against the computer. Sadly we were unable to test the online modes since the game had not been released at the time of this review.

The online mode features plenty of options too including buddy lists, clan lists, stats which are broken down into over 20 categories, a garage to check out the different vehicles you’ve unlocked and a screen mode that offers single-player and two-player split screen online. This means you can have two players on one system in an online game - a nice addition I haven’t seen in another game to date. Overall the online package is very impressive and is worthy of a look for any online fan.

Finally, the game features more than just modes of play and online capabilities; it also has plenty of other options including 12 total vehicles, plenty of customizations and unlockables. Players can customize their vehicles by improving the engine, gearbox or acceleration, armor and turbo by purchasing improvements after winning races. You can also add various parts to your vehicle including side panels, rear fenders, wheels, roof panels, hoods, trunks, antennas, helmets and even do a paint job with any color from the color scale. Many of those items don’t even need to be purchased as they are unlocked after you win races in the game. One other nice addition is the secret shop that allows you to purchase concept art, vehicles, reels of videos and more. This is also where you can hook up your PSP to unlock secret characters in the game in collaboration with the upcoming Daxter PSP game. Finally, there are various mines, missiles and guns to use in the game. Mines can even be used to deflect enemy weapons.

The biggest problem with Jak X is the weapon and health meters. The mine and health meter are on the bottom left corner and the missile/gun and turbo meter are on the bottom right. This setup makes it very difficult to keep an eye on everything on-screen as you try to control your car, dodge bullets/missiles and look at the corners for important information about what’s going on. Your eyes are just looking in too many directions at once.

Another problem is that you don’t know what any of the weapons actually do until you start using them. The walkthrough session just shows you that red colored tabs are mines, yellow tabs are missiles/guns and blue is turbo, but they don’t go into detail regarding what each weapon does. This becomes a problem when you’re actually playing because it’s hard to recall all the weapons in a split second and so you hope you have the right weapon when you need it. A problem in conjunction with this is that many of the weapon logos look the same too.

The controls for Jak X are decent on a regular track as the power slide with O work fairly well, but it is much more difficult on off-road tracks where your buggy tends to lose control. I noticed many times that my vehicle got off on two wheels and that would result in me running into walls and having to hit reverse and turn around to get back to the race. Beyond off-road tracks, the controls themselves are a little awkward as too much is going on with the trigger buttons. L1 drops the mine weapon, R1 shoots the missiles/guns and R2 is turbo, the problem with this is that your right hand tends to get over used and it can be difficult to press R2 for turbo, gas with X, slide the car with O and R1 to fire weapons all at the same time.

One other notable problem in the game is that in many races, I found myself getting caught in some of the scenery. An example of this was when I was driving across a bridge and I hit one of the pillars and I got lodged into it. I pressed gas, break and reverse to try to get myself out and none of them worked for at least five to eight seconds. One other slight irritation is that if you’re blown up right before crossing the finish line it doesn’t count you passing the finish line, instead the game pulls your vehicle back and you’re forced to cross a couple seconds later when you reappear on the road.

The only other drawback to the game is the music. The voicework is very well done and exactly like what you’d see in any other Jak & Daxter game - it’s top-notch. The engine and car squeals are decent too, but the in-game music isn’t anything to write home about. It’s pretty simple and not very interesting. I was surprised as I heard from sources that the game was supposed to have a solid soundtrack, but it obviously did not.

Jak X Combat Racing is up against some stiff competition as it’s a combination of Twisted Metal and Mario Kart. It’s a pretty good title with impressive graphics, a lot of tracks and cars, a deep single-player adventure and full online support with many game modes. The only problems are the controls and in-game meters. Surely Jak X isn’t the most innovative title this Holiday season, but it’s a great looking racer. The game is fun to play and should give fans of the series something to fill the Jak & Daxter void that also offers a nice new direction for the series.

The controls can be a bother especially on off-road courses. On-screen meters are complicated.

Cutscenes, crash sequences, characters and vehicles are all very detailed and look really good.

The voicework and vehicle noises are decent, but the music isn’t very memorable.

The game is fun and enjoyable with plenty of game modes. Jak X has something for everyone.

Plenty of modes to play both in the single-player mode and multiplayer. Online is just as deep.

]]> Sun, 16 Oct 2005 23:42:00 -0500 The Gaming Horizon Archive http://www.gamebump.com/go/gh_preview_jak_x_combat_racing_ps21 http://www.gamebump.com/go/gh_preview_jak_x_combat_racing_ps21 http://www.gamebump.com/go/gh_preview_jak_x_combat_racing_ps21# This preview was originally published on Gaming Horizon, GameBump's predecessor. Its format does not match our own but we support its content. It was written by Jarrett Conaway.

The Precursor Legacy may be over but that doesn’t mean Naughty Dog is done with the Jak & Daxter series. The newest addition to the franchise, Jak X: Combat Racing takes our heroes to Kras City where an unfortunate turn of events forces them to enter a ride or die racing tournament.

Jak X combines the strongest elements from games like Twisted Metal, Destruction Derby and Crash Team Racing. There’s an adventure mode with a fully involved story line, complete with forty five minutes of cut scenes using in game animations. Adventure mode has over one-hundred events that can be played both in single player and online. Tracks come in traditional linear style and open arenas, many of which will be from recognizable locations from the series. There are four types of eco based power-ups that players gain by driving over. Blue is turbo. Red is offensive including missiles, machine guns, honing electrical attacks, etc. Yellow ecos are defensive such as oil slicks. Green is health. In addition to adventure mode, there are multiplayer deathmatches and special events modes like Capture the Flag.

There are over a dozen drivers from the Jak & Daxter universe including some new faces. Vehicles come in an assortment of colorful names like bobcat, tiger, mongoose, and wombat. They have a range of sizes and each car is fully customizable. Players can modify the sides, hood, trunk, rims, exhaust, and more. The paint job can be changed to a variety of swatches or you can use the RGB option to get exactly that tint of cotton candy pink you always dreamed of. But be forewarned, your vehicle is also full destructible.

Jak X also features interconnectivity with the PSP’s “Daxter”, a  new solo 3D platformer for the trash talking sidekick. There will be two levels of unlockables. The first is an immediate reward of new racers from the Daxter game. The second comes when you beat Daxter. There will also be special features unlocked within the Daxter game.

Naughty Dog has a strong title in Jak X. It’s got all of the fun of a game like Crash Team Racing, but with the edge of a serious racer like Gran Turismo. Even though it’s clearly not a platformer I think Jak X will definitely please fans of the series because it features both characters and environments from past titles, all while expanding upon Jak & Daxter’s adventures. Jak X crosses the finish line in fall 2005.

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