Developed by Naughty Dog, Jak and Daxter comes off as being a lot like a Disney movie in many ways. It's hard to tell from simple screenshots, but the game really attempts to go the Hero/Humorous Sidekick route found in nearly every new Disney flick to date. The fluid animation, voice overs, music/sound effects and even some of the character designs and art really give that impression, even after 5 minutes of play time.

Visually, Jak and Daxter runs at a nearly perfect 60 fps with the only exception being a few split second hitches when several special effects decorate the screen. The environments are very organic, well textured and extremely solid, and you can seemingly see into the distance for miles. Jak, Daxter and the various baddies populating the levels are constructed of a good amount of nicely shaded polygons, although textures are used pretty sparingly. Besides the great animation, the lighting definitely deserves special attention. Naughty Dog implemented a really nice (although obviously accelerated) time-of-day and weather effect, in which you can witness the sun and moon rise and set, along with the various shades of lighting and shadowing as a result. Along with realistically rendered foliage, time-of-day effects are at the top of my "what all videogames should have", list.

Gameplay is vintage platformer, with obvious influences being Naughty Dog's own Crash Bandicoot. Even though the game stars 2 characters, Jak and Daxter is most definitely not Banjo-Kazooie. Daxter is always hanging around Jak's neck or standing on his shoulder, but you primarily play as Jak. As for attacks- Jak can perform a slow but long distance punch/combo, a Crash-esque spin move, along with a diving-two fisted punch maneuver. Other moves include running and jumping (obviously), and hanging on/moving along ledges. Jak can collect a variety of different elemental "eco", which power him up in various ways. The eco boosts Jak's attack power and health, and frequently gives him other temporary abilities such as faster running speed, higher jumping, and the access to open certain doors and items. In order to open a door at the beginning of the first level, for example, Jak needs to first find his way to glob of blue eco. From there, he needs to knock over a bone to form a ramp, run over to the second blob of eco to extend the eco effect, and then finally run down a path, jump over a patch of mud, to yet another bit of eco. From there, Jak needs to head for the doorway ASAP, before the effect wears off. Item crates and chests populate the environments, and in order to make progress you need to know where and when to use certain abilities and items.

Control is refined and tight, and really very typical of a well designed platformer. Unlike the Crash Bandicoot series, Jak and Daxter is very much a free-roaming game. There is usually one major goal to accomplish, but along the way there are a number of other tasks to take on. As with nearly all 3D platformers, Jak and Daxter still requires you to collect items in one way or another. If you still can't stand collecting of this sort, then of course you will probably not be all that crazy about that aspect of the game. Progress doesn't seem to always be dependent on collecting, but it's still part of the game.

The camera system seems to work well enough so far, and Naughty Dog provided a good amount of control over it at all times. A few times, while in a narrow passage, it end up in a difficult default position. A quick shift of the right analog stick put it back at a more useable angle. At this point in the game, I don't see it as being an issue.

While definitely not revolutionary by any means, J&D is looking like it may be one of the most solid platformers to hit this generation so far. Of course, Nintendo is still hard at work on Mario Sunshine for the GameCube... Stay tuned for a review.