Jak Takes to the Races
Naughty Dog turning one of its franchises into a racer? That's unheard of!
Published: April 11, 2005
See, developer Naughty Dog might have deemed Jak 3 as the "dramatic conclusion," to the trilogy, but who said a racing sequel was out of the question? As was the case with the Crash Bandicoot series, Sony Computer Entertainment America has revealed Jak X: Combat Racing, a fourth installment to the Jak and Daxter series that features the duo and company in... combat racing.
"We are extremely pleased to take the Jak and Daxter franchise to a new level by providing players a competitive experience in a vehicular combat setting," gushed Grady Hunt, senior producer, product development, Sony Computer Entertainment America. "By enabling multiple players to compete against each other with the incorporation of online and multiplayer gameplay in Jak X: Combat Racing, Naughty Dog will deliver an intense and refreshing experience to the largest online gaming community."
Picking up with Jak's defeat of the Dark Maker that concluded Jak 3, the cities that were formerly victim to oppression have now flourished, with people now showing a huge interest in sports. Combat racing, of all things, has become the new must-see event, to the point where fanatics are daring enough to head to the mean streets Kras City, the sport's heart, to catch the high-speed racing.
Never ones to be away from the action, Jak and Daxter receive an invitation from out of the blue to attend gang leader Krew's Last Will and Testament, to be read in Kras City. The two make the trip, joined by their loyal friends, but are shocked when Krew reveals in his recording that everyone present (heck, even his daughter) has been poisoned, and the antidote can only be obtained by... racing in the Kras City Grand Championship?
Sure, it's a storyline out of left field, but the point is that this latest J&D game is all about combat racing. Jak X will have you zooming across 10 tracks (with a said 20 configurations, including mirror and reverse) in modes such as Racing, Time Trial, Time Box, Death Match, and Team Death Match. Hence it's called combat racing, the raceways will be littered with weapon and item pickups, ranging from projectile and ranged weapons to bombs and mines to turbo boosts and shields. The vehicles you hop into, fleshed out with the Advanced Rigid Body Physics technology, are fully customizable through "snap-on" parts, which can be decorative in the form of decals and paint patterns, particularly useful with special mods, or even gimmicky with fluffy dice and bobbleheads.
What Sony and Naughty Dog are particularly proud of concerning Jak X: Combat Racing is the addition of multiplayer and online play. On a single console, two players can race it out in head-to-head competition presented in split-screen. Online, though, you and five buds can compete and utilize the always-helpful features like rankings, buddy lists, clans and team play, just to name a few.
Let's not forget a minor detail SCEA managed to let slip: "gamers who play Daxter PSP (uh huh, that's a secret project) will have the ability to unlock Jak X elements such as secret decals, mods, vehicles and a character from Daxter PSP." Whoops!
Ready to get your race on? Jak X: Combat Racing gets the green flag this fall 2005, but along with the other hoards of games currently in the works, will get its debut at E3 2005. May couldn't come any sooner!
"We are extremely pleased to take the Jak and Daxter franchise to a new level by providing players a competitive experience in a vehicular combat setting," gushed Grady Hunt, senior producer, product development, Sony Computer Entertainment America. "By enabling multiple players to compete against each other with the incorporation of online and multiplayer gameplay in Jak X: Combat Racing, Naughty Dog will deliver an intense and refreshing experience to the largest online gaming community."
Picking up with Jak's defeat of the Dark Maker that concluded Jak 3, the cities that were formerly victim to oppression have now flourished, with people now showing a huge interest in sports. Combat racing, of all things, has become the new must-see event, to the point where fanatics are daring enough to head to the mean streets Kras City, the sport's heart, to catch the high-speed racing.
Never ones to be away from the action, Jak and Daxter receive an invitation from out of the blue to attend gang leader Krew's Last Will and Testament, to be read in Kras City. The two make the trip, joined by their loyal friends, but are shocked when Krew reveals in his recording that everyone present (heck, even his daughter) has been poisoned, and the antidote can only be obtained by... racing in the Kras City Grand Championship?
Sure, it's a storyline out of left field, but the point is that this latest J&D game is all about combat racing. Jak X will have you zooming across 10 tracks (with a said 20 configurations, including mirror and reverse) in modes such as Racing, Time Trial, Time Box, Death Match, and Team Death Match. Hence it's called combat racing, the raceways will be littered with weapon and item pickups, ranging from projectile and ranged weapons to bombs and mines to turbo boosts and shields. The vehicles you hop into, fleshed out with the Advanced Rigid Body Physics technology, are fully customizable through "snap-on" parts, which can be decorative in the form of decals and paint patterns, particularly useful with special mods, or even gimmicky with fluffy dice and bobbleheads.
What Sony and Naughty Dog are particularly proud of concerning Jak X: Combat Racing is the addition of multiplayer and online play. On a single console, two players can race it out in head-to-head competition presented in split-screen. Online, though, you and five buds can compete and utilize the always-helpful features like rankings, buddy lists, clans and team play, just to name a few.
Let's not forget a minor detail SCEA managed to let slip: "gamers who play Daxter PSP (uh huh, that's a secret project) will have the ability to unlock Jak X elements such as secret decals, mods, vehicles and a character from Daxter PSP." Whoops!
Ready to get your race on? Jak X: Combat Racing gets the green flag this fall 2005, but along with the other hoards of games currently in the works, will get its debut at E3 2005. May couldn't come any sooner!
