Jak X: Combat Racing
Naughty Dog takes Jak to the races. First details and info inside.
Published: May 26, 2005
7.5 Million. That's how many copies Naughty Dog managed to sell of the epic three-part Jak & Daxter series. Not bad for a franchise that was born and completed on a single console well within the span of one hardware generation. That doesn't mean that there isn't plenty of room to expand on the general themes and delve down a couple of paths that don't necessarily have to do with the Precursors and all that mumbo jumbo, though.
This is the basis for Jak X, a continuation of sorts of the characters from the J&D trilogy, but without any of that annoying destiny and stuff. Naughty Dog rooted around in that old dusty chest of stuff in the attic, found a yellowed copy of a Crash Team Racing manual and someone (we think), said something to the effect of. "......huh." Then someone else said, "that would make for a pretty cool basis for a new Jak game" (only they probably didn't italicize the title when they said it, that was something we added).
The result is something that has some of the basic sensibilities of CTR, like gaining boost off of huge jumps and powerslides, and of course some weapons scattered around the tracks, but all the advances in storytelling and technology will make for a game that's infinitely more complex than Naughty Dog's first racer, yet still has that pick up and play feel.
We'll start at the beginning. The intro video we saw had Daxter in full-on storytelling mode. He was regaling a bar full of semi-eager listeners with his... "creative" take on what he and Jak had been up to since snuffing out the Dark Maker at the end of Jak 3 and getting into Kras City (which looks an awful lot like Haven City, but that's not really important) for the reading of Krew's will (he's the huge, hovering, wheezing guy you offed at the end of Jak II), but not without meeting up with a "welcoming committee" of sorts, a Mad Max-style group of friendly motorists that enjoy greeting newcomers with bullets and shots of nitrous.
Just as Daxter's story starts to wane and the bar's denizens are about to make an ottsel omelet, Jak comes crashing in through the window and scoops up his furry pal. Jak's final line about death threats and "someone doesn't want us here" should be enough to make it rather clear the city is a bit cutthroat, but the duo doesn't really have much of a choice.
See, when the pair, along with Ashelin and Torn from Haven City (they were the girl/guy duo that took over after the former dictatorship was overthrown at the end of the game), stump-footed Samos the Green Sage and his adorable daughter Keira, all meet up with Krew's rather fetching daughter, Rayn, who has them all toast to her late father before the reading of the will. In a huge shocker (for those that couldn't pick up on the obvious hints like the wine being a "special vintage" from Krew's "private reserve"), the wine is poisoned, and as a last little f-you from Krew, the gang is forced to enter into and win an underground racing league in order to get the antidote.
This is the basis for Jak X, a continuation of sorts of the characters from the J&D trilogy, but without any of that annoying destiny and stuff. Naughty Dog rooted around in that old dusty chest of stuff in the attic, found a yellowed copy of a Crash Team Racing manual and someone (we think), said something to the effect of. "......huh." Then someone else said, "that would make for a pretty cool basis for a new Jak game" (only they probably didn't italicize the title when they said it, that was something we added).
The result is something that has some of the basic sensibilities of CTR, like gaining boost off of huge jumps and powerslides, and of course some weapons scattered around the tracks, but all the advances in storytelling and technology will make for a game that's infinitely more complex than Naughty Dog's first racer, yet still has that pick up and play feel.
We'll start at the beginning. The intro video we saw had Daxter in full-on storytelling mode. He was regaling a bar full of semi-eager listeners with his... "creative" take on what he and Jak had been up to since snuffing out the Dark Maker at the end of Jak 3 and getting into Kras City (which looks an awful lot like Haven City, but that's not really important) for the reading of Krew's will (he's the huge, hovering, wheezing guy you offed at the end of Jak II), but not without meeting up with a "welcoming committee" of sorts, a Mad Max-style group of friendly motorists that enjoy greeting newcomers with bullets and shots of nitrous.
Just as Daxter's story starts to wane and the bar's denizens are about to make an ottsel omelet, Jak comes crashing in through the window and scoops up his furry pal. Jak's final line about death threats and "someone doesn't want us here" should be enough to make it rather clear the city is a bit cutthroat, but the duo doesn't really have much of a choice.
See, when the pair, along with Ashelin and Torn from Haven City (they were the girl/guy duo that took over after the former dictatorship was overthrown at the end of the game), stump-footed Samos the Green Sage and his adorable daughter Keira, all meet up with Krew's rather fetching daughter, Rayn, who has them all toast to her late father before the reading of the will. In a huge shocker (for those that couldn't pick up on the obvious hints like the wine being a "special vintage" from Krew's "private reserve"), the wine is poisoned, and as a last little f-you from Krew, the gang is forced to enter into and win an underground racing league in order to get the antidote.
