Daxter's main gameplay mechanic revolves around a never-ending supply of bug spray and a fly swatter. The bottomless can of Raid can be used in a handful of ways, including the usual steady stream of insecticide mist, or the introduction of flame to turn it into a flame thrower or, coolest of all, using it as a makeshift jetpack for short hovering trips to cross gaps larger than Dax could normally jump.

He can still jump, of course, but Ready At Dawn was quick to point out (and then reinforce) that Daxter is an animal, and had a whole new moveset created to accentuate this. He can drop to all fours and scurry into tighter spaces or drop into what RAD called "Ottsel Mode" -- which amounts to a basic stealth kill stance where one hit will knock the bad guy out, usually in an elaborately animated fashion.

In fact, the animation and detail in the game is damned impressive, even this early in the development (the game's not even scheduled for release until next year). Daxter sports detailed fur, giving him a slightly more animalistic appearance than the normally sleek, far-off view you got in the old J&D games. Likewise, the animation -- particularly during the cutscenes, directed by the console big brother's direction team -- is impressively smooth, making the transition to the PSP about as seamless as we've seen a PS2/PSP conversion go.

The game actually looks better than the first Jak (aside from perhaps the lighter, more open areas with all their delicious draw distance), a remarkable feat for a first-time PSP developer, but certainly one that shows what the PSP is capable of. Though built from the ground up for the PSP with minimal resources from Naughty Dog, Ready At Dawn's engine looks remarkably similar to the bigger screen version, sporting the same skewed angles and smooth edges to the world that kept the original from feeling like an angular mess.

Best of all, the entire game will take place without a single loading screen through some kind of programming alchemy that we're guessing won't even drain your battery in half an hour. We hope. It really should be mentioned, though that the level transitions and the overall flow of the game is already stellar, and again, really underscores how talented the development team really is.

Being that the game's release is so far off, there are still quite a few questions about a great many things in the game, not the least of which are features and gameplay variety. We're sure that as things move along, we'll get more info, but in all honesty, that's probably not going to be enough, this is easily the most promising PSP project in development right now, and some of the dropped hints like online play and Jax X crosstalk. We'll make sure we get more info and pass it along as soon as we can pry it from Sony and Ready At Dawn.