Daxter
This game is a lot like its protagonist: fluff on the outside, solid within.
Published: April 15, 2006
Forget the fact that Daxter's been all talk for years - this ottsel truly shines in platforming glory. What's remarkable is how entirely comfortable it all feels, and a lot of which is indebted to a fully functional control scheme. The analog nub proves to be incredibly responsive, with the slightest twitch guiding Dax in every which way, and for all the leaping and hovering you'll be doing, it's a good thing too. That said, I can pinpoint a few instances where jumping felt a little too responsive, and had me plunging to my death in watery pits or electrified train tracks.
The shoulder buttons offer complete control of the camera, which hardly ever gets caught at a poor angle. Face buttons also work just as intuitively, with X as your jump, Square for melee attacking, Circle cuing shots of bug spray, and Triangle initiating a crawl mode for those tight places (as well as hopping aboard vehicles).
What's even more impressive is how Ready at Dawn gets away with practically minimalist use of the d-pad. For the majority of the game (more specifically, the on-foot portions), Up cues a first-person view, Left and Right switch between spray gun attachments and, yeah, there you have it. But then cut to any of the button-timing sequences, which range from hacking computers to playing out Daxter's wildest movie-inspired dreams (from The Matrix to Braveheart to The Lord of the Rings - it's a riot), and the directional and face buttons are wonderfully paired together, making for a true test of the reflexes in mini-game context.
While the game isn't terribly long, it is spiced with enough gameplay variation to make it enjoyable for the full ride. When not going toe-to-toe with the vermin, Daxter will often be instructed (or egged on by Osmo's totally radical son, Ximon) to hop aboard a zoomer or crop duster and chase down some of the larger Metal Bugs. The few boss fights you'll face also hark back to the days of Crash Bandicoot with their rhythmic approach. Towards the end of the game, when you're infiltrating a prison to actually rescue Jak (yeah, remember him?), your task is suddenly played out by a mix of stealthy Krimzon Guard evasion and multi-tiered side-scrolling with the tried and true platforming.
Technically, there's not a whole lot holding this one back. For as much as the system is pushed to its capacity (we'll say those aforementioned city-wide scooter rides were no easy task to keep up to speed), there's nary a slowdown present. At the very least, the game will chug for a few seconds when emerging into the city from an interior location, as the auto-save feature is cued simulatenously.
