I started playing Jak X thinking that I wouldn't enjoy it too much. Kart racers aren't exactly my thing, and it seems like people didn't like this as much as Crash Team Racing, which I only mildly enjoyed. I'm glad to say that I am proven wrong.
As a massive ND fan, I enjoyed the main Jak trilogy quite a bit, but I have to admit, I remembered very little about the story in those games. As such I wasn't expecting too much out of the story here. It's a okay story for a racing game, you won't get anything close to deep character moments here but I was satisfied enough with what it had. I especially appreciate how it ended. I was only annoyed with one particular detail near the end of the game, but that's really it.
Now to the meat of it all. The core of what makes modern ND games great are all here: relatively simple gameplay mechanics that feels much more satisfying than they should have, and a good variety of gameplay types that keeps the games feeling fresh from start to finish.
You will get killed a lot of times in the races, and the most exciting part of the game comes when you have to catch up to the other racers and quickly try to dispatch them. The vehicle combat is mostly about knowing when to use your obtained weapons and properly defending yourself with defensive powerups, but there's a lot of things in this game that makes blowing up enemies satisfying. The visual and sound effects of blowing up other racers are on point, and the surprisingly decent mid 2000s Rock soundtrack adds to the energetic "screw em' all" attitude of the combat.
The singleplayer campaign has many game modes, like the typical "race to the finish line" stuff, Death Races where you have to destroy as many vehicles as possible while trying to finish laps so you can get more points from each kill, and a capture the flag-esque mode. All of these mission types are good at the very least, and most importantly, it makes the campaign feel not too repetitive. Most of the "missions" in the campaign are in the range of 4-6 minutes average, which is great, because there's a lot of them to go through, and it can feel tiring if they go on for too long.
My complaints with the game are mostly due the faults of the mechanics. The car handling and physics aren't airtight, and it can feel annoyingly wobbly at times (especially in the horrible Haven City sewer track that has a lot of slippery surface). It will lead to losing situations that feels unfair, and it happens enough times to make me avoid the worst tracks in the game entirely if possible.
While you won't find a masterful racing game in Jak X, it will provide lots of dumb and explosive thrills, if you can vibe with its sufficiently edgy 2000s feel.
As a massive ND fan, I enjoyed the main Jak trilogy quite a bit, but I have to admit, I remembered very little about the story in those games. As such I wasn't expecting too much out of the story here. It's a okay story for a racing game, you won't get anything close to deep character moments here but I was satisfied enough with what it had. I especially appreciate how it ended. I was only annoyed with one particular detail near the end of the game, but that's really it.
Now to the meat of it all. The core of what makes modern ND games great are all here: relatively simple gameplay mechanics that feels much more satisfying than they should have, and a good variety of gameplay types that keeps the games feeling fresh from start to finish.
You will get killed a lot of times in the races, and the most exciting part of the game comes when you have to catch up to the other racers and quickly try to dispatch them. The vehicle combat is mostly about knowing when to use your obtained weapons and properly defending yourself with defensive powerups, but there's a lot of things in this game that makes blowing up enemies satisfying. The visual and sound effects of blowing up other racers are on point, and the surprisingly decent mid 2000s Rock soundtrack adds to the energetic "screw em' all" attitude of the combat.
The singleplayer campaign has many game modes, like the typical "race to the finish line" stuff, Death Races where you have to destroy as many vehicles as possible while trying to finish laps so you can get more points from each kill, and a capture the flag-esque mode. All of these mission types are good at the very least, and most importantly, it makes the campaign feel not too repetitive. Most of the "missions" in the campaign are in the range of 4-6 minutes average, which is great, because there's a lot of them to go through, and it can feel tiring if they go on for too long.
My complaints with the game are mostly due the faults of the mechanics. The car handling and physics aren't airtight, and it can feel annoyingly wobbly at times (especially in the horrible Haven City sewer track that has a lot of slippery surface). It will lead to losing situations that feels unfair, and it happens enough times to make me avoid the worst tracks in the game entirely if possible.
While you won't find a masterful racing game in Jak X, it will provide lots of dumb and explosive thrills, if you can vibe with its sufficiently edgy 2000s feel.
Acquiescence
10 months ago