Jak X: Combat Racing (PS4, 2017 - originally PS2, 2005)
Remember that time in the PS2 era when a game series would get a racing game? I'm not sure if this was a prolonged thing or I'm just imagining it. Crash Team Racing was obviously a classic. Rayman got a four player racing game (without vehicles) and Naughty Dog stayed in the game with Jak and Daxter, putting out Jak X a year after Jak 3. Despite my professions of love for the characters and series I never played this at the time. I don't know why. Fortunately the miracle of modern technology means I could revisit this missing part of my gaming history. I'm grateful the opportunity exists. Take the f***ing hint, Sony.
Following on from Jak 3's introduction of land-based vehicles for racing and exploration, Jak X thankfully improves the driving physics and confines them to race or combat. Unlike standard kart racers things are much faster and more open. A single lap of most circuits is at least a minute and a half, and the width of the track coupled with the fact you're almost constantly using boost just makes everything feel massive. There are four cups in the game's Adventure mode with cars you can unlock and upgrade, with things getting faster and more difficult as you progress.
The game's sense of speed and scale is really strange. You have boost, you can drift (although I wouldn't recommend trying to do it often) and you have attacking and defensive weapons, but everything just feels huge when you're on the track. The racing is centred on weapons as much as the driving and this is why there's so much space - to be able to line up shots and make the most of the firepower. I think it works from a gameplay perspective, but considering how much I love the series it's a shame the setting just goes by unseen. Haven City passes by in a blur. So does Spargus. So does some ice, and some desert.
Adventure Mode is technically centred round a story, but I think the writing took up about five minutes of the game's total development. Our heroes get poisoned in a blackmail plot to win the Kras City Grand Prix Championship or whatever it's called. It's a slow acting poison though. The antidote is timed to be given to them immediately after the final race. I almost feel like I'm insulting you by actually typing this out. Either way, if this was to be the swansong for Jak and Daxter and Keira and Samos and Torn and Ashelin and Sig then I feel really quite short changed. It's barely even worth trying to frame it when this is the best you can come up with.
Along with races there are other game modes, and this might be a first for this kind of game. They're all good. Turbo Dash gives you pickups which you charge up by boosting, with a point and a fired projectile once you're at 100%. Freeze Rally is like the classic CTR time trials. You have a time to beat and tokens dotted around that temporarily stop the timer. Death Race puts endlessly spawning NPC cars in front of you and tasks you with killing as many as you can. Bonus points for a combo. The same system applies to Rush Hour, where the NPCs are driving at you and you need to crash into them. This mode exposes the.... let's call it unrefined driving physics. Sometimes something will happen that pitches your car round. When you're driving flat out, it's fun and easy. When you come to a stop, or hit the wall, or something else impedes your progress, it's a bit more irritating.
Actually I lied, there are various arena/combat modes and they're not good. There are only ever six cars racing or competing at a time and the open maps here are absolutely huge, multi-layered affairs where you can take a solid thirty seconds to go from one side to the other. Only to get blown up and have to start all over again. The AI isn't very well optimised for these modes and they feel like a bit of a letdown mixed in with the racing.
Why did this trend of racing games ever stop? Why isn't there a BioShock kart racer where I can skid through Neptune's Bounty shooting fireballs at a Big Daddy? Am I overestimating the proliferation of the genre? It feels like something that was big and then just went away. I know you still have licensed kart racing games but they're things like Garfield and Spongebob and it just feels like something that's only aimed at a younger audience. Am I in denial about how old I am? The somehow generic yet inescapable mid-00s rock soundtrack doesn't mean anything, actually. I did enjoy it though. All games should have that kind of music from that time playing at all times, regardless of genre.
Another thing present here that you don't get anymore is an assortment of Easter eggs and behind the scenes videos. Seeing Daxter's voice coming out of an actual human is a bit odd, but it's still great to see. Why aren't things like this in games nowadays? I'm not expecting games to ship or download with a full on documentary included but is it really that much work to have someone float about the office with a phone and produce some interesting accompaniment for people who might be interested?
Looking back I think I summed up things too well in my opening. I had never played this despite loving Jak and Daxter. I've played it, I enjoyed it, it made me want both more Jak and Daxter and more kart racing games. Get to it Naughty Dog, I don't think you're too busy these days.
