Jak and Daxter: The story so far

With the brilliant PS3 adventure The Jak and Daxter Trilogy available to buy in shops and on PlayStation Store in March, it's time to get up to speed on their escapades.

Every tale has its beginning...

Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy (PlayStation 2, 2001) is where it all started, where the world was introduced to the plucky young team of Jak and his smiling sidekick Daxter (an ottsel - half otter, half weasel). Daxter didn't start off as loveably furry as he looks today - his appearance is the result of an accident involving the mysterious substance known as Dark Eco.

After an unfortunate dip into the Dark Eco, Daxter was transformed into an ottsel, forcing the unlikely duo into a quest to find Gol Acheron, a sage who has the power to return Jak's buddy back to his original form.

The pair soon find that the sage's mind has been warped by excessive exposure to Dark Eco, and are forced to turn their attentions to defeating Gol, which leads to rather unexpected consequences...

A dark return

Continuing from where The Precursor Legacy left off, Jak II: Renegade (PlayStation 2, 2003) takes the heroes on a dark turn. In an attempt to escape from a giant rampaging creature, Jak and Daxter are transported 300 years into the future and left in the hostile metropolis, Haven City. Without warning, Jak is swiftly arrested by guards acting under the instruction of the city's ruler, Baron Praxis. Daxter escapes, vowing to save his friend.

Jailed for two years, Jak becomes a guinea pig for Praxis' evil experiments, using Dark Eco on the long-eared youth and turning him into an angry and bitter soul, capable of new and frightening powers under the guise of Dark Jak. However, Daxter returns (fresh from his adventures in Daxter on PSP) to help Jak break free, before joining an underground resistance which eventually overthrows the dictatorship of Praxis.

The lost ottsel years

Daxter (PSP, 2006) explores the story of the ottsel's two year disappearance between Jak's capture and eventual rescue. Lost and confused in the dangerous Haven City, Daxter is hired to work as an exterminator to stamp out a strange metalbug infestation. The job allows him to access unexplored parts of the city, and discover the means to help Jak escape. Or that's what Daxter says... he's a little prone to exaggeration.

Exile

Sadly, even with the evil of Praxis beaten, there's no happy ending for the heroes in Jak III (PlayStation 2, 2004). Civil war erupts in Haven City, and the metropolis' new leader banishes Jak and Daxter to the Wasteland in fear of Jak's dark powers. Close to death in the harsh environment, the pair are saved by a band of outcasts from the Wasteland habitat, Spargus City.

Owing their lives to Damas, the king of Spargus City, Jak and Daxter run errands for the monarch, only to end up returning to Haven City to help the resistance's war efforts, and discovering the entire planet is under threat by beings called Dark Makers. The Dark Makers were once Precursors (an ancient race of deities), driven mad by the twisted influence of Dark Eco.

After a perilous trip to the Dark Maker's spacecraft, Jak and Daxter manage to repel the would-be conquerors - as well as mastering the dark power Jak has been cursed with.

A deadly race to the finish

One year after the events of Jak III, even the steady rebuilding of Haven City isn't enough to stop the rise of a dangerous sport, Combat Racing, in Jak X (PlayStation 2, 2005). Based in the hazardous Kras City, the destructive recreation has become popular despite its less fortunate competitors often ending up utterly destroyed. And guess who has been forced into competing...

The continually ill-fated Jak finds himself summoned to Kras City for the reading of the last will and testament of a deceased enemy from Jak II: Renegade, Krew. But from beyond the grave, Krew exacts his revenge on Jak, Daxter and several other attendees by poisoning them, and the only way of gaining an antidote is by racing for the dead crime lord in the next Kras City Combat Racing Championship.

After a succession of races, a series of double-crosses and a growing rivalry between Jak and a crime syndicate led by the sinister Mizo, the heroes overcome Krew's evil plot and all is well. Or at least, so everyone thought...

Driven to the Brink

The adventure took a new turn in Jak and Daxter: The Lost Frontier (PSP and PlayStation 2, 2009) as the daring duo were taken to the Brink in an effort to save the planet once more. A sprawling map and the ability to change Daxter into Dark Daxter gave the story a new edge that made it a memorable addition to the epic saga.

Start the adventure now on PlayStation 3 with The Jak and Daxter Trilogy, available to buy on Blu-ray Disc or on PlayStation Store.

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