Brave Hero, Comic Sidekick, Major Menace, You Know How That Goes

Nice thing about the PS2 is the massive game library, which I can pick through for whatever titles sound interesting. One thing I like to do with a franchise, take the earliest game (unless one of the sequels is just vastly superior), and give that a go. My reasoning is the first game is probably the most pure in concept, before they add mini-games and or bells and whistles to make the sequels seem different. Which brings us around to how I wound up playing the first Jak and Daxter and Ratchet and Clank games years after they first came out.

Of the two, I'd say I prefer Ratchet and Clank. There feels like there's less hoop-jumping, and the sidekick is actual useful. I understand Daxter can do stuff in the later games, but in this one, he's the irritating voice on your shoulder. You play as Clank sometimes, and in-story, he performs useful functions outside of drawing the hero into the story (He's necesary to pilot the ships they use to get from place to place).

The hoop-jumping. With Jak, you keep needing x number of power cores to open this thing, or to power your hover-scooter-thing so you can roll to the next area. So much of your action in a given area involves finding more power cores, or doing jobs for people so they'll give you power cores, or even buying power cores from people*. With Ratchet and Clank, you will do things for people at times, but the reward is a new gun, or maybe some information module which clues you in on where you need to go next. It makes it less blatant, because you get something that provides a clue, or something that makes your fight easier.

Beyond that, there are similarities. Lots of timing-oriented problems to work through, jumping here at the just the right moment, or getting the boss to do something just so, that kind of thing. I think Ratchet's story is a bit better, with the idea of a group having destroyed their world, so they'll build a new one out of the best parts of other worlds. It's still a Really Evil Guy Up To Really Evil Stuff, but it's a bit more creative. Plus, Ratchet lets me have a little ship-to-ship outer space combat, which is nice. With no annoying, useless wingmen to bring me down, either. Woohoo!

I don't want to give Jak the short end of the stick, though, because I did have fun playing it. Jak doesn't have an vast arsenal like Ratchet, so much of the action is related to jumping here and there, grabbing different colored blobs of energy which convey different abilities. I would say that while Ratchet is often about the most efficient way to dispatch the enemies before you, Jak is about finding the best way to get from Point A to Point B. Each game has some of the other action, but they focus in different areas, which is nice. It helps differentiate them a bit.

The character connections are interesting. Jak and Daxter are already old friends when the game starts, and it's their curious natures, plus Daxter's clumsiness that really gets the plot rolling. They also have some other friends who proide tech support or a kick in the pants as necessary. Plus, the ultimate victory involves sacrifice for the greater good on the part of one of our heroes. Ratchet and Clank meet for the first time in the game, and for a time, Clank's desire to help others meshes with Ratchet's desire to go out and explore. That doesn't last, and their partnership becomes strained for a time. Their ultimate victory comes through the two of them not just working together, but having a shared goal**. They don't have any allies or associates, though. They might briefly help someone in exchange for a tool, but there's no one consistently lending them a hand.

I'm not sure which narrative I prefer. Jak and Daxter's idea of two friends sticking together and saving the day from some crap they kind of helped kick off is appealing, but so is the idea that you never know where you'll find a friend, and sometimes you've got to move past revenge or personal desires to save the day because no one else has a clue what's happening.

* The Sonic the Hedgehog games I played on my Game Gear would have been a lot easier if I could have bought Chaos Emeralds off people, rather than hunting high and low for them, or portals that lead to them.

* It's mostly Ratchet getting on board with Clank's wishes, though Ratchet does it as much to save his home as anything else, I think.