| Jak X: Combat Racing | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Naughty Dog |
| Publisher(s) | Sony Computer Entertainment |
| Designer(s) | Elodie Hummel (Producer) Amy Hennig (Director) Eric Ippolito (Supervisor & Project Manager) Hirokazu Yasuhara & Richard Lemarchand (Game Designer) Christopher Christensen (Programmer) |
| Artist(s) | Bob Rafei (Art Director) |
| Composer(s) | Billy Howerdel Dean Menta Larry Hopkins |
| Engine | Kinetica |
| Platform(s) | PlayStation 2 |
| Release date(s) |
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| Genre(s) | Vehicular combat |
| Mode(s) | Single player, multiplayer |
| Rating(s) | |
| Media/distribution | DVD-ROM |
Jak X: Combat Racing (Jak X in Europe), is a vehicular combat game video game developed by Naughty Dog and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation 2 and first released in North America on October 18, 2005, then in Australia on October 26, 2005 and then in Europe on November 4, 2005. The game is a spin off from Naughty Dog's Jak and Daxter series, though reference is made to the previous games, and it is considered to be part of the main series (Jak and Daxter: The Lost Frontier following suit).
Jak X is modeled after the driving mechanics of Jak 3. Two songs by rock band Queens of the Stone Age, "You Think I Ain't Worth a Dollar But I Feel Like a Millionaire" and "A Song for the Dead" (from the album Songs for the Deaf), are featured in the game (both are heard in the intro). Most of the in-game musical tracks were written by Dean Menta of Faith No More and Billy Howerdel of A Perfect Circle, which can be recognized as the darker, more ambient tracks. This was the first Jak & Daxter game to feature multiplayer mode, the second being Daxter for the PlayStation Portable.
Contents |
In Jak X: Combat Racing, the player controls characters from the Jak and Daxter series, all of which race in customizable dune buggy-like vehicles. The two main modes of play in the game are Adventure and Exhibition. Jak, the main character of the series, is the only playable character in the Adventure mode, and must participate in a series of Eco Cup Championships in the game's story to obtain an antidote to a poison he and his comrades have consumed. Jak can also take part in a variety of Events in the Championships as to earn Medal Points and advance through the ranks. The main Event of the game is the Circuit Race, in which Jak must finish a set of laps in a course while avoiding the wrath of the other racers. The player can destroy these racers as well by picking up Yellow and Red Eco weapons, with Yellow Eco acting as an offensive weapon made to attack and destroy opponents, and Red Eco acting as a defensive weapon made to protect the player from incoming attacks.
Taking place one year after Jak 3 , Haven City has been steadily rebuilt after the defeat of the Dark Maker menace. Combat Racing became a sport over time in the dangerous Kras City. Jak, Daxter, Ashelin, Samos, Keira and Torn receive an invite to the reading of Krew's (one of the villains of Jak II) last will, as does his daughter, Rayn. After offering a toast, Krew reveals in a recording that everyone present has been poisoned. Krew gives an ultimatum: the only way to obtain the antidote is for everyone to race for him at the next Kras City Championship.
As Jak and friends progress through each race, they find that another crime syndicate led by the mysterious Mizo has it in for Jak. Eventually it is revealed that Krew and Mizo made a deal before the events of Jak 3: both gangs were to make their own racing teams and the loser of the Kras City Championship will submit, making the winner the sole crime family in Jak's world.
Before the final race, Jak and his team learn from Kras City's television race show host G.T. Blitz on TV that a mysterious new driver has entered for the Mizo team. When Jak starts the final grand prix, he realizes that this driver is none other than Blitz himself. After Jak beats the race, Blitz storms over to Rayn, yelling that they cheated. Blitz takes off his toupee and reveals himself to be none other than Mizo. He steals the antidote for the poison and drives off and Daxter tells Jak to go after him, Jak manages to shoot him down and take it back.Upon leaving Mizo to die in his flaming car, it explodes, somewhat similar to Krew's death. Before death, Mizo comments on Jak's habit of leaving people to die and Jak responds with "You get used to it..." Back at the lounge, Rayn thanks her friends for their help, and Samos compliments Keira on her driving. It is also here were Jak and Keira finally show their love interest for each other after a kiss between the two. As Rayn walks away, Daxter realizes she left behind Krew's video diary. Jak and the gang find out that Rayn knew about the poison even before the reading of the will, and was following her father's instructions by making sure that she wasn't poisoned so that their family could be the top crime family in Kras City. As Rayn drives away, she tells some people over the phone to spare Jak, daxter and their crew. Jak and his friends decide not to pursue Rayn, and Jak and Keira share their first unobstructed kiss that Daxter notes to be a "photo finish."
After the credits a secret video with Daxter and Tess plays.
Like Jak 3, as well as Daxter for the PSP, the game remained unreleased in the Japan region. Unlike Jak 3, Jak X went unreleased completely in Asia. However, there is a selectable Japanese audio option for later editions of the game that were printed in the United States. Unlike Jak 3's case when released in Asia, the game does not have an option to set the main language or subtitles to Japanese.
When the game was dubbed into other languages - like French and German - subtle changes were made in the dialogue; the majority of the output was tamer than in the English version.
Jak X: Combat Racing has met generally positive reviews from critics, and currently holds a score of 76 out of 100. It was later added to the Sony's Greatest Hits section.
Early copies of Jak X contained a programming glitch that can potentially affect a PlayStation 2 Memory Card. The first symptom of the glitch occurs sometimes after a race, during which the Autosave feature will continue to blink for a much longer duration than usual, or when you go to the garage before the race begins. Sometimes the game will no longer load and must be reset, while at other times the game will continue to run as normal. This glitch can potentially corrupt the Jak X save data, causing the game to no longer recognize the data at all. In some extreme cases, the entire memory card can be completely corrupted, or be filled up with space that cannot be deleted or written to. The only solution is to delete the data in the PS2 System Browser and restart the game from scratch.
A workaround is to take the memory card out after the game has successfully loaded and continue to play as usual, as the autosave cannot function without a memory card inserted into the system. When players need to save their game, they can return to the menu, replace the memory card, and save Jak X manually. The memory card should then be removed once the save process is complete if continued play is desired.
In the second week of April 2007, an e-mail[1] was sent out from Caley Roberts, an associate producer at SCEA, to several users who had written to Naughty Dog about this issue, confirming that they have fixed the bug and are offering exchanges to those users who were affected. However, as of this time, a return e-mail address to actually contact Caley Roberts has not surfaced and any e-mail sent to SCEA only results in a response asking the sender to call their customer service, who is not informed first-hand how to help with the exchange program and suggest that the sender e-mail them instead. An issue of Official PlayStation Magazine stated that if the player's memory card is corrupted, the player can send in their copy of the game and memory card for a free copy of Jak X: Combat Racing, a new memory card, and a copy for free of a selection of SOCOM: Navy SEALs games.
The "Platinum" release of Jak X still has autosave errors. Neither SCEA nor Naughty Dog decided to take any responsibility for broken memory cards. SCEE's solution was to send a new memory card to victims of the glitch.
Dean Menta (Faith No More, Sparks) and Billy Howerdel's (A Perfect Circle) soundtrack for the game:
Mirror to soundtrack listing.
Alternate mirror.
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