"Daxter is an amazing and detailed game that every PSP owner should have."

I'm gonna start this review in a blunt way: Daxter is the best game on the PSP. It has everything, from fantastic graphics, wonderful sound, incredible presentation, and simple yet awesome gameplay. Simply put, Daxter is the killer app we've all been waiting for.

Story: 8/10

The story starts off just as Jak & Daxter show up in Haven City. Jak gets captured, and Daxter runs away like a little girl. What else is new? We then fast forward 2 years. Daxter is approached by an old exterminator named Osmo, who offers Daxter a job exterminating bugs. The story goes on from there, but doesn't really have any plot twists. Nothing exactly groundbreaking, but decent enough. The ending also sucks and feels like it's over before it starts.

Sound: 10/10

The sound in this game is simply amazing. The voice acting is incredible, and the sound effects are just as awesome. The music is also very good, and is just what you'd expect from a Daxter game.

Graphics: 10/10

Let me get right to the point: Daxter is the best looking PSP game to date. There are so many details in the enviroments, and each level looks unique. The animation is also very smooth, and gives you the idea that Daxter really is an animal.

Gameplay: 10/10

The gameplay is the main attraction of Daxter. While most PSP platformers have had problems with controls, Daxter nails it. X is jump, Square is melee attack, O is the spray gun, Triangle is "ottsel mode" (crawling), and the shoulder buttons rotate the camera. It may seem that the controls are simple. That's because they are, and that's what makes it great. Many PSP platformers have tried to introduce things such as lock-on that aren't really necessary. Daxter goes back to the classic style, and that's a very good thing. In terms of mission design, the game is very linear. Other than the mission intermissions where you can explore Haven City, you can't really go off the beaten path. However, since most platformers are very linear, it shouldn't bother you too much. There is also a lot of variety, as in some levels you'll be spraying bugs, and in another you'll be chasing them with a vehicle, and in another you'll be shooting at them. There is also a part where you get chased by a train and you try to keep away from it with a Wipeout Pure-like wehicle.

Lasting Value: 7/10

I'll be blunt here. Once you finish the game (which is very short, BTW), there isn't much else to do. There are a few unclockable extras, but no other difficulty levels. The extras (Behind the Scenes, Concept Art, etc.) also don't really matter that much.

There is multiplayer (no online) in the form of bug combat, in which you fight another players bug (you get them in single player) and face off in a rock-paper-scissors kind of style. This can be fun sometimes, but can get old pretty quick.

Overall: 9/10 (Not an average

Daxter is the best game on the PSP. It has everything, from story, to graphics, to sound, to gameplay. The only thing stopping this from being quite possibly the best game this generation is the fact that the ride is oh so good, yet oh so short. But the game's greatness far exceeds it's flaws. Daxter is an amazing and detailed game that every PSP owner should have.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 04/24/06