Jak & Daxter the Precursor Legacy is one of my favorite games of all time, and one of the first games I probably ever played. For years I believed there weren’t any additional Jak games, so imagine my ecstasy when I discovered there were more…and then imagine my disappointment once I realized they were nothing like Precursor Legacy.

Post-Precursor Legacy is a weird mixed bag from how I’m looking at it. Overall, it’s deeply shameful that the sequels failed to continue from where the Precursor Legacy started, but it’s also impressive they seemed to do their best to fit it all together.

This is the only Jak game I’ve played, though I have a good idea of the latter games through let’s plays, reviews and other stuff.
Precursor Legacy is a 3D platformer with an open-world. The main goal of the game is to collect Power Cells which are mainly a collectible, but secondarily an item you need to progress through. Each ‘stage’ is divided into levels and…you can go at them in whatever order you want.
The game is really big on giving the player freedom to go through it at whatever pace they desire. You can skip entire levels if you want, provided you still get the necessary number of Power Cells.
The story here is very simple. Absurdly simple. Jak doesn’t even talk.
Gameplay-wise…the mechanics take a little getting used-to but, once you do, you can get through the game pretty easily. Since the game can be tackled in whatever order you want, you have access to your entire moveset from the outset, which is pretty sweat. Backtracking is only a thing if you skip areas and, even then, it’s largely unnecessary for finishing the game.

If a continuation of the Jak series were to be done, the ideal would be to split the series into two parallel game ‘lines’. The first would continue on from the Precursor Legacy - building off of the fantastic foundation built there; the second would continue from the Jak sequels. I believe this would be the ideal way of going about it. Obviously, two separate teams should handle this.
In fact, the first game is already perfectly primed for this: Call the one continuing from the Precursor Legacy the ‘Precursor Legacy’ series and the ones continuing in the vein of the second game the ‘Jak’ line.

• Fandom Wiki - I haven’t looked at it.
• Videos
  • The Critical Flaw That Haunted Jak And Daxter by Tactical Bacon Productions.
    • An overall look at the Jak series by someone who isn’t a very big fan. Although I don’t completely agree with him on every point^A), I find this video to be one of the better evaluations of the series as a whole, and he lays out it’s most serious flaw the best.
  • The Jak Trilogy Analysis | Naughty Dog's Renegade Platformer by The Gaming Brit
    • A more positive outlook on the Jak series, and far better argued. Like with the above, I don’t entirely agree, but find myself agreeing more on the Precursor Legacy front. He does brush aside the series’ biggest flaw, while arguing the first game suffered from it.^B) However, it’s the only video I’ve seen that has been able to convincingly claim that Jak 2 is a good follow-up to the Precursor Legacy, despite the serious shift.