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Daxter offers some good graphics and solid action/platforming gameplay for your PSP enjoyment.
Daxter is Jak's sidekick from previous games in the Jak and Daxter series. In this title, however, Daxter takes center stage, as Jak is taken prisoner by an evil Baron right at the beginning. You are given a job as an exterminator and sent around the city to do various bug hunting missions as you plan a rescue mission.
The action in Daxter is quick and varied. This keeps the gaming fresh, allowing you to do some platforming, some basic fighting, some riding on rails, some driving, etc... Each mission seems to have at least two of these gameplay types to keep the action changing so that you don't get bored or start feeling that things are getting repetitious.
The graphics in Daxter are solid, but some sections suffer from a noticeable drop in frame rate. This is typically when facing a huge boss or in a large outdoor area, so it is not a constant problem, but it can be frustrating.
The voice work is great, as are the sound effects and music. The story is pretty straightforward, but includes some wit and humor to keep things light-hearted and moving along.
The mini-games in Daxter are fun and humorous diversions from the main game. These "dream sequences" are rewards for collecting eggs, the rough equivalent of rings in Sonic or coins in Mario. These mini-games are basically simon says games, requiring you to time button presses in increasingly complex and rapid sequences to succeed. Achieving a bronze medal will unlock upgrades, such as more powerful attacks and a bigger health bar. However, getting silver and even gold in a couple of these mini-games has not unlocked any additional upgrades or features for me so far. The games are each based on some famous movie theme and are very well done, more than deserving this lengthy paragraph to discuss them.
Overall I am quite pleased with Daxter, despite the slowdowns during some sections or boss fights. I also enjoy the variety in gameplay and the mini-games are definitely worth the time and effort needed to collect the eggs to unlock them.
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