The story of the duo is well known, particularly the teleportation to Haven City and the capturing of Jak by Baron Praxis’ men shortly thereafter. Daxter managed to escape from the Baron’s men, swearing to rescue his friend. According to the story of Jak II, the ottsel finally liberated his friend after two years, only to discover how much torture Jak had suffered. The PSP title attempts to fill in the blanks in those two missing years, explaining just what took Daxter so long to save his friend. Apparently, from what we’ve seen in our preview, it took a large number of tall tales in a bar, quite a few drinks, and a job to put him on the right track.

Two years after Jak’s been kidnapped, Daxter is no closer to rescuing Jak than he was when he arrived in Haven City. One night, after regaling another pub with his tales of “heroism,” Daxter is approached with a job offer to exterminate pests – particularly bugs, although you’ll wind up taking on other menaces later on. While the bug job seems relatively straightforward, the bug infestations seem to have more going on than meets the eye, as you’ll wind up saving the business from being closed down, meet an attractive rebel, and many other plot twists and turns.

Ground movement won’t always restrict Daxter either; there are a number of vehicles scattered throughout the platform-based missions that you’ll take over and race through different environments. All the while, you’ll be collecting various orbs that will probably play a large role in unlocking secrets for the game. While not entirely kept a secret in the demo, one mini-game like mission featured Daxter imagining himself a la Neo in The Matrix Reloaded (Burly Brawl, anyone?), replete with trenchcoat and sunglasses. To fend off incoming opponents, you had to press the corresponding button in time. Tasks like this make gameplay seem varied and appropriate to the Jak and Daxter universe.