Jak X: Combat Racing

Jak X: Combat Racing
Developer(s)	Naughty Dog
Publisher(s)	SCEA
Designer(s)	Grady Hunt (senior producer) Sam Thompson (associate producer) Greg Phillips (associate producer) Adam Harris (senior programmer) Ken Miyaki (senior programmer)
Aspect ratio	16:9 / 4:3
Native resolution	480p (EDTV) 480i (SDTV)
Platform(s)	PlayStation 2
Release date	NA October 18, 2005 PAL November 4, 2005
Genre(s)	Vehicular combat
Mode(s)	Single player, multiplayer
Rating(s)	ESRB: T (Teen) PEGI: 12+ OFLC: PG USK: 6
Media	DVD-ROM
Input methods	DualShock 2, PlayStation 2 Headset

Jak X: Combat Racing (known as Jak X in Australia, South Africa and the UK), is a vehicular combat 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. 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 X is modelled after the driving mechanics of Jak 3. Two songs by rock band Queens of the Stone Age, named "You Think I Ain't Worth a Dollar But I Feel Like a Millionaire" and "A Song for the Dead" are featured in the game. Most of the in-game musical tracks were written by Billy Howerdel of A Perfect Circle, which can be recognized as being the dark ambient and guitar driven tracks in the game.

Gameplay

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.

Plot

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, Torn and Sig 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 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, but 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. 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 and his crew. As Rayn has many thoughts of what to do in the future, this could lead to a Jak X sequel. The entire game ends with Jak finally kissing Keira.

Development

Japanese

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.

Autosave Memory Card glitch

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. 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 out the memory card out after the game has successfully loaded and continue 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 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 firsthand 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.

References

1. ^ Billy Howerdel Q&A. JAKX Racing.
2. ^ Official Playstation Forums. Save Glitch Fix.

External links

• Official North American website
• Naughty Dog's Jak X Site
• Jak X: Combat Racing at MobyGames
• Jak and Daxter wikia