Building on the events that led up to Jak II, Daxter now finds himself in the role of a hero. With Jak imprisoned in the Haven City jail he must gather information to enable him to free his buddy and also to stamp out the mysterious bug infestation that seems to be plaguing the city. What better way to kill two birds with one stone, than to take up the post of Pest Exterminator?

The first thing you notice about this game is the visuals, and in particular the animation of Daxter himself. He skuttles along, with his tail seemingly on its own gyroscopic control system. His movements are fluid and varied; he can climb, jump and crawl in a most convincing fashion. All of these moves are of course essential to making his way across an increasingly difficult set of levels.

The level design is lavishly presented in beautiful 3D and includes water effects, moving platforms, tunnels, impossible jumps and all the stuff that great platformers are made of. The detail and animation of all of this is, however, something you would expect from a fully fledged console - not from a handheld. A lot of the scenery items are animated themselves, many of which you can interact with (nothing spells fun like smashing up the furniture!).

As you proceed through the 17 levels of platform game, you also get to play at being an exterminator. First off you are armed with your trusty fly swatter (we call it Mr Squishy), but soon you acquire a spray can that not only can deal a cloud of death dealing toxins, it can also double as a nifty jet propulsion unit to get you to those hard-to-reach places. Add a source of ignition and hey presto, meet Mr Flame Thrower. These "combat" aspects of the game take a back seat to the platform aspects of the game however, and they really serve as a vehicle to gain power-ups.

The levels are well thought out and can present quite a challenge in places. There are the usual moving platforms, tricky jumps, hidden crawl spaces and the like. Some of the leaps seem almost impossible, but by timing it just right you can "just by your finger tips" make it to the other side. One aspect we particularly enjoyed was that the direction our pint-sized hero needed to take in order to progress was not always obvious. It was an interesting challenge to determine which wall to climb, or what piece of furniture was hiding the exit tunnel. This forces you to explore, and just as well; there are some beautiful areas in the game that are hidden away that could easily be missed if you were taking a more direct route.

In keeping with the PSP philosophy of a device you can pick up and put down, Daxter allows you unlimited deaths and frequent save points from which to recommence. This may not suit the purist, however it does support the notion of a "game to go", where achievements will be measured in minutes rather than hours of playing time.

Daxter also features some very funny cut scene sequences that round out what is a very well constructed game. Technology-wise, Daxter also contains some unlockable content that can only be accessed by syncing your PSP up with your PS2 and the Jak X Combat Racing game. Not only does it unlock secrets in the PSP game but also unlocks additional drivers and vehicles on the PS2 game, which is a nifty feature and a selling point for both titles.