I love the Jak & Daxter games - oh, how I love them! Jak & Daxter, Jak II: Renegade, Jak 3 - if you're somehow not familiar with just why this gaming series has been the cutting edge of platform-based action adventures for the last five years, then go and see what you've been missing out on. It's because I love Jak & Daxter so much that it pains me not to give Jak X full marks across the board - for the first time, a Jak game isn't getting a 10 from me. But it's okay, for two reasons - firstly this isn't a regular Jak game, but a racing spin-off, and secondly, while this isn't quite up to the giddy brilliance of Nintendo's famous kart racer, this is without doubt the PS2's answer to Mario Kart, and one of the best racing games I've played all year!

Our story begins, as does every Jak game, with an excellent cut scene. As with the previous games, Jak X has a great storyline. It's admittedly not as action packed and eventful as previous instalments, because the story spans an entire season of racing, but in all of the four Eco Cup Tournaments, each consisting of twenty races, there are dozens of cut scenes that are brilliantly animated and voiced, packed full with laughs and comedy. It's safe to say that never has a racing game had such a great storyline, and I guarantee that every Jak fan will want to complete the Adventure Mode, just to find out what happens.

All of the old favourites from the series are here - Samus and Keira from the first game, veteran warrior Sig, resistance leader Torn, and former Imperial trooper Ashelin from the second, while mercenary Kleiver makes an appearance from Jak III, amongst others. There are new characters too - the cool and collected villain of the piece, Meso, along with his robot racer UR-86 and the fantastically smarmy race show commentator G. T. Blitz, who if I'm not mistaken is voiced by the same guy that does Captain Quark in the Ratchet & Clank series. He's absolutely superb, especially the total contempt he shows for the introduction of a new co-commentator - and even before he appears, you just know that it's going to be the bird-parrot thing known as Pecker! Yep, the whole gang's here, bringing all the familiar fun of the series into the racing arena. Even the late (but not lamented) Krew makes a posthumous appearance by way of a video message he left in the event of his death.

Anyway, Daxter is in a bar in the racing city of Spargus, telling a daring tale of Jak's escape from a bunch of racers out to finish him off, his story intersecting with flashes of Jak's racing, which demonstrates the beautifully slick graphics engine very well, and the two scenes come together perfectly at the end. For reasons that I'll leave you to discover for yourselves, Jak and his team are forced to enter the racing season, and there's more on the line than just a trophy. The story gradually develops, as each of the many characters are introduced, and you start to get the impression that there's a lot going on behind the scenes.

However, this isn't really what we're here for, or at least not the only thing. We're here to be entertained, and Jak X is a highly playable and very entertaining racer. The gameplay is packed full of variety so that it doesn't get stale, while the vehicles for the most part handle very well (although a couple of the many vehicles you get to use are a little too bouncy for my liking, meaning that you spin out or bounce upside down at times). The controls actually have a lot to them, meaning that the game is challenging too - indeed, just mastering the many controls is a challenge in itself!

You see, as well as your basic accelerate and turbo, you need to actively make use of all four shoulder buttons - and it can be a real hand cramper when played for long periods! L1 and R1 deal with the weapons, defensive and offensive respectively, while L2 and R2 take care of jumping and boost. Various colours of eco litter the tracks and there's no question that winning is as much about strategic use of weapons and boost as it is about skilful driving. You can pick up one weapon of each type, which is selected at random, Mario Kart style. There's a wide range too - offensive weapons include homing missiles, grenades, machine guns and even a mini-nuke, plus an unstoppable ball of energy that destroys whoever is in first position. This is a real bitch to be on the receiving end of, however - you know it's coming but I'm yet to figure out a way of avoiding it! On the defence front you've got mines, oil slick, smokescreen, sticky mines, a hovering gun turret, a stationary gun turret that stays in position for the whole race, two types of shield and more. Every defensive measure also deflects missile locks on release, so keeping one in reserve when you're near the front of the six-racer pack is always a good plan.

As well as the red and yellow weapons pick-ups, you've got blue boost cells that allow you to kick in your turbo and tap circle to powerslide around corners at high speed (also earning you more boost, as does hang time), plus the green eco to restore your health. And if you rack up a few kills without dying, your purple eco meter maxes out and you become harder to kill, while all your weapons pack double the damage and you become an almost unstoppable killing machine - until you smash into a wall and die, or fall to repeated missile attacks. However, the range of defensive options on hand, combined with the offensive weapons and turbo, strike a perfect balance between racing and battling, making for seriously addictive and fun arcade racing gameplay.

It's not all about racing though - far from it - as there are more than eight different match types. Deathmatch places you into an open area, where you have to rack up the most kills to win, while Sport Hunt sees you hunting fast-moving creatures in the forest or heavily armoured robots in the arena, and Artefact Race is all about collecting more pre-cursor artefacts than anyone else, with two on the map at all times, the next one appearing when one is collected. Then there are the solo events - Freeze Rally is all about keeping your race time at a minimum by collecting icons that freeze the clock for either 2, 5 or 10 seconds, while Deathrace has you shooting up endless drone cars that appear just ahead of you, and Rush Hour sees you driving into a neverending stream of oncoming drones, which you destroy on contact. As well as all this, you must win two qualifying events for the three-race Grand Prix event, which you must win to complete each tournament. This fantastic mixture of imaginative modes really keeps things interesting throughout.

The same can be said about the racetracks, which are brilliantly designed and packed with variety, set over a range of different locations. The Jak graphics engine that has created the lush and varied world of the series transfers smoothly into racing, as very detailed, cartoon style scenery rushes by, in the theme of areas we've seen before - the wastelands, Haven city, the forests, the sewers, plus plenty of new ones to discover too, including the snow-filled icelands and industrial looking Kras city. There's a strong sense of speed and the weapons effects are both colourful and explosive, with excellent damage modelling on the vehicles - as you take damage, mods fly off your vehicle and it begins to smoke. Whenever you crash, you're treated to a wonderful slow-motion explosion, as you car flies through the air, wreckage spilling outwards, blazing a trail of smoke and flame in its wake. Similarly, when you pull off a particularly stylish kill, you get a slow-mo of the takedown, Burnout style. It's a lovely touch that never gets old (and you can skip these if you decide it is!)

On the sound front, things in the game are great, but not quite up there with previous Jak games. All the sound effects, from the roaring engines to the gunfire and explosions, are very well done, and there's a great collection of tunes to accompany the racing, but the music isn't quite as catchy as it has been in previous games. Still, the superb voice acting from the whole cast more than makes up for this - every race briefing even has a voiceover from one of the characters, spoken in their own unique style. Daxter is as hilarious as ever, and I laughed out loud on many occasions, although G. T. Blitz does almost steal the show - one line that really cracked me up was when I crashed and Blitz says, with a note of glee and excitement in his voice, "Oh, he's going home in a bag!" There's so many priceless moments and one-liners that, as with other Jak games, it's like watching a really funny cartoon, and the animation of facial expressions and body language is perfect for every character too.

You can even mod your car - as well as being able to upgrade the acceleration, top speed, armour and turbo, plus changing the main and stripe colours, you win new mods all the time and for each vehicle you can choose from a cool range of hoods and trunks, front, rear and roof panels, wheel types, and even antennas and helmets, if you're willing to fork out your winnings to unlock them. There's a bunch of unlockables available at high prices, so you'll have to put in the time to get them all, including various accessories, 'making of' featurettes, and Daxter as a racer. You can even unlock three extra versions of Jak if you have game saves from previous Jak games on your memory card - just one of a host of great touches in an immaculately presented game. Everything is packed full of detail, from the graphical models of the four areas that host the many racetracks to the colourful pre-race briefing screens. Even better, the load times are virtually non-existent, generally no more than two to three seconds, if that. I take my hat off to Naughty Dog to for achieving this when the racetracks are so huge and varied, as you can drive through a range of different style areas, all for a single event.

So it's all good for the single player, and there's a wealth of options, tracks and game modes in Exhibition, which gives you one-off races either on your own or against another player split screen (LAN options are here too!) However, undoubtedly the jewel in the crown of Jak X is a fully online multiplayer mode - and it's a big, sparkly diamond! Being able to take on real people from around the globe at any time, from the comfort of your living room, full screen, has rarely been as much of a joy as it is with Jak X - and whether you fancy a straight up Circuit Race or want to get some fragging in on Deathmatch mode, all the modes and courses are included, for up to six players per match. It really doesn't get much better than this online!

Jak X is one of the best racing game I've ever played, walking the fine line between serious race challenge and kart-style arcade antics with the grace of a tightrope artist. Luscious graphics, masses of hilarious and beautifully scripted cut scenes, a great story, a host of racing modes with loads of weapons, a huge single player campaign and blissfully great online play. It rarely gets much better than this, and while Jak X isn't quite essential gaming, it's a must have for Jak fans everywhere and should not be written off by the Gran Turismo and Burnout lovers out there, because anyone who even remotely enjoys racing games should get a real kick out of this; as with all Jak games, this really is gaming in its purest and most accessible form.

Reviewed by Geoff Holland for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).