Hey man, thanks for playing and glad you enjoyed what's there so far, albeit if it was a little bit frustrating. I''m glad you found the controls fluid, however, everything can be improved and I've already made everything just that bit nicer with animations and input, especially concerning the attacking and upward slash. As for your questions:
1) It wasn't consciously intentional but I did love Jak and Daxter so it could very well have influenced his design subconsiously.
2) I will look into making the boss more structured. It was put together pretty quickly in the last couple of days in the contest so it can definitely be improved.
3) I've already lowered the zombie like creatures HP in my development version :)
Thanks again for playing and your feedback.