Jet Force Gemini

"Splat."

Jet Force Gemini is about a squad of three galactic heroes – two are twins, one is a dog with a gun strapped to his back – tasked with saving a defenseless race, called Tribals, from the clutches of evil humanoid ants. It's about as cool as you would think from that description. It was developed by Rare, back in the days when they were actually making good games (as opposed to Grabbed by the Ghoulies and Kameo: Elements of Power), and it's the kind of title that's a lot of fun merely because it confirms the common gamer's dark desires. We gamers like to shoot things. We like watching big, deafening explosions. We like it when our enemies die by bursting into a violent mess of blood, guts and dismembered body parts. We like dogs with guns strapped to their backs. Yes sir, Gemini is indeed awesome.

It was released the same year as Rare's Donkey Kong 64. The two games share little in common, though I draw one comparison: They both bring up the word “epic” in genres to which I would usually not relate such a word. Donkey Kong 64 was perhaps the first “epic” platformer. Gemini (a proud third-person shooter with some action/adventure elements thrown in for good measure) also fits into the epic crowd, though not in the traditional sense. Gemini succeeds by simply BEING A GAME, thrusting us into near-constant action and not stopping for silly character development or forced plot twists in a place where such things aren't wanted. Gemini is huge, it's deep, it's involving, and boy, is it ever fun. It is solid, respectful game development at its absolute purest.

This is a shooter, meaning your primary function is to shoot. Rarely do overlong cutscenes or unnecessary puzzle-solving situations enter the mix, as Rare seemed focused in turning this into a trigger-happy exploding-bug marathon on a galactic scale. Your enemies, the Drones, inhabit seemingly every inch of every level, just waiting for some reckless hothead to come marching past with a gun in his hand. Gemini basically gives you a blaster, puts you in a level filled with enemies that bleed like volcanoes erupt, and says, “Have fun.” You'll have to save prisoners, find key cards, and do all assortment of decidedly shooter-like things, but as a shooter, the game never stops itself and never skips a beat.

A word on the gore effects: They're insane. “Guilty pleasure” would be applicable here if the Drones weren't so, you know, evil. Picture this: When you kill an enemy, it's as if they had a bombs planted inside them that were programmed to go off the second the hearts stopped beating. A typical firefight will usually feature blood spurting every which way and appendages flying in all directions, your conquered opponents lying in pieces on the ground. Though not spectacular by today's standards, Rare indeed mastered the gore effect on the N64's graphics engine, and it's (un)astonishingly enjoyable to witness. By my money, watching a dozen Drones dying on-screen, their guts splattering all over the walls and ceiling, is the videogame equivalent of eating large quantities of chocolate.

(Remember the incessant "popping" of Zerg structures in Starcraft? Yeah, same thing here.)

The game is so enjoyable for similar reasons. There's really not much to it, but this kind of relentless, twitch shooting, you're-never-safe gameplay is one of the most sadistic pleasures I have yet to experience. The levels are straightforward but appealing and varied, and the AI is quite impressive for its time, with enemies ducking for cover and flanking you when you least expect it. It's chaos, but the kind of chaos you can get a lot of entertainment out of.

The three-character mechanic works well, and Rare may in fact be the master of the “I'll get around to that later” moments. Each of the three playable characters has his or her own unique ability. As you would expect, certain areas of the game's many worlds are only open for a specific person. So, you might be wandering around the landscape as Juno and see an enormous chasm that can't be jumped over, and you think, “Lupus the dog can hover, so he can probably make it over that.” Things like that. To see every inch, every corner of Gemini would be like trying to do the same in the aforementioned Donkey Kong 64, for the same reason – you've really got to invest a lot of time and energy into finding everything.

Unfortunately, the controls don't always agree. Getting anything to work properly on the extremely limited N64 controller is tough and I applaud Rare for trying to fit so many functions onto the thing. But you really will never feel too comfortable playing Gemini. Camera control, for one thing, is nonexistent. Usually not a problem, since the camera generally does a good job of putting your eyes on the action, but it can be annoying. Furthermore, Gemini has two alternating control schemes. The basic setup, a platformer-esque third-person mode that feels like Banjo-Kazooie with a gun, works okay, except that it doesn't quite offer much aiming precision. When you hold the R button, the camera zooms in behind your character, and control switches up – you move your guy with the C buttons and aim with the analog stick.

I'm not going to lie: The aiming in this game sucks. It's way too loose to be completely functional, kind of like the R-aiming in both Goldeneye and Perfect Dark, only here, you'll need to rely on it much more often since your basic setup works okay but doesn't give you a lot of aiming flexibility. I never got used to aiming this way, and Gemini is a far worse game than it should have been because of it.

Here's the weird thing: That is, in reality, my only major complaint, which should give you an idea of how much the aiming in Gemini annoyed me. Any other problem with Gemini is a matter of preference. The game will eventually require you to visit every world and rescue every Tribal within – this means finding them, ensuring their safety, and getting to them before they get shot down by angry Drone bastards. This kind of mandatory questing caused a lot of whiners to complain, but I, completionist that I am, realized that even if it weren't required, I would have done it anyway. (I never groaned about the Sky Temple keys in Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, either.)

And while we're on preferences, Gemini has a TERRIBLE framerate, but if that's the price I have to pay for such mouth-watering gore effects, I say chug away.

One aspect of Gemini I cannot find fault in is its soundtrack. Rare regular Robin Beanland has a knack for stirring up some of the catchiest tunes in the industry, and Gemini's score sounds like it belongs in a classic sci-fi movie. Not that I'm surprised, but this kind of quality is worth noting.

Pros

+ It's bloody, it's gory, it's a wonderful mess.
+ Plenty of straightforward, no-holds-barred shooter action.
+ The three-character mechanic works extremely well.
+ Levels are simple, yet complex at the same time. Weird.
+ It's a huge adventure, and I liked the Tribal hunting.
+ The music is terrific.

Cons

- A few fatal control problems.
- Some people will despise the Tribals.
- Framerate chugs galore.

Overall: 8/10

I don't have much more to say about Jet Force Gemini. If this is the kind of game that can be labeled as “mindless entertainment,” then so be it, because for being mindless, it sure is fun. But I liked Gemini not because it was hella bloody, but because it was an epic and compelling little adventure, far more than “just a shooter.” The splattering guts and flying appendages only make it that much better. Oh, and you know something? I just recently saw a used copy of this game on sale for two bucks. That kind of cheapness makes bad games look good, and they only make great games even more worth your money. Rare may not be working on a sequel, and I doubt this one will show up on the Wii's Virtual Console anytime soon, but this title is too good, and too bloody, to pass up.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 02/20/07