Jet Force Gemini

"Twins and Tyrants and Ants! Oh My!"

I bought Jet Force Gemini (Gemini means ''twins'') used at Roger's Video and to this day, I still beleive that I couldn't have chosen a better used game. (My other options weren't to great anyway)

Graphics (System-Wise) 10/10

I have yet to see an N64 game that doesn't need to be supported by an expansion pack that looks better than this game. The graphics are the thing that first attracted me to this superb game. From the lush forests of Goldwood to the bright, metallic walls of the battleship Sekhmet to the volcanic landscape of Eschebone, the backgrounds are all beautiful for N64. Character models look even better, especially the main characters, Juno, Vela and Lupus(Means ''wolf''. Lots of subliminal things in the names in this game). Even when they stand still, the heroes are teeming with life. Juno occasionaly scans the area and shakes his gun to make sure it's working. Lupus will scratch behind his ears and shake off fleas. Vela will adjust her skirt as well as point her gun around. The common enemies look very...err...insect-like and the bear-like tribals are cute AND well-designed. Bosses are huge and intimidating. Weapon animations are superb, from the barrage of bullets that ensues from the machine gun, to the massive explosion of death that spew forth from the cluster bomb. I couldn't choose a better looking Third-Person Shooter for the N64.

Sound (System-Wise) 10/10

I was NEVER, EVER annoyed by the audio of JFG, in fact, I relished in every second. Each world has its own epic theme that fits the mood. Tawfret, the dead world filled with bug-zombies has a very dreary, rainy-day song while Goldwood has amusing tribal beats. As for sound effects, every weapon sounds different, every ant screeches differently, every green bug-blood splat sound makes a different ''splorch''. Characters grunt when they jump, gasp then they trip off the edges of cliffs, ''ugh'' when they get hit by enemy fire or fall off a high place and scream in pain when they die(sometimes). It's amazing how much sound-quality has been packed into this cart!

Gameplay (Genre-Wise) 9/10

Although the control scheme isn't nearly as hard to get used to as Resident Evil's, it'll take a short while to grow accustomed to jumping with top c, crouching with bottom c and changing weapons with A and B. Otherwise, the control scheme is basically like a 3rd person goldeneye. Strafe with the side-C buttons, aim first person with the r-button, zoom in and out with the sniper rifle using top c and bottom c while holding R. Move with the control stick and shoot with the Z button. You can also use the D-Pad to set weapon shortcuts. Tired of going past the Tri-Rocket launcher to switch from the pistol to the machine gun on the fly? Set the machine gun to a direction on the D-pad using the menu, simple as that.
In the core of gameplay, this is a straightforward shooter with a couple of twists, including a little robot who flies around with you after you assemble him early in the game named Lloyd. Once he is assembled, a friend can take the second player controller and fire from his laser panels, and his dual beams can usually kill a standard ant(and there are a lot of these guys) in a single shot.
Each of the characters plays a little differently, Juno, who has full bodied armor, can walk on lava (cool!). Vela is the only character who can submerge herself underwater (A low-point in the game, most people should know from my DK64 review that i HATE defenceless underwater swimming) but is thankfully a very fast swimmer, making it more of a brief period of monotony in exchange for more riveting action. Lupus, the dog, has jet boosters on the bottom of his feet, and making him fly around on them is a blast. When he gets his cyber armor, he also becomes the only character who can fire weapons on water, making him great for multiplayer when a Vela-type character decides to play chicken in the drink.
All the characters can use the same weapons, which can range from taking out the trash(Tri-Rocket Launcher), to just-for-fun (The Shocker. Watching those ants shake and screech when they're totally stunned is great fun) to totally useless (Fish food. Guess what it does!).
Boss battles are always challenging, and yet they never feel like a chore. You're put into contstant first person aiming mode and you must aim at areas on the big bug before you that flash from time to time. The only way to avoid their attacks is to jump and strafe. Like I said, challenging but never frustrating.
Though the control scheme and first-person aiming-mode boss battles may take an hour or so to get used to, once you're into the game, you don't come out till it's over.

Story (Genre-Wise) 8/10

The earth's Jet Force Squadron has been all but wiped out by the tyrant Mizar, all except for twin orphans, Juno and Vela, and their dog Lupus. The stage is set with Juno drinking coffee in his Captain Kirk-esque chair, Vela managing the navigation controls and Lupus gazing blankly at a planet outside the window of their Jet Force Fleet vessel, then the crew gets a distress signal from the planet below. Suddenly, Mizar's ants start to invade the ship and Juno commands Vela and Lupus to take their personal exploration ships (Lupus' has these funny little ears that make it look like a dog) down to the planet while he holds off the bugs. Vela and Lupus reluctantly reply and head down to the planet while Juno whips out his machine gun (Which inconveniently disappears until he finds a new one when he himself lands) and displays massive ownage upon the blue drones. He then heads off on his ship and lands on Goldwood.
Yadda yadda yadda. This game is more story-driven than you're average action game and I loved that fact. It keeps you going until the end, but at times can be predictable.

Multiplayer (Genre and System-wise) 5/10

I'm not much of a fan of split-screen but deathmatch can be really fun. The multiplayer target-range competition is rather boring, however, and it takes unbeleivable skill in Lloyd missions to unlock the other two ranges in addition to the initial stage that takes place in the cargo bay of the S.S. Anubis. There's plenty to unlock, including over 20 playable characters for deathmatch, there's also a rather flat racing mode with wonked controls you can unlock later in the game. More on racing mode controls later. You can actually unlock a track from Diddy Kong Racing if you beat the painfully hard Jeff and Barry 1 and 2 in an insanely short time. Deathmatch is big fun, but the Target range and Racing Mode feel half-assed.

Replayability (Genre-Wise) 4/10

What really disappointed me about this was that the game makes you find just aout EVERYTHING in order to complete the game. So you'll find all the bonus totems that unlock things in multiplayer mode when you're looking for, say, those earplugs for that bear in the water ruins, or when you're trying to reach that last tribal on the space station. Another sad fact is you can't redo the mega-fun bosses like you could in DK64. You have to restart the game on one of the many save files (10 slots in all) to fight that giant beetle you saw on Tawfret. There are some ''cheats'' that you can unlock by collecting the heads of bugs that offers SOME redemption for this game's replay value.

Other things...

- You have to be a little tolerant if you want a friend to control the aim-only droid Lloyd (that rhymes). For some unexplained reason, Rare decided that Lloyd should make this annoying hissing and chopping (like helicopter blades) sound when his firing cursor is active.
- The fish food DOES serve a sort of useful purpose...besides feeding fish, it can distract the cockroach-like drones who are on certain levels, but not for long.
- The list of weapons is as follows...Jet Force Pistol, Machine Gun, Grenades, Timed/Proximity Mines, Tri-Rocket Launcher, Homing Missile Launcher, Plasma Shotgun, Sniper Rifle, Fish Food, Cluster Bombs, Flamethrower, Shocker and the annoying Amanda Bynes Bomb...okay i made that last one up, so sue me!
- Enemy weapons are as follows...Pistol, Plasma Rifle, Grenades, Sniper Pistol, Rocket Launcher, HUGE Machine Gun, Dual Machine Guns, Mounted Guns(flying enemies), bodily excrements.
- Racing controls: Move forward by pushing the control stick forward, turn by tilting the control stick sideways, use boosts with A button, use bombs and/or oil slicks with B button.

Overall 9/10

Despite JFG's lacking Multiplayer and somewhat dismal replay value, the play-time for single is LONG LONG LONG, so you'll be occupied with it for a few months and will often come back for more. Splatting bugs has never been more fun. People who liked Goldeneye are likely to enjoy this game, same with fans of third person adventure and action games. Graphic hounds will drool. The only people who shouldn't buy this game are people who are afraid of bugs, people who are against blood(though JFG's looks more like green mud than blood) and people who are against violence...but then, those people shouldn't play video games! If buying isn't an option, this game must be rented at the least. No one should die having not played JFG!

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 08/15/03