Jade Cocoon: Story of the Tamamayu

"Fun while it lasts..."

Jade Cocoon: The story of the tamamayu, is a pretty good game, although for all you pokemon fans out there, its nothing to rush out and buy a playstation for. While Pokemon is definatly a better rpg game, jade cocoon is better than some games, and even though it isn't as good as the final fantasy games, its atleast worth a rent (trust me, it'll take you like 2 days to beat it). Heres how I broke down my review:

Graphics:10/10
The graphics in this game are really amazing, and if a real pokemon game was made for N64 (not that stupid pokemon snap, i mean an N64 pokemon game based on the pokemon gameboy game) this is how Nintendo would have to make it.

Story: 5/10
The storyline to this game is excellent. While your doing basically what you do in pokemon (catching, raising, and training creatures), there are some amazing stories tied in about ancient gods etc. that leave you spellbounded. But annoyingly enough the only charecter in the game that DOESN'T talk (except your minions, obviously) is the charecter you play, levant. He just stands there drooling like a moron while people talk to him. Because of this, I found it hard to get sucked into the game, I felt like I was just a bystander. One more thing, the ending sucks. Ok, you find out the choosen one of darkness is your father, and you have to might mahbu...and now what? You don't go back to your village, you are stuck in this (from what I can tell, since there are NO save points whatsoever in this part of the game) endless forest. I mean atleast in pokemon, you can keep on fighting the elite four, and you can go into the secret dungeon!

Controls: 10/10
Responsive.

Difficulty: 4/10
While the minions in the forest got harder to beat, the game was essentially pretty easy. I mean, the only semi-hard part was when I had to fight the air boss, because I didn't have a fire minion with me.

Gameplay:5/10
I found several things wrong in this game that I will express in these next categories. First of all, why the f@#$ing heck can you only carry three minions at a time! It should atleast be four, so you can carry one minion of each type... My other major complaint is the ending. You are stuck in a never ending forest. Sure there are new minions and stuff, but without the ability to go back to your village, you are just kind of wandering around do there is really no point in playing after you beat it.

Fun Factor:6/10
Fun while it lasts...

Sound:3/10
I HATE THAT STUPID SONG LEVANT (the charecter you play) PLAYS WHEN YOU CAPTURE A MINION AND WHEN YOU SUMMON A MINION. IT NEVER CHANGES!!!!!!! I HATE IT, HATE IT, HAAATE IIIIIIIIIT!

Replayiblity-0/10
I know a zero is a little harsh, but I've had the game for about a year and have never felt the urge to replay it. I mena with pokemon, i get a good game going, i beat the elite four, capture mew two, figth my friends, then i eventually stop. A couple of months later, I'm in the mood to start a new game, and its fun again... I haven't felt an urge to play Jade Cocoon for a second time...

Overall Score:5/10
If you ever were intrested in playing this game, its definatly worth a rent. Form your own opinion about, and if you like it enough, but it. But its really not worth twenty five dollars...

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 01/22/00, Updated 01/22/00