Jet Force Gemini was the last out of the five N64 games I have wanted to complete for years. I remember starting my first playthrough around the same time I started most of the other games, but due to the rather ridiculous requirements necessary to beat the game, I decided to give up despite enjoying it. I did also play Jet Force Gemini on the Rare Replay collection but deliberately quit after the first half of the game. Even when I decided I would go back and beat all of them, I wasn't totally confident that I would beat this one. However, it turned out that rescuing the tribals wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be. I would say that Jet Force Gemini is pretty underrated in comparison to Rare's other N64 releases.
In your adventures as galactic pest control, you play as three characters. Juno, his twin sister Vela, and their dog Lupus. The three of them each have their own special trait that makes each of them useful by allowing them to access different areas. Lupus can use his jetpack to fly across the area, Vela can swim, and Juno is immune to damage while walking on hot surfaces. All three of them are vital in getting every ship part and tribal necessary in beating the game.
Like a majority of N64 games it seems, it does take a little bit to adjust to the controls. Every time I started a playthrough, I would die at least five or so times before finally getting the hang of how to shoot and aim. Once I adjusted, I didn't have much trouble mowing down enemies despite not being the best at shooters. The only exception being those stupid ants with the shields. I hate those little bastards so much!
The actual gameplay itself is pretty fun. You'll unlock a wide assortment of weapons and each of them feels great to use. I found it incredibly satisfying to mow down enemies with the pistol or machine gun, blast them with the rocket launcher or by throwing grenades, and occasionally snipe some of the enemies when necessary. If you collect enough ant heads over the course of the game you can unlock some cool bonus features too such as multi-colored blood and having the ants turn into Mr. Pants. There is a multiplayer mode, but I haven't played it so I can't comment too much about it other than mentioning that you will unlock content for it throughout playing the game. It may have some fun gameplay and cool extras, but its biggest flaw is one that can be a huge turnoff to anyone even slightly interested in playing this game and the reason why it took me over a decade to beat it. You have to rescue EVERY single tribal and collect twelve ship parts scattered across the worlds you visit.
In each level, there are these white bear-like creatures known as tribals. The way rescuing tribals works is that once you rescue all of them, you won't need to re-rescue them. However, you need to rescue all the tribals in an area in one go. If a tribal dies or you miss one, you'll have to redo the whole level which makes them a pain in the ass to deal with sometimes. While you can rescue them as you play through the game's first half, I would advise not focusing on them too much as some are inaccessible until the latter half of the game when you have all the necessary equipment to do so. Luckily, most of them are in places where you shouldn't have too much trouble rescuing them but in addition to having to collect twelve ship parts needed to fight Mizar again, the tribals make the backtracking a lot worse than what it could have been.
If you're willing to put up with the heavy amounts of backtracking and slightly cumbersome N64 controls, what you get is a 3rd person shooter that is heavily underrated in comparison to some of Rare's other N64 classics. Between DK64, Quest 64, Mischief Makers, Glover, and this, I think beating this game was the most satisfying and waiting till last to complete this made it all the better.
Afterthought: This is probably the longest review I have made on here so I'd like to thank anyone who managed to read this whole review.
In your adventures as galactic pest control, you play as three characters. Juno, his twin sister Vela, and their dog Lupus. The three of them each have their own special trait that makes each of them useful by allowing them to access different areas. Lupus can use his jetpack to fly across the area, Vela can swim, and Juno is immune to damage while walking on hot surfaces. All three of them are vital in getting every ship part and tribal necessary in beating the game.
Like a majority of N64 games it seems, it does take a little bit to adjust to the controls. Every time I started a playthrough, I would die at least five or so times before finally getting the hang of how to shoot and aim. Once I adjusted, I didn't have much trouble mowing down enemies despite not being the best at shooters. The only exception being those stupid ants with the shields. I hate those little bastards so much!
The actual gameplay itself is pretty fun. You'll unlock a wide assortment of weapons and each of them feels great to use. I found it incredibly satisfying to mow down enemies with the pistol or machine gun, blast them with the rocket launcher or by throwing grenades, and occasionally snipe some of the enemies when necessary. If you collect enough ant heads over the course of the game you can unlock some cool bonus features too such as multi-colored blood and having the ants turn into Mr. Pants. There is a multiplayer mode, but I haven't played it so I can't comment too much about it other than mentioning that you will unlock content for it throughout playing the game. It may have some fun gameplay and cool extras, but its biggest flaw is one that can be a huge turnoff to anyone even slightly interested in playing this game and the reason why it took me over a decade to beat it. You have to rescue EVERY single tribal and collect twelve ship parts scattered across the worlds you visit.
In each level, there are these white bear-like creatures known as tribals. The way rescuing tribals works is that once you rescue all of them, you won't need to re-rescue them. However, you need to rescue all the tribals in an area in one go. If a tribal dies or you miss one, you'll have to redo the whole level which makes them a pain in the ass to deal with sometimes. While you can rescue them as you play through the game's first half, I would advise not focusing on them too much as some are inaccessible until the latter half of the game when you have all the necessary equipment to do so. Luckily, most of them are in places where you shouldn't have too much trouble rescuing them but in addition to having to collect twelve ship parts needed to fight Mizar again, the tribals make the backtracking a lot worse than what it could have been.
If you're willing to put up with the heavy amounts of backtracking and slightly cumbersome N64 controls, what you get is a 3rd person shooter that is heavily underrated in comparison to some of Rare's other N64 classics. Between DK64, Quest 64, Mischief Makers, Glover, and this, I think beating this game was the most satisfying and waiting till last to complete this made it all the better.
Afterthought: This is probably the longest review I have made on here so I'd like to thank anyone who managed to read this whole review.
2 Comments
I love the N64. It was my first console, and I had never heard of this game. It's really cool to discover good games on the N64 even years later.
thealexmott
8 months ago