Jet Force Jemini
Reviewed by Rocky
Jet Force Jemini, since it was announced as a RARE game, was awaited
by everyone with great expectations. Finally a new RARE masterpiece,
a la Star Wars this time. When it came, it lived up to someone's
expectations, though it left others with delusion....
Graphics: 5 out of 5
There's nothing about it. Rare's JFG is the best in the graphics
department. Many will argue that this is an N64 game, if not it is
a Dreamcast one! Great lighting effects and great character and
enemy animations. The camera is always stable, meaning that it is
always behind you in a third person perspective. There is also a well
needed Manual Targeting mode, accessed with the R button, that
positions the camera a little bit closer to your character, allowing
you to aim carefully at the poor victim. One of the Major flaws of this
game is undoubtedly the frame rate. Many would have imagined that
such beautiful graphics would have a drawback. The frame rate is almost
impossibly slow at times where the action is frenetic, while when nobody
is on screen it runs as smooth as any Dreamcast game would. But
remember, only in those occasions.
Music and Sound: 5 out of 5
The music in this game is simply amazing! It features nice oppressive
music that make you really feel in danger. Also, the music suits
perfectly the level you are at. For example, in open spaces you can
gladly mumble a nice jungle rythm-type melody, with percussions
and all that (Talking about Goldwood, the first planet.)In some other
planets, like the creepy Tawfret, their is a nasty zombie like melody
that bothers you A LOT. In other places, like I think SS Anubis, there
is a "hero going to save the day against everybody" theme and so on.
The music , I would conclude is excellent. The sound, although it's also
very good, does not excel like the music does. Yes there are some cool
pistol and machine gun effects, or the sound that water makes when it
splashes around and stuff, but some of them are totally unreal, like the
sound of blood splashing on the walls. Definitely above average though.
Game Challenge: 6 out of 5
Ok. so maybe I exaggerated back there, but really, the game is Hard!! Not
that hard the first time you play through it though. What I mean is, that
at first you can gladly enjoy the game, running around shooting poor giant
ants around, rescuing Tribals here and there, and just having a good time.
When you beat Mizar for the first time, though, the game requires you to
rescue ALL the Tribals of ALL the levels. Impossible! Even because there
are some hidden levels and some spaceship parts you have to find too.
The challenge is way too hard, but I think Rare forced us to accomplish
this because otherwise the game would've been too short. I passed the
game in 12 hours, but to find ALL the Tribals, Which I haven't done yet,
I played for another 10 hours without even finding them all! Annoying to
a limit, if you liked the game at first, you'll enjoy getting all the
tribals back safe.
Game Play-Fun: 4 out of 5
The Gameplay is just the same old thing. Nothing really changes. you
start a level , hordes of beasts come at you with guns packed ready to
shoot. You have to make your way through the level, shooting every
second, and fending off enemy attacks until you reach your airship.
Nothing innovative here. The innovative and annoying part of the game
is that sometimes you have to defeat all the enemies in an area to move
on to the next one. It's awfully annoying, especially if you're low on health
and there are a lot of flying drones (the worst). However, if you have lots
of health and lots of ammo of a particular weapon of your choice, you can
have loads of fun blasting away your enemies, seeing they have a very low AI.
Rumble Pak: 5 out of 5
The Gameplay is fun on its own, but when you implement the Rumble Pak
on your adventure, it's a blast!!! Especially with the Machine gun, every time
you shoot or something explodes near you, the Pak shakes violently, giving
you all the sensations of a real fight, as if you were really in the game. If
enemies hit you, the Rumble pak will vibrate so you can identify that
someone is hitting you. Really fun and worth playing with.
Frustration
Like I said before, Frustration is at the very core of this game! It frustrates
you to a point where you can't take it anymore and just shut the system off
to play something else. Finding all the Tribals is really hard and annoying,
but if you're like me, who wants to collect 100% of material in a level just
from the very start, it won't seem as frustrating in the end. This is just my
advice. Collect as many tribals as you can the first time through!!!!
Replayability: 3 out of 5
You'll replay it for the fun of blasting away enemies, probably some sparse
levels just to play, but NEVER again will you play it collecting all the tribals,
I guarantee it! What also keeps this game alive is the multi player mode, which
is basically the same as the 1 mode only that you get to blast your friends
(Eh Eh!). Another fun feature is the cooperative mode, where you and a
friend can take up Mizar's troops together. Really FUN!
Game Value: 4 out of 5
The game is definitely worth it's price. it'll keep you entertained and
concentrated for a long value of time, only I doubt that you'll recollect
all the Tribals a second time through.
Overall: 9.6 out of 10
A very good product, just in tradition with Rare's other masterpieces. Fun,
Graphically impeccable, a good storyline, tons of weapons and enemies to
get rid of, multi player mode, and a developer of proven success. Can you
ask for more?