Jet Set Action (Jet Force Gemini (N64))

Member Name: eelam_garek

Product:	Jet Force Gemini (N64)
Date:	13/03/01 (82 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Bug blasting mayhem. Good graphics. Loads of weapons. Surround Sound encoded.

Disadvantages: Camera angles are poor. Linear missions.

Those guys at Rare really know what they're doing. They provide with such games as, Goldeneye, Perfect Dark, Banjo and Kazooie and Diddy Kong Racing. With all these excellent games flying about, they have to be sure that there next game will live up to the reputation Rare have built for themselves. So the big question is, Does Jet Force Gemini live up to what we expect?

In plain and simple terms, it does. It is hours of bug blasting at it's best. You are an elite team of soldiers who are called in to help your friends, the Tribals, when they are attacked by an evil Alien called Mizar. Mizar plants all of his soldiers on The Tribals planets and takes them hostage. Your mission is to rescue these Tribals and blast Mizar to kingdom come in the process.

If you have played Goldeneye, you are probably expecting the same first person shooter that Rare have produced before. Jet Force Gemini is not a first person shooter. Don't let that put you off, because this game is just as much fun in third person as any first person shooter would be.

You control 3 different characters in the game, Juno, the male of the team, Vela, the female of the team, and Lupus, the dog of the team. The last one might seem a bit strange but I kid you not. Each character has different qualities that the others don’t. Juno has the ability to walk on very hot surfaces (lava, fire etc.), Vela can swim under water, and Lupus can fly for a short period of time. You start off with just Juno, and then as you do missions, you retrieve each member in turn, and do missions back to back with each character.
The enemies that you fight are in the form of bugs; yes you read it right, bugs. There are small bugs and bigger bugs. The small bugs are relatively easy to kill as you would expect, and the bigger bugs are harder to kill. Have no fear though because the different weapons available can take care of each bug, small or big.

There are loa
ds of weapons available in this game. All of which can be accessed in a Doom and Quake style of selection. The "A" and "B" buttons take you up and down the weapons you have. You probably want to know which weapons are available to blast those bugs to next year. Well I won't keep you waiting any longer, here is a taster of the assortment for you to try.

Your standard issue is the classic Pistol. It can rapid fire for a few shots then you fire at a slower rate, unless of course you let it charge back up. There is a machine gun available, it is less accurate but it inflicts greater damage. A plasma rifle which you charge up to release a ball of fiery energy at unsuspecting bugs. A sniper rifle, which is very useful when bugs are up high. The ammo is more damaging than normal ammo. When you hit your target they generally explode. There are heavier weapons aswell though. The Tri Rocket Launcher is the most powerful weapon out of all the weapons. It fires 3 rockets simultaneously in a spiral effect. They can take down the largest of bugs. They have quite a comical effect when you fire them at a small bug. Another heavy weapon is the Homing missiles. They fire a single rocket but have the ability to lock onto a target. There are also different types of mines available in Jet Force Gemini. You have the classic grenades, there are also remote mines, timed mines, and proximity mines (these are particularly nasty). You also have throwing weapons called Shurkins. You can retrieve them after they’ve been thrown (providing you don’t throw them at a high, inaccessible place). I’m sure I haven’t covered all the weapons available, but it should have been good enough to give you an insight into what Jet Force Gemini has to offer, weapon wise.

The missions in Jet Force Gemini are also very varied and entertaining. You do some on planets, some on space ships and others in complexes on planets or sh
ips. Each level has areas that aren’t accessible until you have done later missions and released your team mates (hence their different abilities). This is quite a neat idea form Rare, as it puts more life into the game. The levels themselves are pretty straight forward. You are guided well through each one. There are doors within the levels that can’t be open until you have killed all the bugs in that area. They are called “Life Force” doors. Other doors require a key to open them. The keys are colour coded for different doors. These doors are generally present on a boss door. Which brings me to my next point. The bosses are very good. They are well varied, although you use basically the same method to kill each one. You blast arms and legs off then go for the main torso. The main boss has to be fought twice, which is good.

However, every game isn’t perfect. The camera control in Jet Force Gemini is a bit weak. You turn right and the camera remains where it is. You have to hold R, which is the manual aim to do this. Some gamers may get bored of the repetitive mission format, which is basically the way the missions are. If you can look past these little inconsistencies then you will like Jet Force Gemini. I don’t think that these things spoil the game. It is still worth the £30 pound that you’ll pay for it nowadays; in fact you can probably get it cheaper than that.

All in all, Jet Force Gemini is a good game. All the bug blasting, and the fast paced gaming make up for the slightly lacklustre camera angles. If you like to shoot for shooting sake or you don’t particularly like bugs, then buy Jet Force Gemini, because it will be worth every penny.

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