JFG

[Five out of Five Koopas]

Jet Force Gemini ranks as one of my favorite video games of all time. You might say, �Why? What�s so great about it? Isn�t it just another crappy third-person shooter on an outdated game system with bad graphics and a lame story line?�
The answer to all of the above questions is an adamant no.
Jet Force Gemini was a game ahead of it�s time, which is why I believe it never got the respect it deserve. It fell among the ranks of forgotten and underplayed N64 games, nestled right alongside �Rocket: Robot On Wheels� and �Paper Mario�, both of which were excellent N64 games.
The story of JFG was fairly simple. An evil space tyrant, Mizar, has launched a campaign of destruction and conquest throughout the galaxy, using his horrible insect-like soldiers dubbed, �Drones�. While physically weak, the Drones have appeared in ridiculous numbers on multiple planets, and it�s up to you to stop them.
Over the course of the game you play as not one, but three separate characters. A set of twins names Juno and Vela, and a dog named Lupus. Note that Juno and Vela are twins. Twins. Gemini. Get it? If not, you suck and are stupid. There�s also Floyd, this little robot dude with a propeller on his head who follows you around and acts as a sort of radar by flashing his little red lights. He�s actually kind of annoying. We�ll talk more about the characters in a minute.
You fight your way across nine different areas, three with each character, until finally their paths intertwine for a final showdown with Mizar at Mizar�s Palace. On your way to the Palace you�ll blast countless drones into goop. Shooting Drones has to be the game�s second most guilty pleasure, second only because you can also shoot and kill the Tribals, a race of furry Ewok rip offs who you�re SUPPOSED to be protecting and rescuing. I always shot them, though, because they were weak and whiny and SHOULD have launched a revolt against the Drones so I didn�t have to sully my hands with their green blood. I didn�t REALLY mind it, because the green blood was pretty cool looking, but those Tribals still pissed me off.
But anyway, back to the storyline. After guiding Juno, Vela, and Lupus through three separate routes through the palace, they meet up in this pyramid like structure where Mizar is sitting around, waiting to shoot things at you while you scurry around on the ground. While he�s shooting at you, you must, of course, shoot back, until you hit him enough times in that one certain weak spot to kill him.
But what�s this? Upon defeating Mizar, he gets up and flies away! He�s not really dead! He sends a huge meteor plummeting toward earth, at which time you are informed by the leader of the Tribals (who must have been really pissed off at me by this point for killing more of them than all the drones combined), that you have to run around on the nine planets you just got done with(as well as several sub-planets and moons that are yet to be uncovered) and find all the parts to this ancient space ship that will take you to the giant asteroid for the REAL final battle. This part of the game annoyed me, honestly, but in retrospect, it turned out to be a good thing.
I won�t spoil the ending for you, but I can promise you it�ll throw you through a loop. The game contains much more than what I was able to cover in this review, so you should DEFINITLY check it out to get a full spectrum of just how awesome it is. Among the other things are several mini-games, a highly addictive multi-player mode, and the ability to collect the heads of Drones and Tribals to unlock special hidden features. Is that cool, or what?
Now then, on to the characters. Each character has a unique ability which you will need in order to access certain areas. Because of this, there are certain areas (and planets) that can only be reached with a certain character, and figuring out which of the trio you need to �Get over THERE� can be a very challenging and engrossing task.

Juno: The pseudo-main character and male half of the Gemini. You fight the final battle with this guy, which is why I consider him to be a sort of figurehead. He�s also the character you start out playing as, until you progress far enough in the game to free Vela from the clutches of the drones. He�s got an awesome pair of boots which I have coveted ever since I first saw beta screen shots of this game, and I would kill him for them in an instant. His special ability is walking across fire and hot lava without taking damage.

Vela: Juno�s twin sister and all around hot babe, Vela is the most realistic character in the game, due to the fact that her breasts bounce when you run. Needless to say, I, being a pubescent twelve year old, spent many hours trying to turn Vela around and make her walk toward the camera so I could view the �realism�. Looking back it was pretty pathetic, but I�m sure you�ve done worse. Anyway, getting back on topic, Vela is the second character who you play as, after Juno rescues her from the cargo hold of the Anubis, a huge yellow star ship. Her special skill is the ability to swim under water, and there are PLENTY of underwater caverns which you�ll want to explore with her.

Lupus: Lupus is a technologically enhanced cyber-mutt with a back mounted gun and rocket feet. In my opinion, he was always the most fun to play as, because he could fly, and who wouldn�t want to be a super-intelligent dog with battle armor and a gun? Lupus is the final character whom you are given the pleasure of controlling, and honestly, I don�t quite remember the circumstances in which you meet up with him. It�s been a long time since I�ve played the game. Lupus� special ability, as I�ve already mentioned, are a set of rocket boosters attached to the bottom of his feet, which he can use to hover short distances, which is another thing that�s cool about him: He can fly!

Floyd: Floyd is a special robotic prototype drone who was blasted to bits when he took pity on some Tribals and killed a bunch of drones with his twin laser. �Thus the disadvantage of having a super-advanced AI�, Floyd muses in retrospect when you meet up with him as Juno. He�s really rather useless, except for the fact that he beeps and his lights flash red when an enemy is near. This can give you a definite advantage, in that it keeps enemies from sneaking up and ambushing you. And if you think, �oh, video game enemies don�t AMBUSH, they�re not smart enough!�, such is not the case with JFG. Some of the drones are actually rather smart, and will take cover behind crates, rocks, etc. under fire, and sneak around behind you to catch you unawares.
Another thing that was cool about Floyd was that if you had a second controller and a friend with a lot of free time on their hands, you could plug that controller in, press start, and a second pair of crosshairs would appear on the screen. The person operating the second controller now had possession of Floyd, along with an infinite amount of double-barrel laser blasts. You couldn�t really GO anywhere while using Floyd, because he just followed the main character around, but it never hurt to have a second pair of guns at your side helping you out, especially when you were surrounded by 20+ drones and were shooting like a mad man to stay alive.

All in all, I give JFG five out of five Koopas, for excellent reply value, graphics which truly did justice to the N64 given the time period in which it was made, and for being an immensely fun game overall. My only qualm with JFG is that there was never a sequel, and due to Nintendo smoking a lot of crack and losing their contract with Rare, it is unlikely that the gaming community will EVER see a second Jet Force Gemini. But I suppose it�s alright, since the first game was good enough to last me a lifetime.
Check out JFG, and write thousands of emails telling Rare to hook up with Nintendo again and make a sequel. It�s a good thing.

This review was written by Jimi

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