Jet Force Gemini - Reception

Reception

Jet Force Gemini generally received positive reviews from critics, though not as high as Rare's other N64 games such as GoldenEye 007 and Banjo-Kazooie. On the review aggregator Game Rankings, the game has an average score of 79%, based on 23 reviews. On Metacritic, the game has an average score of 80 out of 100, based on 13 reviews, which is classified as "generally favorable". GameSpot's Nelson Taruc awarded the game an 8.8 out of 10, commenting "Nintendo 64 fans should pick up this title without delay and hope that Rareware's team of top-notch talent will continue to churn out even more games like this one for years to come". IGN's Matt Casamassina praised Rare for exploring new mechanics and concluded his review by saying "this is still one of Nintendo 64's most original games and it has much more good going for it than it does bad".

The game's audio and sound were lauded. Matt Casamassina pointed out that the music was "some of the very best ever put into a Nintendo 64 game", and described the sound effects as "dead-on and crystal clear". Game Revolution's Johnny Liu added that the game "goes for a more operatic feel than the generic video game techno". Gaming Target's Steve Graff observed that the audio is "suspenseful and exciting" and "it always keeps the mood of the level". The graphics were also well received. Nelson Taruc praised their diversity, colour and lighting effects. However, other critics such as GameCritics or IGN observed that the frame rate can drop significantlly. Dale Weir wrote "With all the special effects, textures, and polygons onscreen, whenever the action heated up, the framerate would become erratic". The enemy AI, challenge and variety of weapons have received positive criticism as well. According to IGN, "It's old-school gameplay brought into 3D and it's all extremely satisfying".

While critics generally praised the game's smart level designs and length, many reacted negatively to the insistence on having to save every Tribal to fully complete the game. GameCritics noted, "Going through each level three times becomes majorly tedious... and finding them also lead a lot of pointless legwork". Gaming Age stated similar cons and criticized the fact of restarting the level and do it all over again if a single Tribal is killed. IGN declared this task to be "far too tedious to truly be enjoyed". Johnny Liu, on the other hand, admitted that this "is countered by the pure fun of running around tearing through giant bugs with lasers". The multiplayer mode received mixed to negative reviews. IGN called it "slow and clunky" and both Matt Casamassina and Ravi Hiranand agreed that the third-person view takes up far too much of the already tiny split-screen and that the complex control system does not help make it a game to pick-up-and-play. Nevertheless, the minigames and co-operative mode were generally well received. Many publications also claimed that the controls were complex and odd. IGN remarked that the targeting system was not very intuitive, even though Ravi Hiranand of Gaming Age observed that "once you get the hang of it after about an hour's play, it does get quite easy to use". Nelson Taruc said that it "remains responsive at all times", but also admitted that "the awkwardness in using two very different control styles in the same game might prove distasteful to some".

In 2000, IGN ranked Jet Force Gemini as the 20th in their list of "The Top 25 N64 Games of All Time". Overall, despite of the fact that Jet Force Gemini fared generally well with critics, the game did not reach the level of commercial success that other N64 games reached, leading Rare not to consider a possible sequel. Nevertheless, since its release, several Rare games have featured cameo appearances of Jet Force Gemini, including Kameo: Elements of Power, Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise, and Banjo-Tooie.