Jumpin said:
I'd argue that Rare peaked in 96-98, and then declined in 99 onward. Even though their output was fairly high with 10 games in 2 years, and arguably with more polish, they did not have the same oomf of their earlier counter-parts; and replaying them years later, are just not as fun. On their two big titles from this period: While objectively Perfect Dark and DK64 are more feature filled and polished than GE007 and BK, neither were as groundbreaking, they both lacked the pacing perfection of the predecessors, and the level design just wasn't as fun or satisfying. Micky Speedway was no DKR either. This wasn't a situation like DKC where the sequels were arguably improvements over the originals with even better level design. Jet Force Gemini was the last somewhat fresh game they had on the N64 until their last outing with Conker BFD. Also, probably, their most underrated game on the console unless you speak with a Blast Corps fan. I am guessing Star Fox Adventures is the spiritual sequel to JFG, but again, while it was more polished, the decline was obvious. Conker's Bad Fur Day in 2001 seems more like an exception than a proof of their competence. It was more of an anomaly of fun and fresh feeling gameplay. I would hazard to speculate that the brilliance in that one is leftover from early times, the game was 5 years in the making. |
Jet Force Gemini is criminally underrated, especially considering when it was released. Big game with some pretty unique things going for it
I'm not so sure I see Star Fox Adventures as a spiritual successor for it, considering it was originally a like Dinosaur Planet game or something and besides a few mechanics doesn't really remind me of Jetforce
