Reviewed by: BobiRoka
Developer: Rare
Publisher: Microsoft

Hmmm… How do I review a next gen game?

Am I expected to ignore the blatant eye-candy and hype surrounding Xbox 360 and just tell it how it is? After all, Kameo: Elements of Power was originally intended for Nintendo Gamecube and then Xbox before it became a launch title for Microsoft’s new games device. Surely this is just an old game given a facelift for the next gen, like mutton dressed up as lamb. Just how prophetic must Rare be to have for us a game so completely optimised for it’s third host machine after four years in development?

Sorry. No Prophets here. And certainly no Lamb, it’s a disgusting habit.

The point of all this is that Kameo is finally here and it looks as gorgeous as it ever possibly could and it plays as well as it ever possibly could and you really can’t fault it on that front at all.

Presented in high definition wide-screen format, with particle effects that make Sands of Time look like dandruff and some of the busiest sky-domes I’ve ever seen, Kameo is absolutely breathtaking to behold*. The Orchestral Score sounds like it was ripped out of a Disney film and the Cut scenes are of similar quality. However, I do appreciate that the cartoony visual approach isn’t for everyone. It doesn’t work in quite the same way as World of Warcraft. The cute factor is much more ‘in-your-face’. Which is fair enough really, because Kameo is very much a children’s game.

This isn’t to say the game is a complete walkover, but it’s still very easy for a number of reasons:

Firstly, the auto-save feature is very efficient. Almost too efficient in fact, when I found that I couldn’t replay ANY of the amazing Badlands sequences (to show off the power of my shiny new Xbox 360) without beginning a new game. Most games would create a series of auto-saves for you to replay levels or checkpoints at your leisure. In Kameo you just get a profile, which updates every time you smash a crate open and receive some treasure. You can only replay the specific hub mission zones, but more about that when I start reviewing this game properly.

Secondly (yes, this is a list), and working in conjunction with the first complaint is the complete and utter meaninglessness of death. Should you run out of health or fall to your doom, a cute death animation ensues followed by an option to continue. Select ‘Yes’ and you’ll find yourself inches away from (or in some cases even further on than) where you fell. The counter-argument here is that Kameo is a game about experimentation (Hold on, I’m getting there!), but the overall feeling is one of being rushed through the game without a chance to do exactly that. Even if you want to save & quit you have to make it to the next checkpoint etc.

Anyway! That’s the bad. There’s good too and lots of it.

Kameo is an elf fairy woman thing who lives in an enchanted kingdom, which has come under siege from her sister, Kalus, who is in cahoots with an evil and massively out of proportion Troll King called Thorn. The game chucks you straight into the action with a selection of three elemental warriors. Elemental Warriors? Kameo is a bit of a shape shifter, and by the end of the game has 10 different forms, which she can morph into at will to overcome suitably ‘different’ problems. Anyway, at the start she has three, before she get’s decked by Thorn and has to spend most of the game finding them all so she can go and punch him back. The Elemental Warriors have been captured by Shadow Trolls you see, and well… trust me; it’s all quite beautifully woven together…

The Enchanted Kingdom levitates above an area called the Badlands, supported by elemental shrines close to the three hub locations I mentioned earlier. The fourth point of the compass is Thorn’s castle, which neatly bookends the entire piece. Each hub location consists of a large ‘village’ type area with a few dungeon ‘encounters’, which usually end in increasingly elaborate duels with Shadow Trolls. Despatching each one rewards you with a new elemental warrior. Each hub also contains a big boss fight, which upon completion unlocks not only an elemental warrior, but also one of Kameo’s captured relatives, who promptly delivers a nice big slab of plot and/or backstory. Spending time in each ‘village’ area will lead to sub-quests or obstacles which yield additional Elemental Fruit, the resource with which you buy new abilities for your Warriors. I spent about 15 hours with the game in total and unlocked just over half of what’s there to be found. There’s a lot of stuff I didn’t unlock first time round - I thought I was quite thorough too!

I think there would be more of a genuine desire to replay Kameo if the game didn’t over-use certain gameplay mechanisms so much. The ‘Major Ruin rolling mid-air leap then transforming into Chilla to stick to the Icy wall combo’ is overused almost on a par with wall running in Prince of Persia. On the other hand, using Ash’s fiery breath to ignite Deep Blue’s Oil Slick attack in the midst of 40 Trolls is one of the most gratuitous, genocidal and ingeniously executed things I’ve ever been able to spontaneously achieve in a videogame.

There are points where Kameo really does feel like a next-gen game. Well, at least if you consider charging through hundreds and hundreds of individually animated trolls a true next-gen quality. The Badlands sections that occur between the ‘hub’ areas (in sequence and geographically) usually involve Kameo riding horseback through Braveheart-level skirmishes, usually supported by giant roaming trolls that shake the ground when they drop. Besides racking up hideous Score multipliers, fighting these massive mobs is as inconsequential as playing Chicken in GTA, but it’s a genuine use of the tech for the sake of gameplay and… oh sod it. It completely rocks out massively, OK?

Kameo is a very complete and robust package, which – at least for a game so obviously intended for Kids - made some sort of effort to appeal to my RPG sensibilities. This is probably why I enjoyed it more than I really ought to. In the execution, Kameo is mostly successful, major complaints mostly caused as a result of the concept – It’s too big for a game of this size. Co-op multiplayer aside, most (proper) gamers will likely find this a flash in the pan.

*…but then, so do a lot of other games on a 24” Dell 2405FPW Monitor :: gloat ::

Presentation	9
Pixar quality presentation, but without the wit to make it universally appealing. Eye Candy by the truckload nevertheless.
Gameplay	9
Sometimes experimental, sometimes repetitive, it always feels extremely solid and thoroughly play-tested. Interaction is almost completely driven with the analogue sticks and triggers, which gives the game a profound sense of control.
Value	4
Not enough game here for fifty quid period. Co-op split-screen or Xbox live, but no system link? Not good enough. Persistent players will find some replay value in the unlocking of all the Elemental Warrior abilities, but alas, within the same rather linear environments…
Benchmark	6
A fine example of how far this kind of game has come. Some next gen elements feel like they needn’t be there, but the whole immense grandeur of it all makes Kameo a credible addition to the genre.
Score	7
A somewhat unchallenging yet very slick and playable action adventure for people with Peter-Pan complexes… oh, and Kids I suppose.

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Minimum Spec	Reviewed on
An Xbox 360 would help	Xbox 360