Kameo: Elements of Power
November 30,2005 - Did you play the Kameo: Elements of Power demo at Wal*Mart, Best Buy, or GameStop and not like it?  Same here.  Thankfully for all, the actual game is much better than the wonky introduction (also the demo), in fact, it picks up right after that and offers what everyone really wanted from Kameo–another RareWare adventure game.

Kameo: Elements of Power has been in development for a very long time.  It came to a point that very, very few games enter; the land of Duke Nukem Forever.  It was originally planned to be a Nintendo 64 game and made its way from that to the GameCube, then to the Xbox, and now it has finally shipped for the Xbox 360 as the premiere adventure game at the system's launch.  If you’re looking for a great Rare adventure game that holds true to the same formula of the older ones like Banjo-Kazooie and Donkey Kong 64, this is about as close as you’re going to get minus the fetch quests, but to the rest of you who were hoping it would stray a little off the beaten path, you might wind up a little disappointed.

To call Kameo an excellent game in its own right is both right and wrong.  There are so many times throughout the game that just make you sit back in awe because of the gorgeous visuals, expansive environments, and interesting characters, but when it comes down to the gameplay itself it often leaves you frustrated and downright upset they made it feel so archaic in its combat and control scheme.  An Xbox 360 game should not play like a Nintendo 64 one.

The game stars you in the role of Kameo, a young elf with fairy wings, who has more or less set out to avenge her father and take out the evil troll king, Thorn.  The thing is, it’s not all that simple.  The elf kingdom has been breached by the trolls because Kameo’s deceased father signed a treaty with the trolls allowing them inside the kingdom.  Needless to say, the biggest, baddest, and smartest troll of them all, Thorn, began controlling things.  As you travel through Kameo’s environments you’ll see many epic battles stirring up right in front of your own eyes.  In fact, those horse-riding videos you may or may have not seen are not some epic climax to the game, that’s actually relatively early in it.  It’s Lord of the Ring-esque, and in a good way.

From a flat-out gameplay standpoint, it’s difficult to pin-point what exactly makes Kameo suffer.  The levels are pretty good, except sometimes they’re a little less inspired than others in the game.  The camera is decent, although sometimes it's very frustrating to manipulate.  The combat is all right, given you don’t have dozens of enemies hoarding over you at once.  The platforming element is even pretty cool, except you don’t do it all that much. The problem is that the gameplay is somewhat standard.  It has its moments, but you'll often find yourself continuing through the story just to see the brilliant looking levels and vibrant colors.

Kameo allows you to transform between multiple avatars.  You begin the game with a few which get taken away from you right at the end of the first level.  You're then set out on your quest to save these avatars from the Shadow King and continue your journey to hunt down Thorn.  It’s kind of unfortunate that these avatars aren't developed more gradually throught the course of the campaign, because just about the time when you start getting used to applying the specific powers of these different forms, it’s time to pick up the new one!  Some people may like that sort of constant speed rushing through the game, however, given that Kameo is a mere ten hours tops, a few more dungeons and a longer period between each discovery or rescue of the avatars would have been much appreciated.

Despite being a meager ten hours, Kameo still offers a cooperative mode.  Granted, the co-op mode is sort of a mess and actually hinders the overall package, it’s still there.  This game was clearly designed around the single player campaign and the co-op mode was probably thrown in there at the request of Microsoft to boost up some of those achievement awards you can get on your 360, but it was pretty unnecessary.  Kameo’s co-op mode is good for parents who will have two kids fighting over who’s playing.  The maturity of the launch games is undeniable, and despite Kameo’s Teen rating, it’s pretty suitable for youngsters.  So if you’re a parent and you’ve got two kids looking for a good game on that brand new 360, you really can’t go wrong sitting them down on the couch for some co-op action in Kameo.

The graphics are one of the few things in Kameo that are down right superb.  The character design is excellent and also the boss design in Kameo–although they can be frustrating given how precise you have to be–are very well done and offer extremely memorable battles.  The level design, and overall look, however, is where the real victory is.  There are few adventure games this side of the Wind Waker that are this enchanting.  It’s rare (no pun intended) that games bring you into their world the way this game thrusts into the Enchanted Kingdom.  Whether you’re underwater, on a plain fighting hundreds upon hundreds of trolls on horseback, or just running through the meadows taking in the scenery, everything looks amazing.  Despite having the next-gen touch, it doesn’t really have the next-gen jaw-dropping visual excitement that games like Condemned or Project Gotham Racing 3 have, but granted, very few games do. 

On the audible side, Kameo sounds really good too.  The music is interesting enough and it works extremely well with the environments you’re exploring.  The voice acting as well is also very good.  The technical side of Kameo really pins down the win; if this is going to be your first Xbox 360 game, you’re picking a good showcase title.

There are so many reasons to absolutely adore Kameo: Elements of Power: it’s magical surrounding, fantastic graphics–that don’t even require an HDTV to impress–and its charming characters.  But there are so many reasons to feel its six years of development should have offered so much more.  On a game that takes that long, it’s hard not to anticipate a groundbreaking adventure.  Unfortunately, Kameo fails to do so.  It’s not even the best game in the launch lineup.  Kameo is a fantastic game in its own right, and if you can look at it for what it is rather than what it should have been, you’re going to enjoy it.  If you want a throwback to the classic Rare platformers of two generations ago, this is it and it’s equally as good as those.

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