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Another long-awaited Rare game makes emerges. Kameo has been in development for an extremely long amount of time, tracing its roots to the Gamecube, before being moved to the Xbox and finally the Xbox 360. The game succeeds at providing a fun game that lasts a while and features the classic (if after-Nintendo-modeled) Rare charm.
In the game, you play as Kameo, who is an elf princess with wings and the ability to transform into different creatures. Kameo wants to overtake a castle occupied by evil trolls. We learn that Kameo’s sister, Kalus, is helping the troll king, Thorn. They were able to kidnap Kameo’s family and now threaten her home, Enchanted Kingdom. Kameo now has to make sure that this doesn’t happen and remove the evil troll king from power.
The gameplay should be familiar to fans of Rare’s previous action-adventure games. You move Kameo with the leg analog stick, while the right analog stick controls the camera. The transformations are mapped to the face buttons and the attacks are assigned to the shoulder buttons. You’re essentially forced to transform into these creatures since Kameo isn’t exactly powerful by herself. By transforming, you gain a lot of strength and some unique abilities like being able to burrow into the ground when you transform into Pummel Weed. There is another ability to roll around in a ball, undoubtedly a nod to Nintendo’s Metroid Prime series.
You spend some time in the danger-free Enchanted Kingdom. You’re able to talk to characters and explore the large world. Kameo does reward this since you can find secret items hidden around. Aside from fighting, you’ll have to solve some puzzles to unlock additional creature forms. Kameo can transform into ten different creatures once you unlock them all. After the puzzle, you’ll have to engage in battle, though these feel a bit repetitive.
The game also thrusts you into the Badlands. This is where you see the thousands of elf and troll warriors trying to break the defenses of the Enchanted Kingdom as you ride around the massive area on horseback. It is a massive, epic feel to see literally thousands of enemies and something that gives Kameo a next-generation feel. The action levels in the game are plenty exciting. You’ll often have to take on dozens of troll enemies before you can move on. Once you defeat these smaller enemies, you’ll be able to take on a big boss. The boss battles aren’t necessarily difficult but they are markedly more varied than a typical battle.
The game includes a two-player cooperative mode. There isn’t much added to it except the ability to have another player play at the same time. The levels that can be played in coop need to be unlocked in single-player first, which eliminates some of the novelty of coop since at least one of the players will be intimately familiar with the level.
The current-generation roots of Kameo are nearly impossible to find in the game. It looks amazing. Rare still has a knack for creating stylized, beautiful worlds that you really want to explore. The environments range from mountains to caverns and meadows, but they all feature plenty of little details and fit in wonderfully with the rest of the game world. The characters in the game are equally impressive. Kameo is probably the only exception since she looks pretty generic, perhaps the only current-generation root that manages to rear its head. The rest of the characters, particularly the transformations of Kameo are great. Not only are they expertly modeled, but they all have a distinct personality to them. Of course, there are times when you’ll see thousands of enemies. Technically, the game excels. The framerate manages to keep up with the game at all times and the load times are manageable. The game still looks great on a standard, 480i television though the benefit of a 720p high-definition display cannot be understated.
The game’s audio is superb, as well. The voice overs in the game sound great and add personality to the game’s characters. The sound effects are all top-notch and plenty varied with small touches like the creatures having different walking sound effects. The soundtrack is very impressive, also. The orchestral music score fits the world of Kameo extremely well.
With Kameo and Perfect Dark Zero making up a majority of Microsoft’s first-party launch efforts, it’s easy to see how the developer was worth the money that Microsoft invested so many years ago. Kameo is a great game whose journey catches your attention throughout its entirety. In classic Rare fashion, there are a few nods to Nintendo thrown in there but it’s nice to see that the developer hasn’t lost its touch to make remarkable games.
-- Jose Liz & -- Jake Wilson, PGNx Media
---- Dec 11, 2005
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