Kameo: Elements of Power Review

By Gary Kearney

Kameo: Elements of Power has the distinction of being the first Xbox 360 title I have reviewed and I'm not sure it that is a good or bad thing for it. Being a next generation title it has a lot of expectations to live up to, not to mention that it's from the famous developer Rare and has been in development for a bunch of years. So is there any way it can live up to all of this hype? Who knows, but I'm going to tell you what I thought of it...

OK, it has taken quite some time for Kameo to show up and it's gone from being developed for the GameCube then the Xbox to finally out for the 360 [it was originally announced for the N64 if you can believe that. - ed.]. Now that it's out we finally get to see what Rare, the people who brought us games like Conker and Perfect Dark, has been doing with all this time. I can understand that once Microsoft bought Rare they would move any games they were currently developing over to the Xbox, but I'm not real sure why Kameo never showed up on the Xbox 1. My guess is that Microsoft wanted to make sure they had a very pretty game for their new system and had Rare switch over. Whatever the reasons the wait the payoff seems to have been worth it.

Straight to the question that I wanted to know myself when I first got the game...how does it look? I mean let's be honest, it's a next generation game and we all want to know how much better next-gen looks that our current systems. Well, Kameo is a visually beautiful game no question about that. That said, there are times when it doesn't quite seem to be a revolution but more of an evolution. But don't get me wrong here, there is no way any of the older systems could do what the Kameo graphically does on the 360. There is always something happening on the screen that gives a sense of awe and life. This can be small details like little insects buzzing by or some amazing lighting and mapping effects. Those that have the needed equipment to take advantage of the high definition will, of course, really be able to see the fantastic quality. The only issue I have has more to do with the hype and slight letdown that my mind wasn't totally blown away to the point of me going insane.

With that initial question out of the way we can look into Kameo a little further and see what else is going on. For instance, what's it about? The game gives us a familiar story of a peaceful land that is having some trouble with an evil Troll named Thorn and I don't think I need to tell you how much trouble an evil Troll can be, do I? Kameo, if you didn't know, is actually the name of the heroine, a female Elf that must gather the power of the 10 captured Elemental Warriors and bring peace back to the land. At the beginning of the game you are right in the middle of the action as you're going right up against Thorn's castle trying to rescue your family and you already have three of the Elemental Warriors. Unfortunately you get quickly ambushed, losing the three Elemental Warriors you had, and then real start starts.

Kameo is a sexy looking Elf but not much good in a fight to be honest. This is where the Elemental Warriors and something called the Wotnot Book come into play. The Wotnot will help Kameo collect the stolen Warriors and it also has the spirit of a wizard named Ortho who will provide hints as needed. The Warriors can have their abilities and skills upgraded by gathering elemental fruit, which sends a better message to kids than elemental candy I suppose.

What are these Elemental Warriors? One example is the Pummel Weed, which looks a lot like a big flower with boxing gloves. Then there is Chilla, a yeti that just loves to smash stuff much like the Hulk would. What happens is once Kameo rescues one of the Warriors they become available for her to “morph” into and use their powers. You can assign up to three of the Warriors a specific button for quick and easy morphing action. An interesting twist is that there are situations where you will need to switch between two different warriors very quickly in order to accomplish a task. This adds a bit of thinking to the game but don't stress out too much if you get stuck because you can at any time go to the Wotnot and ask Ortho for help. But part of the fun of the game is trying to figure out the different “combos” you can do when switching between different Warriors.

The controls are good but they do take getting use to especially when switching back and forth between the different Warriors. The good news is that it will not take long to get the hang of it and the new 360 controllers are very comfy and responsive. The music and sound effects are good, but this is probably the least “next-gen” leap for the game.

There is no real online component to the game which is a big surprise to me considering how much emphasis Microsoft has put on Xbox Live. There is the promise of downloadable content in the future and there is the ability to post some of your best times to complete a level on the leader boards. Split screen co-op is available but even that is limited to only some levels.

In The End, This Game Hath Been Rated: 85%. Kameo: Elements of Power is a nice intro into the next generation of adventure games.