Articles
By Diresim
Published: Mar. 4, 2007 11:06 AM
Kameo: Elements of Power was the first game I played on the Xbox 360. Therefore, my expectations were high. After a long wait, the title originally planned for the Xbox, I'll admit I was concerned that Rare may have thrown out a rushed, threadbare, action title, despite the many years it spent in development. Early videos impressed, before early play-testing reported a solid, if limited experience. Then came the launch reviews, praising the game as worthwhile and fun whilst bemoaning a significant lack of depth. It seemed that this might have been another one of those 'good' video games that you traded in after a few weeks of semi-inspiring play. Oh how wrong I was.
After playing the crap out of this title, I have come to a conclusion far removed from my earliest impressions back in November. Although it dawned on me gradually, Kameo is one ripper of a video game. It stands as an ode to action games of years past, whilst at the same time enriched with a healthy dose of originality in terms of gameplay and scope. A rich, detailed, fantasy world sucks you in with its ridiculously gorgeous high definition visuals and a cohesiveness which makes you really believe that this wonderful land exists and that you are indeed part of it. A fantastic, diverse, musical score inspires and compells you. A simple yet worthwhile story and cute characters charm you. Then along comes a wonderfully implemented combat system which remains simple for the casual gamer, but contains a well of hidden depth. If you’re a completionist, this baby will keep even the most hardened gamer hurling his controller well into the night. It's original, its enjoyable, and its intelligent. You may not realise it at first, or even until well after you've finished the main game for the first time, but when you start having a crack at scroing big points in Time Attack mode, you will know ownage, Ninja Gaiden style. Despite all this though, its true what you've heard. This game could have been better.
Kameo's storyline is typical, Zelda inspired, stuff. Basically, you must save the enchanted kingdom (of which you are both princess and chosen heroine) from the evil troll king Thorn and his army. Along the way you must rescue your relatives who are being held captive by evil spirits, and discover each of ten elemental warriors, equipped with the powers necessary to lay waste to the penultimate bad guy. Kameo is able to morph into each of these characters at will, and they are really the stars of the show. Among others, there's a fire breathing, incinerating dragon warrior, a ice hurling, bad guy throwing, hard core yeti snowman dude, and a 'Metroid Prime like' ball guy who likes to roll around the joint.
You unlock each of these characters one by one along the course of your journey. By vanquishing shadow trolls (which don't put up nearly enough of a challenge unfortunately) you release the warriors from captivity and their powers and abilities add to your growing arsenal. Each of them has a number of special moves they can pull off, and each of these are useful in different circumstances and against different enemies. A simple understanding of these characters will allow you to complete the main storyline. However, in order to complete the game in its entirety, Rare have made it necessary for the gamer to develop real skill with each warrior’s advanced abilities, and the ability to combine the warriors (you can switch around as often and as many times as you like). This concept is both refreshing and rewarding.
All of your warriors, and Kameo herself (who is only armed with a little flip kick) gain in power as you collect Elemental Fruit, Eyes of Power, and Elixirs of Life. These are scattered throughout the land, and serve as a reason for you to explore outside of the main quest. There are an enormous of amount of inhabitants throughout the kingdom, most of whom encourage you in your quest to rid the land of evil, but none of them has particularly much to say. In fact some characters cannot even be interacted with at all. Although this is no RPG, it does break up the illusion of reality when the developers have not enabled any of the elven soldiers you fight alongside with the ability to actually speak. Its obvious they wanted to maintain the 'action game' feel, and maybe I've been spoiled a bit by Oblivion, but I did find the characters acted much like placeholders.
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