Kameo: Elements of Power

"Kameo is Rare alright, In that A.. its a great colourful game and b.. Its well Rare!?"

Intro:
A quick note about myself and the game I'm reviewing, I'm a long time gamer who
loves just about every type of game, and tend to own all of the game systems available at there time period so to get the best gaming experience possible. I bought Kameo “elements of power “ at launch for the Xbox-360 and completed a little while after. The reason I decided now to write a review was that I have recently replayed it through again and thought it was worth putting up a review from two points of view, a. Overall impression following a second play through, & b. an updated review being that the game is now unbelievable nearly three years old, and how it compares to games this far into the Xbox 360's life.

Graphics:
A good place to start since the game is now three years old and most of the games now being released for the 360 should now be really pushing the machine limits & developers now have a handle on how to get the best results from the machine. Well it fares surprisingly well overall. The wonderful colours and details are still stunning as when first scene all that time ago, add to this the exquisite lighting, particle & water effects means that Kameo is still one the most convincing fantasy worlds to date. In fact returning to it a second time really helps you appreciate it a lot more especially when compared to the current deluge of black & grey palate games coming out of developers at this current time. The amount of detail & characters of screen at one time is still damn impressive, with the particular moment that springs to mind being the first trip to the badlands and the charge down the hill on horseback. There are easily 500 plus enemies on screen which duly fly in all directions when marched through. It really is a very colorful and convincing world created by Rare.
Overall: 9/10

Audio:
Again its another strong performance from Rare. The musical score is as epic at times as you expect from a major Hollywood film. There are plenty of moments I was reminded of lord of the rings or Pirates of the Caribbean while charging through the badlands and its connecting areas. Also the general sound effects are of a good standard and can of cause plenty of amusement along the way. The voice acting for the most part is pretty good, with only a few minor slip ups in terms of poor casting for a couple of the minor characters. The banter between the wizard in the wotnot book & the witch is particular favorite if mine.
Overall: 8.5/10

Story: (no spoilers where possible)
The story is as expected from this sort of game, i.e. predictable but enough to get by on. To be honest Kameo's story is just a requirement to drive the game forwards rather than the main event as with other adventure games. Its all a bit obvious five minutes in what is going to happen and the twists that are standard with this type of story, but it doesn't matter in the end its still enjoyable and helps to keep the game going.
Overall 6/10

Game play:
The game play is in general pretty good all round. Kameo is one of those games that excels in a lot of areas but masters none. The controls are good most of the time with the occasional niggles here and there (controlling the water element can be somewhat frustrating at times) which can grate but should ultimately not detract from the game play. The camera is with many games of this nature good but never perfect. In tight confinements and small rooms it often is to rigid to help you see where you need to and sometimes it will auto snap in the wrong direction. But at least it is controllable unlike some others, so you can quickly correct it when needed. I've heard some people bemoan the difficulty of the game for being too easy. Personally I think its fine, but there are harder modes downloadable from Xbox live if needed. I think all too often certain people have this tendency to want this macho super difficulty in games so they can shout about how quickly they completed it and how easy they found it. Well I'm happy to have a game that I can enjoy & importantly complete instead of a hair pulling half finished one like plenty others out there. For me it was nice to be able to play it through to the end with only a couple of moments to get stuck on (one boss was a bit of a nightmare mainly due to bad design than difficulty). The only major complain is the short length and under use of the elements you acquire during the game. You never really feel that you get enough chance to utilize them or get the most from the upgrades you can make to them by collecting hidden power fruits. The whole things starts off at a good pace but then seems to make a mad dash for the finish line meaning the last two elementals barely get used. If fact you rarely use half of them more than once or twice at most. And this is normally just for one area which suits there ability. By all means you don't what a long draw out epic always which reuses it main elements (no pun intended) over and over again for the sake of it, but just a bit more time and freedom to get the most out of them.
Overall: 8.5/10

So in summary while it last Kameo: “elements of power” is a visual & audio delight which doesn't quite last as long as you'd expect and for the most part play pretty good.
I certainly recommend it to anyone who either enjoys this type of game or is looking for a change form the current glut of dark & gloomy games out there at the moment or a refreshing change to something other than some form of shooting. As it stands Kameo still holds up well three years on from its release and put many newer Xbox360 games to shame.
Overall: 8/10

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 11/17/08

Game Release: Kameo: Elements of Power (EU, 12/02/05)