Kameo: Elements of Power

"It's got a lot of the classic rare charm, and a lot of original charm too."

Too be honest, I was not expecting that much out of Kameo. Grabbed By the Ghoulies was a fun yet not so memorable experience, Conker was just in essence a port, and their GBA games for the most part blew. Due to hype, I choose Perfect Dark Zero over Kameo, and because I loved the original Perfect Dark. I didn't like Perfect Dark Zero that much however, trading it in shortly after I had purchased it and used the money to buy Kameo instead. Boy was I wrong. Out of all of Rares more recent games, this is the best at recapturing the glory days.

Graphics: 10/10
This is proof that Next Generation Games are not just a small increment. This is like N64 was to Gamecube, Playstation to Playstation 2, Game Boy Color to Game Boy Advance. I will admit, few games have gone all out in graphics for 360. This game however, has. And it was supposed to come out on Xbox just recently, it wasn't even specifically programmed for Xbox. Character Models have no jaggies, collision detection is perfect, and textures are life like. Not to mention all the effects. The lighting effects actually look like lighting effects, not just giving characters a shadow. The fires in this game actually look like fires, ice shards are the distorted sort of transparency. And somewhat like the Conker: Live and Reloaded effect with the camera getting water/blood/whatever on the lense. Rare always was on top when it came to graphics. I will say though, a lot of the action stages look somewhat similar style wise, which is a bit of a bummer. All the other stages however share no similarities with each other. Sometimes you'll wonder if you were even playing the same game, the graphical (and gameplay) styles are entirely different.

Game Play: 8/10
The game has several different game play approaches, its somewhat hard to judge this section. That and every elemental warrior plays entirely differently. I will say this, both Flex and Deep Blue are very boring to play with. Deep Blue is the only elemental warrior capable of swimming, so they basically gave him no other abilities worth noting, and Flex can basically only grapple onto polls, which is near useless against enemies (except for one kind of enemy that can only be killed with this method). Other then that though, the characters are all fun to control, and have useful abilities in combat (and most having abilities useful not in combat). I especially like Chilla, he can throw enemies on his back, and then he can throw them off cliffs while they hang from his back (which has spikes all over it). Action stages can get a bit repetetive, as they are somewhat long. I wish they were shorter, but there were more of them. Over World stages are unique and fun, being the host of many different side quests, and heavily explorable. I especially love the bad lands, where you battle against hundreds of trolls at a time. You can even ride horseback in the bad lands. Think of this game as a mix between God of War and the Legend of Zelda. I do have one major complaint however, the score system is deeply flawed. Instead of just scoring points the normal way, you score very little points, and have to require on using score multipliers, which you lose very, very quickly. It's annoying losing multipliers every time you get hit, as getting hit is a common occurence in this game.

Story: 8/10
Though the story itself is nothing groundbreaking, it's well presented. I'm a sucker for well presented games. The game is fully voice acted at all times, most (keyword most) voice acting is well done, and the cutscenes are frequent enough without being overdone. Good character cast overall, though they really aren't that deep. Mostly two dimensional I will admit. Still, it's done really well and is thoroughly enjoyable.

Controls: 8/10
They controls are good for the most part. It will take some getting used to at first, and a couple of characters have some odd controls. Deep Blue's swimming for example is hard to control if you use the camera much at all, and Flex's way of moving is very very awkward. Oh sure, these are just a few characters, also the start menu is oddly made, and confusing at times. Not perfect, but you will get the hang of it, and the few bad characters can be avoided throughout most of the game anyway.

Overall: 8/10
Rare is back on its feet it seems, and is out to make some more masterpieces. Although this game could have been better in many ways, it's still phonomenal. And pretty soon an online patch for online co-op is coming. Look forward too it. And although this game is not aimed directly toward kids, it probably is the most kid friendly game on the Xbox 360 right now that isn't a sports game, and that doesn't stink.

Buy or Rent: Rent
If you do think you'll replay it, and go after all the extras, it will be worth a buy. To the casual fan though, it's probably just a rental because there is no competetive online mode, and it's only about 15 hours long without all the extras. Great game though.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 02/22/06