Kameo: Elements of Power
 

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"For every vision of light, there will be one of darkness.  For every moment of peace there will be one of chaos.  She alone holds the power to save this world.  A legion of warriors hidden inside the body of one.  Only you can unleash them..."

 

Anyone who knows me knows that I am a platformer-junkie.  I’ve been playing complex PC games for years, but in recent years my gaming tastes have changed.  While my young nephew has (for the most part) grown out of his Nintendo years and has moved on to PC gaming, I find myself going the other way – giving up the keyboard and mouse for a much more relaxing gaming experience on the couch, with a controller in my hand, in front of my big screen TV with surround sound.

 

I know that the Xbox wasn’t famous for its platformers, so I was really happy to hear about Kameo: Elements of Power being a launch title for the Xbox 360.  The screenshots looked nice – Disney-like characters and environments with lots of vibrant colours – but we all know that ultimately screenshots tell nothing of a game.  Not having read any detailed reviews of this game, I took a chance and bought Kameo along with my Xbox 360 system.

 

The game is basically about a fairy-like elf named Kameo, whose family has been taken prisoner by her jealousy-driven sister Kalus.  Kalus has teamed with the evil green Trolls to gain revenge on her family, and the entire land, because of her mother’s decision to grant Kameo the great power to control a collection of ancient creatures called “elemental sprites”.  These elemental sprites allow Kameo to transform into various “warrior” forms which give her special abilities depending on the selected form.

 

 

The game begins with Kameo having the ability to select from three elemental sprites: 

Chilla – a powerful ape-like ice-creature that can climb walls of ice and hurl icicles like frozen spears.  Chilla also has the ability to grab enemies and impale them on his spiked back, whereby he can later throw the impaled victim at other enemies or use the victim as a club!

 

Pummel Weed – a strange plant-like creature with fists like a boxer and a nasty temperament.  Pummel Weeds boxing ability makes it a good choice for beating up enemies with its quick right and left jabs which are often followed by a devastating upper-cut.  Pummel Weed also has the ability to sink into the ground and travel from that position – allowing it to pass under short gaps as well as deliver surprise upper-cuts to unsuspecting enemies.

 

Major Ruin – a round armadillo-like creature that can roll into a ball and launch itself up ramps and walls to gain access to locations that are two high or too far to reach by jumping.  Major Ruin can also attack enemies by charging into them, but its lack of control and weak power put it at the bottom of the list when it comes to choosing a form for combat.

In Kameo’s natural form, she has the ability to jump, hover, and perform a flip-kick attack.  Her hover ability, which she performs by flapping her fairy-like wings, is the most useful as it allows you to travel much faster than by foot.

 

There are ten Elemental Sprites that can be obtained as you progress through the game, and each one is completely unique in terms of looks and abilities.  There are also alternate skins available for each Elemental Sprite though some can be bought and others must be found.  One of the best things about this game is how you are required to take advantage of each of your forms to solve puzzles and take on enemies.  Some enemies are resistant to certain forms of attack so you’ll have to experiment with your various forms to determine which attacks are most effective – sometimes you may be required to use the abilities from more than one elemental to defeat an enemy.

 

The Elemental Sprites have limited use of their abilities.  Each of them has a “spirit bar” which is consumed when a Sprite performs a special action.  Once the spirit bar has been depleted, you must wait a few seconds for it to recharge before you can perform another special action.  The spirit bar is pretty generous, but when you’re taking on a lot of enemies at once, you can use it up quick.

 

Like most games, Kameo has limited health that is represented by her health bar.  As you can guess – deplete the health bar and you die (or rather, return to the last check point).  Check points never take you back very far, and once you collect and item, it is always yours even if you die.  While death really doesn’t have much of a consequence in this game, Kameo can find and buy elixirs that not only restore her health, but increase its maximum.  You’ll most likely be collecting these to complete the game 100% rather than by necessity.

 

The player can also collect Elemental Fruit which act as a sort of special currency for upgrading your Elemental Sprites’ abilities like new attacks, increased damage, increased range, and a larger spirit bar to keep your elemental sprites fighting longer.  Elemental Fruit can be found growing on plants, but most of them are hidden or obtained by completing side quests such as helping villagers or completing a clue-based treasure-hunt.

 

There is also normal currency that allows you to buy certain items from the shop that is located in the Enchanted Kingdom and in each village.  You can buy things like a bigger purse (for holding more coins), Elemental Fruit, health, elixirs that increase your health bar, and a list of clues describing the locations of some hidden Elemental Fruit in the area.

 

The game is divided into multiple regions.  You have the Enchanted Kingdom, which acts as your starting point and central hub for the game, and you have the Badlands, which is the large open land that you must travel across to reach each of the different villages.   Each village has its own set of caves and sub-areas where you will be completing your quests and tasks.  Once all of the primary tasks for a village have been completed, a warp gate will be opened in that village that allows you to travel directly to and from Enchanted Kingdom.  There are load times between areas and sub areas, but these load times are extremely short – three to four seconds at the longest.

 

Game play usually comes down to using your various forms and abilities to navigate through a cave, dungeon, castle, etc.  There aren’t many puzzles in the traditional sense either.  The puzzles primarily involve you trying to figure out how to use your abilities and the environment to get from point A to point B.  Occasionally you’ll be locked into an area and forced to fight a certain number of enemies before you are given the means to continue or escape.  Some enemies require some tricks to be defeated while others just require a straight-forward beating.

 

One neat effect during combat is your ability to slow down time if you rapidly deliver enough blows to your enemy.  Once starting, the slow motion stays in effect for as long as you can keep delivering the blows non-stop.  While in slow motion, you continue to move at normal speed while everything around you slows down to a crawl.  This allows you to beat-up just about everyone in the room in rapid succession.  You can even run circles around enemies that normally have an impenetrable guard.

 

Another integral part of the game is the Wotnot Book.  This is a special tome that you carry whose purpose is to contain the Elemental Sprites that you locate.  Inside you’ll find detailed information on all the Elemental Sprites that you have acquired as well as access to their abilities and upgrades.  The Wotnot book also has its own spirit named Ortho that will interact with you during your adventure; offering you direction, clues, and tips (if you choose to ask for it) throughout the entire game.  I personally found it a bit annoying that Ortho constantly asked me to consult the book for information and help because it thought I was stuck or lost when in reality I was just ignoring my primary task to explore or complete a side quest.

 

At the top of the screen you will find a recorded score which increases as you defeat enemies.  You gain bonus points for defeating an enemy in a particular way.  For example, a “Brutal” multiplier is earned if you finish-off an enemy with one strike (like throwing them off a cliff or into lava) while a “Frenzy” multiplier is earned if you can swiftly chain multiple consecutive kills.  These points really have no effect on the outcome of the main game.  Rather, your points and stage completion time are used to grade your success on the stage.  High grades unlock game bonuses and secrets.  You can revisit completed stages in order to try and complete the stage in a shorter time while accumulating more points.

 

The game features a co-op mode where you and a friend can play through the main stages co-operatively.  Stages are unlocked as you complete them in the solo game so you’ll need to finish them on your own first.  Unfortunately, co-op play is restricted to split-screen only with no XBox Live support.  I read that the developers are working on an online co-op update, but I'm not sure if there is any truth to that.

 

I have to admit that I was a little unsure of this game when I first started.  The characters looked rather strange (especially “Pummel Weed”), and with names like “Major Ruin” I was really questioning whether I had made a good choice.  The starting level also seemed pieced together like an obstacle course and it wasn’t particularly fun.  It wasn’t until I first stepped into the Enchanted Kingdom that my skepticism subsided and I realized that the first level was really meant to be nothing more than a tutorial.

 

I have been playing the game in 16x9 1080i resolution and the graphics are simply awesome.  Everything in this game is very sharp, vibrant, and exceptionally detailed.  The trees and grass are lush, and the water effects are fantastic.  Remember those 3D demos where you could click in a shimmering pond of water and watch the realistic ripples move around?  That’s what it looks like when Kameo is swimming!  This is hands-down the most beautiful game that I have yet to play.

 

Most (if not all) of the textures in the game are beautifully bump-mapped (or normal mapped, I'm not sure how you can tell the difference).  Canyon walls really do look rough and rocky, tiles on the floor look raised and shiny, the tree bark has deep grooves... I can’t emphasize enough how big a difference this makes to the overall quality of the graphics.  Screen shots don’t do it justice because in a still picture the 3D effect is lost.  It’s not until you are moving around an object, and the lighting changes to reflect its bumps and grooves that you can truly appreciate the difference that bump-mapping makes.

 

All of the character models, while often strange in style, look great.  Their shapes are naturally smooth and rounded, and their textures are bump mapped to given them extra detail and imperfections.  There are other subtle details that add to their visual appeal such as when you take on an elemental form, their bodies are slightly transparent so you can actually see Kameo curled up inside.  The model movements are a bit cartoon-like, but it seems to fit the overall look of the game .

 

Another incredible aspect of this game is the sheer number of objects that it can render and animate at once.  Everywhere you look there are people walking and playing games, birds and bugs flying, plants swaying, water rippling – it’s incredible!  When you finally get your chance to visit the Badlands, where the war is raging against the trolls… your jaw will drop!  There are literally hundreds of soldiers and trolls fighting one another!  And I’m not talking about something that looks like a crazy line-dance where everybody is doing the same thing.  These guys are really fighting and they’re all doing their own thing.  Meanwhile, there are canons being fired, dragons flying over head, explosions sending trolls and soldiers soaring through the air… oh, and I should probably mention that the game doesn’t even hiccup during these parts!  Not even a stutter!

 

This game also features incredible Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound with a beautiful soundtrack.  Having been playing my PS2 for the last few years, I’m simply not used to hearing surround sound of this quality.  I was literally startled a few times when someone in the game would unexpectedly talk to me from behind.  The only thing I found strange was that some sound effects were given a bit of an echo when they originated from behind me.  I suppose it was to enhance the surround effect but it didn’t quite sound natural.

 

The controls in the game are simple.  The left stick moves Kameo and the right stick allows free rotation of the camera.  Three of the four face buttons (X, Y, and B) act as a quick-select for your elemental sprite forms and these assignments can be changed on-the-fly (and you will be doing quite a lot of this as you juggle your various forms).  The A button is reserved for reverting back to your natural Kameo form as well as talking to people and interacting with objects (ie. open, read, etc).  Your special actions are all performed with the trigger buttons and you will usually have three primary actions to choose from: one action assign to the left trigger, another to the right, and one action that is performed by holding both triggers.  The trigger actions are always labeled on-screen for easy reference.  Some abilities have directional modifiers so pushing on the left stick can alter the effect.

 

The camera did a good job of providing a useful view while not getting in the way.  I did have a bit of trouble looking upwards on occasion because objects close to the ground like grass and rocks would often block my view.  I think all games should take a suggestion from Dungeon Siege and have obstructions become transparent when they inhibit the view of the characters.  I also found it difficult to dive under water, because the camera wouldn’t break the surface until you were fully submerged and reached a certain depth.  This meant that you were initially diving blind each time.  This made at least one boss battle a little more frustrating than it had to be.

 

As I write this, I am just before the final boss battle in the game and I have collected every elixir, Elemental Fruit, and alternate skin.  This game has given me just over 20 hours of game play and I think it’s safe to say that I’ve seen everything this game has to offer.  Kameo: Elements of Power is a really great game that I can easily recommend to any person who is a fan of platformers or action/adventure games.  There isn’t anything exceptionally next gen about the game play per sey, but it’s a good, solid, professional production that’s fun to play.  Oh, and it also happens to have some of the best graphics and surround sound of any console game I've played to date.

 

On a final note… if this is just the beginning, then we are all in for one hell of a ride with this next generation of consoles.  I just hope that Xbox 360 developers continue to make games other than first-person shooters, racing and sports games.  Kameo: Elements of Power shows that it can be done and that it can be done very very well.

 5 out of 5