Kameo: Elements of Power

So I finished Kameo last night.

Yah. Kameo. For the 360. As I posted earlier, no way was I going through the holiday break without a 360. I've been spending my break playing a lot of 360 games. Call of Duty 2, Project Gotham Racing 3, Kameo: Elements of Power, and Need for Speed: Most Wanted. I also have Perfect Dark Zero, but I'm waiting for a friend to get his 360 for a little co-op action before I break into that game. So look for this blog to start moving into 360 games. I hope to finish some of my original Xbox games, but we'll just have to see what happens.

Back to Kameo. It is billed as an RPG, but I think it is actually a bit more of a platformer. One of the basic elements of an RPG is character progression, and it isn't really present in Kameo. While you gain access to new "Elemental Warriors", your character doesn't really grow. The Warriors are essentially new keys to get through areas to unlock more Warriors until your final battle with Thorn, the big bad evil troll king.

There is combat, which is a hallmark of RPG, but lots of platformers have combat, too (e.g. Jak and Daxter). The combat in Kameo is excellent. Fluid and fast moving. It is definitely important to find your opponents' weakness and select the appropriate Warrior to kick their ass. I found the combat to be a lot of fun up until I found a crystal eye thingy which gave me a regeneration ability. At that point, as long as I wasn't a total moron in combat, there just wasn't any way for most monsters to kill me. There was a particular nasty robot boss with a big ol' hammer. Not a problem. Walk up in front of him, wait to get flattened (literally! very Bugs Bunny-ish), and then pop back into shape and launch an attack at him during his post-attack vulnerability. The hammer would barely dip into my hit points.

The background story of Kameo is interesting, but not really very engaging. Mostly, it was just a lot of fun to see the huge variety of environments, the lush graphics, and awesome animation. There are water environments, snow landscapes, underwater exploration, vast troll-filled territory, dank swamps, and more. All are rendered wonderfully with lots of interaction. The Enchanted Kingdom is where the castle is located (Kameo, the lead character, is a princess). The bright colors and atmosphere of the Kingdom remind me a lot of Sudeki, and the NPCs' offhand comments and antics remind me of Fable.

Overall, Kameo is a very fun title with rich graphics, animation, and some great platforming. Not the RPG that I was expecting, but very enjoyable nonetheless. I finished the main storyline in about 17 hours, and will be trying some of the auxilliary coop stuff and other bonus mission types of things. If you like platformers, then this is a good one. If you're looking for an RPG, then maybe try renting this for a long weekend, or wait for Oblivion.