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| STRETCHED BETWEEN GENERATIONS |
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 nce viewed as a premiere development house that could turn the tides in the console war, Rareware now resembles an athlete that is recovering from numerous knee surgeries. The company is noticeably limping in its efforts. Since joining Microsoft’s ranks, Rare has delivered more games for a rival handheld system than it has for the Xbox. The much-maligned Grabbed by the Ghoulies and a port of Conker’s Bad Fur Day are the only product that this developer has released for the Xbox. With the arrival of the Xbox 360, Rare has the opportunity to get back on its feet, wipe the slate clean, and start anew. Before this can be done, however, one last skeleton has to removed from the company’s closest. That skeleton is Kameo.
After spending nearly five years on the development floor for GameCube, Xbox, and now 360, the finishing touches have finally been applied to Kameo. You wouldn’t expect a game that dates back to the infancy of the previous console generation to raise the bar visually, but that’s exactly what this game does. Rare’s artistic expertise is on display, creating a storybook world that is teeming with life and style. Particle effects are as dense as a Midwestern blizzard. You nearly have to squint when you view the light that reflects off of the extravagant bump-mapped texturing. Armies don’t measure in the dozens or even the hundreds. Like The Lord of the Rings films, soldiers, dragons, and giants span as far as the eye can see, numbering in the thousands. Whenever you enter a new area, you can’t help but pausing just to spy the beauty that is around you.
Rare was able to elevate the visuals to next-gen quality, but the gameplay is firmly rooted in the past…the distant past. Kameo’s ability to transform into different monsters delivers a wealth of exciting gameplay mechanics. They are used very much like the items in Zelda. Where Zelda shines in finding creative ways to tap into the items’ abilities, Kameo struggles in delivering new ways to use the monsters. You usually find yourself utilizing their powers to complete the same tasks. If you transform into the plant beast Pummel Weed to duck beneath the crack of a gate, you know you’ll do it again at least 50 times before the game concludes. Once you learn how to use the characters, the entire game is an exercise in repeating procedures. Of equal disappointment, the solution to most puzzles usually revolves around Chilla’s Ice Spike attacks. The Shadow Troll boss battles are also repeated each time you quest for a new monster, only growing slightly more frustrating and chaotic each time.
That’s not to say, however, that the game doesn’t have its moments. Major Ruin’s dash roll is a well-made mechanic that leads to some thrilling segments. I also really enjoyed using Thermite’s mortar attacks to send a handful of enemies twirling through the air within the epic war that is waging across the badlands. All told, the gameplay is sound. It just doesn’t challenge players enough.
There really is no slow onion peel to the plot, although Rare certainly hoped there would be one. Once you meet a specific character, you know exactly where this tale is going to end up. After working your way through every video game cliché possible (betrayal in your midst, levels based on elements), the game builds to a huge rip-roaring finale. Sadly, the final boss is the weakest in the game (40 Below’s Wrecker attack can tear him to shreds in no time flat). From here it seems as though the game is going to fizzle out and die quietly, but the cinematic that follows this battle is a satisfying and visually stunning way to end the game.
All told, Kameo is a respectable adventure, but it drives players forward with its visual content and not its gameplay.
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Playing Kameo made me feel a lot like what I imagine Fry must’ve felt at the beginning of Futurama. Here I am in this amazing world filled with sights beyond my imagination, and I’m still stuck doing the same crappy delivery job I did back in the past. Make no mistake – this is one pretty game, filled with gorgeous bump-mapped textures, beautiful lighting, and luminous particle effects. However, Kameo (originally conceived for the GameCube) shows its age in tedious level design, unoriginal boss fights, repetitive objectives, and dull puzzles. The concept of switching between forms is definitely intriguing, but unfortunately none of the creatures (aside from Chilla) have gameplay that is inherently entertaining, and the ways you must switch between them are far too obvious to add any real sense of surprise or discovery. One of the game’s worst boss battles is repeated a half dozen times before you’re done, growing more annoying each time. Graphically state of the art, Kameo is just an attractive repackaging of the same old platforming clichés. |
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7.5 |
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| CONCEPT: |
| Rare’s character-based charm shines brightly, but the gameplay just doesn’t have any meat on its bones |
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| GRAPHICS: |
| From the particle effects to the bump-mapped texturing, this is one of the most impressive looking titles for the Xbox 360 |
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| SOUND: |
| An orchestrated marvel that reminds you of Peter and the Wolf one minute, then The Lord of the Rings the next |
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| PLAYABILITY: |
| The controls are finely crafted. The monster forms offer unique attacks and moves. The level designs and puzzles are highly redundant |
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| ENTERTAINMENT: |
| A 10 to 12-hour quest that has plenty of great and not-so-great moments |
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