Kameo: Elements of Power (Xbox 360, 2005)

Kameo: Elements of Power has a few things going for it. One: It is made by the guys at Rare, you know, Donkey Kong for the Super Nintendo, Banjo Kazooie on the 64. Two: It is bright, colorful and beautiful, perhaps the best looking release title aside from Oblivion. Three: It is fun, perfectly balanced and for those that want a real challenge there are lots of extras to unlock.

First of all, it is not a very long nor challenging game. It is very kid friendly as it has the bulk of commands displayed on-screen at all times, and is fun for all ages simply because there is something very enjoyable to killing a bunch of things with the various powers. Heres the kicker when it comes to elemental warriors: They are all useful at one point or another. You will not get through the game unless you learn to use them all. It is great fun to do so as well, especially when trying to wrack up large combos.

The graphics, as stated before are beautifull and somewhat cartoony, every character has a very unique appearance, and the various soldiers, both eleven and Orcish are the only ones that have a uniform appearance. Its surprising jsut how many variations you'll see as you play through.

The voice acting is spot-on, each character's voice matches with their appearnce so well, its sometimes hard to remember they arent real people.

The storyline is somewhat predictable, but it is well done and enjoyable, not to mention varied enough in missions and boss fights that you'll never truly get bored: lost yes, but not bored.

The world isn't too large, but it is just big enough to make it seem natural as you ride across the plains on your horse, the landscape slowly changes depending on where you are heading, and the sheer amount of warriors on screen during these sequences is staggering.

Aside from the kind of cliche storyline, the game is a very good addition to any collection, and stil one of the best on the system, especially since the 360's game library isnt the greatest, lots of FPS and sports games, but very little in the way of Action Adventure or RPGs. So if you are looking for something kid friendly or a Zelda-esque Action Adventure, do yourself a favor and pick up Kameo, at the very least doing everything in the game will hold you over until the 360's main bulk of titles ships the end of this year.

kameo was a launch title for the 360 when it came out almost five years ago(hard to believe it has been that long huh?). With this in mind, plus how cheap the game is now, anywhere from five to ten bucks depending on shipping, the game is a very solid experience for children or "big kids" alike. The graphics are astounding to look at, although sometimes the camera can hinder the overall feel of the game. The character models are amazing, and the backgrounds are very visually pleasing. In kameo you play as kameo, but really you play as the elemental creatures she can morph into. Overall there are ten of these that you can use throughout the game, but of course you are only afforded a few of them at the beginning and are forced to find the rest as you move throught the single player story. You can morph at any time during the gameplay, allowing you to take full advantage of all of your powers, instead of having to focus on just one creature at a time. This provides you with many different ways to dispatch enemies and solve some puzzles, albeit fairly easy puzzles. The story (a pretty weak one) is told through short cut scenes, mostly between missions. For the most part this game is superbly executed, but by no means perfect. During cut scenes, the characters mouths are so far off from the dialogue you hear it's laughable, plus the way characters conduct themselves when being spoken to is very poor. Kameo can be hearing bad news and she's still bouncing around and sticking her hip out with a smile, a small thing, but still noticeable. Also, it's worth mentioning that the game's attempt at humor are rarely funny, and would go over the head of most kids. The menus are sorely lacking and downright ugly. These are all things that were stamps of the last generation of gaming consoles. Fortunately though, the core gameplay in kameo is distinctively next gen (or "this gen" i suppose). The creatures all control very well, seamlessy most of the time. the visuals, even five years later, are still top notch. Overall, if you are lookig to take a break from COD or GOW or HALO or any of the other adult themed titles for 360, and if you have five/ten bucks to spare then Kameo is worth the time. Thank You for reading!

I really enjoyed my time with Kameo. It is a very well made game for young and older gamers alike.
I will break it down into categories because sometimes I tend to get off subject.

Graphics:
Well done in every aspect, except for some of the character models are a bit rough and their movement during cut scenes loops, booo!! The lighting looks nice, Tons of enemies on screen, environments are lush and look good, foliage movement stands out as impressive and special effects are all good. No major complaints here.

Sound:
Other than some cheesy voices all the sound is good even though it never had me say WOW !! solid stuff just not groundbreaking. Again no complaints.

Story:
Generic storyline is kept simple and never goes beyond predictable. This is probably the weakest area of the game.

Gameplay:
In my opinion Gameplay is the most important part of any game and Kameo gets high marks in this area. Finding new elementals and using there unique abilities is very fun and entertaining. Although it seems they could have expanded upon these abilities Rare kept it pretty simple. This was probably done so that younger gamers would not go to bed crying. Overall Kameo is FUN and that is why we play games right? I was never bored while playing this game. ( By the way I had No Problems playing Deep Blue, why all the complaints? )

Multi-Player:
Kameo has Co-op Multi player and I didn't try it but I imagine it would also provide alot of entertainment having your friend fight along side you. Nice addition for a game of this kind. There is also some downloadable content on Xbox LIVE.

Overall:
A Solid game all around with no real problems. It has good, unique gameplay and it is visually pleasing as well. It just never really raises the bar over other adventure games. It is a game made for the masses and it shows. I recommend Kameo to any 360 owner just don't expect it to be the greatest game ever and enjoy it for what it is.

Kameo: Elements of Power is an action/adventure platformer for the Xbox 360. It was released in 2005 as a launch title and looks pretty good for being a first generation game. The colors are vibrant, sometimes a little too colorful (especially in the magic kingdom areas), but overall the game looks great.

The gameplay involves morphing into various creatures with different abilities, which allow you to reach new areas to explore. For example, one form can roll into a ball at high speeds, while another form can grab onto walls of ice. Using these abilities at the right time allows you to launch yourself off of a ramp, change form, and then latch on to a wall of ice to reach a new area.

The problem with the form changing gameplay is that you are only allowed 3 buttons to align a form to, X, Y, and B, and often you’ll find yourself wanting to switch between 4 or 5 forms in the same area. There’s a quick change feature, which allows you to change the alignment of a button without using pause; but it often takes several seconds to activate. Even worse is the fact that it is interrupted whenever you are struck by an enemy, making for a lot of frustration.

The combat system is fun, but very repetitive. Using Pummel Weed in particular can be a blast, as you use the left and right triggers to deliver combos. However, the 50th time you deliver a 10-hit combo ending in an uppercut, it gets a bit repetitive. The controls are also quite loose for certain characters, which makes sense for the “icy” characters and stages, but not for every one. Overall, once you get used to the control scheme, and purchase the upgradeable maneuvers with items obtained in game, it’s actually quite fun.

The game is not very long, lasting about 7-10 hours, depending on your skill level. However, the co-op play through split screen on the same 360, or over Xbox Live, can extend your playtime a bit. There are also several achievements that can be obtained based on a points ranking system, encouraging you to reply past areas to improve your score.

Overall, Kameo: Elements of Power is an above average experience. Great graphics, excellent platforming elements, and decent combat system all combine to make for a fun experience that fans of the genre are sure to enjoy. A 4 out of 5.

Although I am an eBay employee, this content reflects my personal views and is not written on behalf of eBay Inc.

Kameo is basically a new take on the new age Zelda games like ocarina of time, major's mask and twilight princess. There's a giant field area you can run around on a horse or similar animal, you have to finish dungeons to get new abilities to go to new dungeons, buy bigger bags to hold money, all together a very ocarina of time game. It stands out by instead of equipping items you equip elemental forms which have unique abilities and looks, which help you get around obstacles and defeat enemies. The transitions between these is seamless and its possible in combat to beat up a troll as a boxing plant turn around and burn down a few as a dragon and then roll down a couple more as a kind of armadillo bowling ball.

Only one real complaint, its about the control scheme, by making the four main buttons for switching between "elementals" all abilities are done using the triggers which leads to some tired hands and constrained number of abilities that reuse or jumble up combat and sensitive maneuvers.

Altogether the game is fun and worth getting, the controls you get used to and the play is well worth it.