 Preview By: Andrew Joy |
Developer: | Rare |
| Publisher: | Microsoft | |
| Genre: | Action Adventure | |
| ESRB: | Teen | |
| # Of Players: | 1 | |
| Online Play: | No | |
| Accessories: | N/A | |
| Estimated Release: | 11/09/2005 |
I remember seeing an ad for Kameo: Elements of Power on the back of my GameCube box when I first got the system. In fact, I still have the box and, looking at it now, I can tell you she has gone through some changes. But, hey, change is what Kameo is all about!
Even though Kameo has jumped from system to system, first conceived for the GameCube and now finally being realized on the Xbox 360, the only real constant has been change…and I don’t mean that in the philosophical sense of the phrase. No, what I mean is that the core gameplay of Kameo: Elements of Power lies in the ability to change into a variety of other creatures and putting their unique abilities at your disposal. At first glance, it may seem a lot like Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask and, well, I guess it is. Only there is a lot more to it.
Kameo: Elements of Power has ten warriors that the heroine can morph into, divided into one of five elemental groups and with up to eight unique abilities. The characters at your disposal truly run the gamut, from Ash the fire dragon to the boxing plant named Pummelweed. Hopefully their powers and abilities will more than make up for the almost Yu-Gi-Oh!-like quality of character design several sport. And, if not, you can also upgrade those abilities with augmentations to give you a strategic edge in battle, an edge you will certainly need as thousands of on-screen enemies rush the battlefield all at once.
Not much has been revealed as far as this game’s story, though it is expected that Kameo: Elements of Power will be puzzle-filled, combat-heavy and require many dimensions of strategic thinking in order for Kameo to save her family from the evil troll king Thorn. We also know it will feature a split-screen multi-player co-op mode and, in some way, the title will have Xbox Live support.
Most of the focus so far has been on how Kameo: Elements of Power will use the XBOX 360’s hardware. The visuals are lush, colorful and at times almost psychedelic, which is perfect for creating the right atmosphere in the fantasy world of Kameo. As is typical with most Xbox 360 games, Rare and Microsoft are promising high-definition graphics and quality voice-overs. As for those thousands of on-screen enemies mentioned earlier? Well, the game boasts individual, independent Artificial Intelligence for each and every one of them.
By now, you have either long-ago written-off Kameo: Elements of Power as never coming out and doubt whether it will be worth the wait if it finally does; or you are stoked as heck about this game, believing it will be one of the greatest ever made, and are praying that it at long last comes out. It is hard to say which of you may have the right idea, for it is hard to say whether any game will deliver when you don’t know what it is promising. If you are one of the latter, well, keep your fingers crossed and pray that you are right, for all our sakes. From what little we have seen, it is clear that Kameo: Elements of Power at least has a lot of potential.
Posted: 2005-10-10 09:00:32PST