he trouble with trolls ... no, it's not some lost Tolkien-penned Trek episode, but rather the central problem facing Kameo, perky blue-blood legatee of the fabled "elements of power." Scattered to the winds, the Elemental Warriors were gifted to the elves long ago, and each generation's royal designee must endure a series of exacting trials in order to wield their power.
Unfortunately for Kameo, her jealous older sister Kalus had designs on those selfsame powers—filicidal designs, in fact. In a fit of rage at the perceived slight of being overlooked, Kalus frees the sealed-in-stone troll king, Thorn, conspiring with him to kidnap the royal family and heralding an all-out troll assault on the elves' Enchanted Kingdom. As Kameo, players embark on a quest to recover both the Elemental Warriors of power and the abducted royal family members, held captive by spectral shadow trolls in hidden realms.
After a frenetic introductory sequence which habituates players to Kameo's talents (its conclusion "strips" her of the first three Elemental Warriors), players tour the serene Enchanted Kingdom and absorb narrative on the elves' plight. To win the game, players must scour the lands beyond the kingdom for 10 Elemental Warriors, freeing Kameo's imprisoned ancestors and confronting Thorn and Kalus to end the troll assault. Along the way Kameo can "power-up" her warriors by collecting Elemental Fruit and "purchasing" enhancements to their combat abilities.
Kameo implements a combination auto-save and hints-on-demand system, allowing players to consult a wizard enchanted into something called the "Wotnot Book" when stumped by perplexing puzzles. Possessing tiny wings, Kameo can herself jump, hover, or perform flip-kicks by simultaneously pulling the LT/RT buttons. As warrior-forms are acquired, players map up to three at a time to the colored buttons on the controller. Pressing these instantly morphs Kameo into the designated creature, empowering her with its elemental abilities, ranging from fire and ice to water and earth attacks. Kameo supports 26 Xbox Live unlockables, but cooperative play in split-screen mode only.
Return of the classic Rare
Microsoft spirited Nintendo's über-developer away in 2002, but has since failed to capitalize on the investment (including Rare's other Xbox 360 title, the lackluster Perfect Dark Zero). Kameo at least partially ends that dry spell. Welcome back, Rare we knew and loved: Here, at last, is an excellent reason to own an Xbox 360. Kameo is next-gen in every sense of the word, filled with breathless visuals and sit-up-in-your-seat gameplay. Its greatest failing is also a measure of its many wonders: It's simply much too short.
Once you're over the fact that Kameo looks not a little like something filmmaker Pixar might have spawned (if you have a high-definition television, that is), you'll be thrilled to discover its game mechanics are outstandingly unique. Part of the joy of game-smithing derives from the medium's motley, multiform nature; thus we have artful examples involving Italian plumbers, supersonic hedgehogs and frenzied geometry-coupling. Kameo's gifts arrive in the form of acute logic symmetry. Each of Kameo's elemental powers serves a carefully planned role, and several must be used in thoughtful combination. For example, the "abominable snowman" elemental Chilla can climb vertical ice walls. To reach many, however, you must use Major Ruin (armadillo-cum-anteater?) to launch yourself like a cannonball at the wall, but to gain purchase, you must also carefully time a midair morph into Chilla. The controls are intuitive and the process so natural it feels almost second nature your first time through, and Kameo is a platforming star for this sort of refined gameplay as much as its graphical prowess.
And what delightful visual victuals abound: Thousands of firefly lights jig and jostle through shafts of sunlight; hard steely surfaces gleam like burnished metal; objects ker-splat and ooze viscously—every character and surface is a study in detail and color, though taken to almost hyperbolic extremes. The game is so lavishly colored that at times your eyes seem to sag beneath the strain of absorbing it all. And the Xbox 360 is one powerful piece of hardware, make no mistake. A few sequences render thousands of trolls onscreen, AI-animated individually, as the camera pans and pivots without a hint of slowdown. Compared to anything else, Kameo is a minor visual miracle, hinting at the sort of massive Peter Jackson-styled epics to come.
The big letdown here is game length. Ten elemental warriors times dozens of powers equals too much fantastic potential crammed into roughly 10 hours. The "Wotnot" book ultimately solves every puzzle (if you peek, and you will), reducing most struggles to hand-eye trials. That, and only three lands (plus Thorn's castle) to explore make Kameo a fleeting pleasure, though the Xbox Live achievements and unlockables include dozens of higher-skill-based challenges for the diehard. Rent or purchase, it comes down to whether you like this sort of platforming enough to go through twice (or thrice). You certainly couldn't be blamed for opting to.
My favorite game on the 360 and in general after the holidays, Kameo is far more than easy on the eyes, though I'm still faintly disturbed by images of Chilla flipping screaming trolls onto his be-spiked back.
—Matt
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