Kameo: Elements of Power Impressions

Let's get the ugly stuff out of the way first: Kameo has been in the works for a long time, and it's still a way's off; the game won't ship until early next year.

OK, that's all the ugly stuff. We saw the game behind closed doors at Microsoft's quadrant of the Electronic Entertainment Expo, and we came away quite impressed with this unique-looking action adventure game. In the game, players will assume the role of Kameo, a fairylike character whose job it will be to thwart her evil sister's jealous plans. Basically, Kameo's world gets overridden with trolls, and though the sprightly lass doesn't seem capable of holding her own against these brutish thugs, she'll fortunately be able to instantly transform into a variety of elementally imbued, powerful creatures by means of which she can single-handedly abolish the threat. If you're familiar with Rare's earlier works, then you'll undoubtedly notice the overall level of wit throughout the game. During the demo, we found a number of genuinely amusing moments in different examples of gameplay and a variety of environments that involved Kameo.

Kameo's main ability is to instantly shape-shift into different forms. We saw creatures like a fire-breathing dragon, a pile of rocks, a Sasquatch-looking thing, an ice creature that rolled around on a spherical base, a Venus flytrap type of angry vegetable critter, and something that resembled a cross between an anteater and a pill bug. Each of these interesting creatures has its own unique talents. For instance, the pill bug can barrel headlong into foes, crushing into them like a boulder. The bad guys then get stuck on the bug's spines where they endure more punishment. The Venus flytrap can burrow underground, or it can punch the stuffing out of its foes until it enters a sort of Max Payne-style slow-motion state. Then we saw Kameo switch to the Sasquatch and hurl some deadly icicles at the opponents who she then knocked into midair; all of this occurred in dramatic slow motion. Using the various forms, four of which can be readied at one time and are available at the touch of a button, it should be possible to create some unique and interesting combo moves.

The shape-shifting will also figure into the puzzle-solving and exploration. We watched as Kameo first shifted to the pill bug to launch herself across a gap, and then she switched to the Sasquatch in midair to grab onto an icy ledge. We also got a chance to see examples of how the environments are highly interactive, such as when the Sasquatch tossed an icicle at a chandelier, causing it to crash down on some trolls, or when Kameo kicked over a conveniently placed barrel of lava.

We also got to see some very cool bosses. One, a midboss, was a heavily armored troll. Uppercutting him in plant form caused him to expose his vulnerable neck, at which point some icicles could give this good-for-nothing a seriously sore throat. Another boss was a giant, maniacal tree (complete with an ugly face), which would shake trolls out of its branches for reinforcements and try to overpower Kameo with its roots. Tossing rocks into its mouth while it laughed maniacally caused the tree to choke, which made it vulnerable to additional attacks. Another boss we saw was this huge ice beetle, which attacked aggressively and whose only weak points were its multiple eyes. The enemy design and overall visual style of Kameo looked very good, and the cleverly designed gameplay mechanics seemed like they will create a lot of opportunity for interesting, open-ended level design. The game should be fairly big, too, with nearly 30 levels overall.

We hope to bring you more details on Kameo soon, so stay tuned for additional information on Rare's second Xbox game.