A pleasant next-generation fantasy adventure romp.

Rare has created a number of great games over the years, but let's be honest, what they're best known for is delays and obscenely long development cycles. Kameo: Elements of Power started out as a GameCube title in 2001, and then jumped to the Xbox when Microsoft Game Studios acquired the company. When the Xbox 360 was announced, so was the decision to move Kameo into the next generation. After nearly 5 years of time, 2 platform changes, and 1 company shift, the game is finally out the door and into the eager hands of Rare fans and Xbox 360 owners. Was all the effort worth it? Overall, I'd have to say yeah, it was.

Seeing as that the Xbox 360 is lacking in the fantasy action/adventure category, Kameo by default is your only outlet if you crave a game in the genre. The story is of course your typical fantasy cliche, complete with elves, trolls, elemental magic, fantastic landscapes, kidnapped family members, and a looming evil power. In a sentence - The future of the world depends on Kameo, who must master her new ability to transform into various warriors and harness their elemental powers to save her family from Thorn, the evil troll king. It's all you need to know.

Kameo is a gorgeous game, and one that looks excellent both on a standard definition TV and an HDTV. But, as compared to the original Xbox version (Click Here for a great example), there's not as much of an apparent improvement. The Xbox original was definitely no slouch in the graphics department, and was probably one of the best looking games in development before it was canned. The Xbox 360 version runs at a higher resolution, has much better lighting, increased polygon counts, and particle effects up the wazoo, but the underlying structure remains essentially the same. It's difficult to hold that tidbit of information against the game, since it really is among the most eye candy-filled Xbox 360 launch titles available. From the lush grassy meadows, to the gloomy reflective stone structures, the world of Kameo is a sight to behold. The sheer amount of animation and detail in the environments are staggering, with particles such as dust motes, pollen, and fiery sparks almost always filling the screen. Xbox 360 shader and lighting routines are also in full effect, with a number of surfaces featuring the infamous shiny/slimy/wet appearance. With so much going on, you could almost say the game looks gaudy. When every Xbox 360 game starts featuring the same effects over and over, that'll probably be the case, but for now, I'd still consider it attractive. By themselves, the character models are not very much beyond current generation quality, though at times the sheer amount of them on-screen (during the occasional large elf/troll battle) is impressive. The fur shading, as was seen previously in Conker and Star Fox Adventures, is always pleasing to the eye as well. There are instances where you can pick out some low resolution and repeating texture patterns, but visually, the good far outweighs the bad. On the other hand, if you've always hated Rare's style, you'll absolutely have no love for Kameo.

Without even playing the game you probably could imagine exactly what Kameo's soundtrack would sound like. The orchestrated score is sweeping and dramatic, not unlike most of what you'd hear in The Lord of the Rings trilogy. The voice acting is well above average, though some of the accents and lines come across as unintentionally funny. Some of the sound effects, such as those that take place in the large battles, and the screeching shadow trolls, seem to be heavily inspired by LoTR.

Gameplay is where Kameo attempts to do something dramatically different. Kameo herself has next to no moves; she can jump, hover and perform one simple attack, and everything is accomplished with the use of the 2 triggers. The rest of the work is done by morphing into one of ten elemental powers. After the prologue, you slowly build up your arsenal of friendly warriors, thus developing more and more abilities and opening the path to your next important task. For example, Pummelweed is a boxing flower who can attack trolls with jabs and uppercuts, squeeze under gates, and flip over items on the ground. Thermite is a termite with a super explosive egg which can fire bombs in every direction and roll along the landscape. And Major Ruin is a spiky armored armadillo who can launch off of ramps, and bowl through hoards of trolls. There are 10 powers in total, and all of them are needed in certain instances. Once rescued, you can morph into any of the warriors as much as you wish, by pressing the face button assigned to that particular power (which can be customized), or holding any face button and scrolling through the list of them. Besides beating up on various enemy trolls, and navigating structures specific to a particular elemental power, there are a number of obstacles which require you use a combo of two or more warriors. A good example would be launching off a ramp with Major Ruin, and switching to Chilla in mid-air, to then grip and climb an icy wall. The idea is great, and works nicely the few times it is needed, but the problem is it really doesn't go anywhere. At one point in the game, besides the need to grab onto an object or blow up some structure, there aren't many interesting interactions or combos required. Some of the warriors are literally only needed 2 or 3 times in the entire game, though there's nothing stopping you from using them more often. The game also makes a big deal about rare "elemental fruit" items, which are used to unlock new and improved abilities for your warriors. These abilities are largely useless, and you should have no problem making it to the end of the game without even bothering to use them. For whatever reason, I literally waited until the very last quest to upgrade all my elements, and it proved to be not a problem at all.

If you stick with the quest and push along the story, Kameo should only last about 10 - 12 hours. Each of the 4 or 5 villages you visit has a few minor side-quests, but the rewards make them not even really worth it. The quests themselves are pretty straightforward, but for the puzzles which may have you stumped, the game offers a dynamic help option (which can be turned off), which literally tells you exactly how to proceed in order to move on. There are a few majorly spectacular pattern-based boss battles, and they are all somewhat on the easy side; the final boss fight included. At any time in the game, you can also backtrack with your new abilities to collect coins which are used for buying items, track down alternate "looks" for your warriors, or find more elemental fruit. Beating a stage makes it available for co-op play, which is unfortunately not playable over Xbox Live (yet). You can also choose to play through the quests again, in a timed mode, in an effort to be ranked on the XBL Leaderboards or unlock achievements. Being a fan of "short but sweet" games, Kameo is the perfect length for someone like me, though others who expect at least 20 hours worth of gameplay out of their games may be left hanging.

Despite its more humble origins, Kameo: Elements of Power is among the best audio/visual showpieces for your Xbox 360 at the moment. The gameplay isn't as deep as expected and most average gamers will have no problem cruising through the entire game in a few short days. Regardless, the colorful, lush visuals, dramatic soundtrack and variety filled gameplay should provide a pleasant next-generation fantasy romp for most gamers.