Kameo Elements of Power Review (Xbox 360) By Mushu1942

9 / 10
11 Oct 2006 at 03:17

Review by: Mushu1942

I was one of those sad people that bought the 360 on the first day it was released. I did this for two reasons; the first was that I had seen lots of great screenshots from up and coming titles, the second being the fact that I collect consoles. Unfortunately, the problem with being one of the afore mentioned type of people is the fact that there are limited titles for a while. The main effect that this had, was the fact that I started buying games I would never have bought otherwise.
Kameo: Elements of power was one such game.
This game struck a chord with me very quickly and I knew I was going to like it from the moment I started playing it. The story is pretty original. You basically take on the role of Kameo, a fairy who has to rescue her family from the clutches of an evil troll king. This is achieved by freeing the various elemental creatures that are being kept hostage by a special breed of troll called shadow trolls. Sounds bizarre but you soon get used to the idea.
The graphics on this game are simply stunning. The makers have gone all out to add as much attention to detail as possible. Landscapes stretch of into the horizon, each individual blade of grass moves independently, lakes and streams ripple, stuff like that. The action packed cut scenes do well in keeping you up to date with what’s going on without falling into the trap of being boring. Short and sweet, you could say.
As you make your way through the game, you unlock more and more elemental creatures. You can then assume the bodies and abilities of these creatures to help you navigate previously unreachable areas. The creatures you can unlock are based roughly on different elements. (Stone, fire, water, ice, earth) Each creature has different abilities, for instance, the ability to swim underwater can help you move toward the end of the level. The free roaming way the game is set up means you may well find yourself visiting earlier levels because new found abilities will help you go somewhere else.
You would think that with all of these characters and abilities floating around, the controls might be a bit of a handful. I don’t know how they’ve done it, but that’s not the case. I found myself quickly adapting and learning the controls for each of the creatures. The only problem I had was controlling the creatures underwater. (That may just be user incompetence though.)
The levels are not your normal type of levels. Being set in a fairy realm you wouldn’t really expect them to be. You find yourself in creepy forests, sunny beaches, icy mountains, caves, castles and even airships! The diversity of the levels is the perfect opportunity to show off the afore mentioned graphics.
The enemy’s themselves are quite good fun too. You find yourself pitted against the troll hordes mainly, throughout the game they keep coming up with more ingenious and devious ways of making your life difficult while being slightly dumb and comical. One of the best things about this game is when travelling from level to level, there are literally hundreds of trolls engaged in all out war with the fairy folk. I lost track of how much time I spent riding an enormous horse through the middle of them all sending them sprawling all over the place.
The multitude of bosses are as far fetched and colourful as the levels are and each one is a puzzle in itself. First you need to work out which creature’s identity you should assume. Then you need to work out how to harm it. Then you need to deploy a bit of skill in order to kill it.
This is a great game, full of surprises and challenges and the most unlockable content I’ve seen in a long time. Loads of secrets, great graphics, fantastic levels and storyline and an easy control system make this one of the best games I’ve played in a long time which is quite embarrassing because twenty seven year old blokes are not supposed to like fairies and trolls. Still, never mind, now where’s my cross-stitch?

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