Kameo

If you have picked up an Xbox 360 this christmas, then you will know that Kameo is one of the games that gets a lot to talk going around about it, and this is why.

Gameplay
When you first look at Kameo you may think "Oh, its just another platform game for the kids" well, you are completely wrong. Kameo's unique gameplay offers people of all ages both fun and a challenge. The game starts you off on a pretty intense first level, with no training levels or anything like that, so straight away the game is challenging you to think about what you need to do and how top do it. However as soon as this level is over the game then starts to teach you all the basics, well what's the point in that? You just performed lots of complex moves in the starting level, so basically it just teaches you what you already know. Kameo is an elf, she does however posses some rather special powers, she has the ability to transform into a wide variety of creatures and monsters, known as "Elemental Warriors". Each elemental warrior has its own unique powers, from a boxing plant to an octopus type creature. Each of these give you varied gameplay, and it makes you think about which one you need to use to get past a particular puzzle. Beside playing through the game on your own there is a co-op mode, at the moment there is only offline co-op where two people use the same machine to play it, which while is fun could have been greatly improved as you can easily tell that the game was not designed for two people to be on it. In the near future the developers will be releasing a patch through Xbox Live that will allow you to play co-op over the internet, which is supposed to be a great experience, so this could be another strong point for the game.

Graphics
If you are in possession of a HDTV then you will be blown away by Kameo, well even if you have a normal SDTV you will still be blown away, just maybe not out the window. Kameo has some beautiful graphics, some of the best seen in any games on any platform. The characters are truly well detailed, even when there are over one thousand enemies on the screen they are all rendered perfectly with not a polygon out of place. Kameo does however exceed most games in its scenery, each and every object you look at in the world, be it a table or a mountain is as detailed as you could hope it to be. Even though Kameo is done in a sort of cartoon style, it does it in a way that will just amaze you. Trust me, there are only a few words that can describe how good it looks, and they are not in my vocabulary.

Sound
The voice acting in the game is superb, the voices match the characters in every way they should. The sound effects are also great, from an exploding plane to the wind blowing through the trees, if you have surround sound, it will truly feel and sound like you are there. A big plus for the game.

Longevity
Playing the game through just for the story will only get you about ten hours of gameplay out of it. However there are a number of minigames and many secrets to find, which will take up at least another three or for hours of gameplay. If that was not enough there is the incredibly hard challenge of getting Rank A on all the levels to unlock even more secrets. Now that may seem like a lot to do, but there is more. I know its a lot to take in but bear with me for two minutes. There is also a co-op mode and a soon to be online co-op mode that will take you about another six or seven hours to complete.

Price
Kameo: Elements Of Power can be pick up for around £45.00 from any local electronic shop and is well worth the price.