Kameo: Elements of Power has been a long while coming. Originally slated as a Gamecube title, the project was moved over to Xbox with Microsoft's acquisition of Rare and later to Xbox 360 as a prospective launch title for their new console. Kameo blends elements of classic action-adventures and platformers, most notably the Zelda and Metroid series, to create an ambitious, and sometimes beautiful, game marred by missteps.

You play as Kameo, an elf/fairy princess who's been granted the ability to transform herself into various creatures, each with its own unique strengths. You are tasked with rescuing your family from your wicked sister Kalus and the enormous troll-king Thorn thereby restoring order to the Enchanted Kingdom.

The game has a split-personality of sorts; based on the above description and the overly comical character designs, you would think the game was targeted towards an “E for Everyone” audience, but the scale and look of the world is clearly inherited from more adult fantasy like The Lord of the Rings series, better suited for the T audience the title is rated for.

 LA Face
While many of the character designs are, let’s say, unattractive, the environments are often lush and beautiful. One could actually complain they are sometimes too busy. The beauty can feel exaggerated by an abundance of stimuli: bright colors, the depth and richness of the normal-mapped textures, and an enormous level of detail creating an experience that was sometimes overwhelming. Make no mistake though, this game looks next-gen.

The character designs are not as successful, ranging from colorful and memorable characters like Kameo herself, to comically insipid ones like the boxing plant, cleverly dubbed “Pummelweed” or the ice-monster named “40-Below.” There are so many characters that make you roll your eyes back, it’s surprising when you find one that doesn’t. Some of these characters would seem more at home in a G-rated video geared to a far younger demographic than this game is aimed at.

Another graphical liability is effects. With a new developer’s toolbox full of hammers, everything becomes a nail. Once you get over the initial wow factor some elements start to grate. You heard it here first: reflectivity is the new lens-flare. With the reflective surfaces, many objects and characters are given a plastic appearance that only reinforces their artificiality. Another gimmick is when something slimy explodes your screen gets splattered; while the effect is impressive, it is greatly distracting. It could be a textbook example of how to remove any sense of immersion you’ve achieved thus far.

Oakland Booty
The gameplay borrows much from titles like The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask and its transforming mask mechanic, and the Metroid series where you acquire new skills granting you the ability to conquer new challenges. There are many characters whose use is limited to solving several specific puzzles, while other more well rounded characters will be used constantly. Solving these puzzles is one of the greatest successes of the title. There weren’t many that resulted in those gratifying “Eureka” moments, but there were enough to be engaging.

The greatest failure of the title is the often clumsy and frustrating control system. This extends from some of the gameplay challenges, like a certain boss fight, that require near superhuman feats of control, a problem compounded by an inscrutable decision to map the action buttons to the shoulder triggers, and use the four face buttons to choose characters. The control mechanics would have benefited greatly from a Z-targeting system, similar to Zelda or Metroid. The title borrows so much from these two franchises that the absence of Z-targeting is puzzling.

Whole characters exhibit egregious control issues of their own. The underwater character Deep Blue controls like a submarine, where you control the thrust separately and just steer him around. While this might sound simple, the implementation is clumsy and frustrating mostly due to the aforementioned button mapping. When you are switching characters quickly changing control schemes so abruptly can be jarring. Luckily, there are few scenes that he is required in.

Sounds Good
The production on the entire title is top-notch regardless of how successful the implementation might be and the sound is no exception. Unlike much of the game, the sound is not only technically superlative but also succeeds aesthetically. The orchestral score provides a great backdrop and is as responsible as any other element for the title’s epic feel. Sound effects are sharp and clearly drawn, while the voice acting is above average for a video game. Some characters were pitch perfect, helping to sell the story and create a memorable experience.

The co-op multiplayer mode suffered from a combination of poor camera implementation, a common malady in split-screen titles, and a general lack of purpose. You cannot play through the story cooperatively; instead you can play on one of the games battlefields, but without so much as different player models, this mode seems like an afterthought and little more.

Kameo: Elements of Power is a great advertisement for the power of the Xbox 360. The title is full of ambition and potential yet never manages to distinguish itself. There is a relatively straight forward, 10-15 hour action-adventure game wrapped up in there somewhere, and it has some gratifying moments but there are far too many shortcomings to give this game more than a middling recommendation.

Overall Rating: 7.5/10