E3 2004: Kameo Hands-On, Screens, Videos

Rare's much delayed adventure was playable again this year - looking and playing much better than before.

Update: Video coverage added.

Microsoft and Rare's long delayed Kameo was playable again at this year's E3 show. However, this time around, the game was visibly polished and sports some beautiful, solid demo levels. After all, last year's demo was after only 6 months of development time on Xbox.

You play as Kameo, a young elf who has been cursed by an evil king who threatens the world she lives in. With her ability to change into various creatures, she plays an important role in the coming war. The direction of the game is a healthy mix of combat and action adventure - as well as using Kameo to explore the world and complete various puzzles, there are heavy combat sections which are very well realised and extremely enjoyable.

The E3 2004 build had three creatures available for Kameo to morth into, a giant ice gorilla with ice spikes in his back which he can use to harpoon enemies, a boxing plant creature who literally punches the crap out of enemies and can also go underneath the ground to uppercut enemies and objects, and an armadillo who can spin into a ball and travel up half-pipes Metroid style. Kameo is much faster than the creatures and can hover above the ground using her wings, Kameo can morth into creatures assigned to the B, X and Y buttons and you can morth back to Kameo using the A button.

Each creature is very unique, I was shown a moving pile of rubble which can throw rocks, an ice creature that moves on a wheel throwing ice rocks to freeze enemies, and a stretching creature who stretches to slap and kick enemies. A lot of the game involves clever switching of creatures to move ahead, in the demo I had to use the armadillo creature to launch myself into a wall of ice and then quickly switch to the ice gorilla to grab onto the ice and climb up the side of a tower, there were also plenty of puzzles involving half pipes and jumps to use the armadillo on.

The move to the Xbox has inspired a change of art direction, the game is now has a less cartoon style and has more of a dark edgy fairy tale thing going on and lots of quirky animated violence thrown in. The game has some absolutely stunning texture work and bump mapping use; the bosses are particularly impressive and well animated.

Kameo's combat system is fantastic, using the boxing plant creature you can use L an R buttons to punch with his left and right hands and you can use both the triggers together to go underneath the ground and uppercut enemies. The coolest thing about the combat system is the focus meter, when you start chaining together some combos and you fill your focus meter the game will go into slow motion and you can juggle enemies in the air and take on entire hoards of enemies without getting hit once.

The game also has a great points system. You get points for defeating enemies but if you go on a long streak without getting hit you'll get multiplier bonuses for insane points. Also new to the game are "brutal kills" which occur when you knock enemies off a cliff edge or onto some spikes.

The boss enemies were very impressive, we battled a giant tree which shot vines along the ground and shook trolls out of its branches, as well as a massive ice insect with scores of green eyes which you need to knock out and then destroy individually.

Kameo was a massive surprise and I really enjoyed it. This game is now right at the top of my most wanted list and I urge you all to try it when it's released, because it's the best game to come from Rare since Conker's Bad Fur Day.

Andy Robinson
Staff Writer, Kikizo.com