Kameo: Elements of Power

So the deal is done, but what are the results? Rare's first Xbox title is shaping up extremely nicely - read our preview to find out why.

	Version Xbox	Developer Rare	Publisher Microsoft	Genre RPG

By John Gold

Rare's first title for the Xbox is an atmospheric, imaginative and very inventive adventure, combining the excitement of exploration, the satisfaction of problem solving and the heady rush of real-time 3D battles.

Played from a third person perspective, this promising RPG sees the player takes on the role of Kameo, a fairy princess who's on a quest to rescue her Elemental Ancestors, held captive by Dark King Thorn. Although gifted, she cannot accomplish this by herself and has to enlist help, in the form of the many and varied beasts that populate her homeworld.

These creatures have to be captured when young, then trained and controlled as they mature. Like any skill, Kameos become more effective with practice and experience and graduates from the control of baby monsters with limited abilities, to hugely powerful titans.

Each creature, regardless of size and ability, falls into one of six elemental categories - Fire, Water, Wind, Plant, Ice and Rock - and each has its own role to play in battle against Thorn's elementally enhanced troops - and in opening up areas of Kameo's world that would otherwise be inaccessible to her.

Kameo can command 'her' monsters in battle, or can actually 'become' the monster, still visible inside its body, and able to take advantage of that particular creature's individual skills. Fancy climbing sheer walls like a lizard, or flying over hazardous terrain? No problem. Consequently, it's obviously in Kameo's best interests to seek diversity in her collection, as dragon-with-attitude sidekick, Meepo will be sure to remind her when he joins her on her travels. In fact Meepo will play an essential role in the initial capture of those baby monsters...

The player can also control the camera, fully rotating it around Kameo, allowing full inspection of the idyllic game environment. Which leads us neatly onto the graphics.

Graphically, Kameo is nothing short of stunning. The breathtaking 3D landscapes are vast, and competently rendered. The creatures are impressively animated, all displaying different characteristics and movement. The larger, heavier beasts sway realistically from side to side, as they lumber along - it's some of the most beautiful animation we've ever seen.

In our interview, Chris Stamper, co-founder of Rareware, explained, "The Kameo demo took us two and half week to put together. We're just amazed by how easy that was and we just feel now that we're going to have far more time to actually focus on the game, rather than worry about the underlying technology."

The animation also helps the controls make the action to move quick and intuitive, as simple controls and top animation, make changing from, say, running to jumping to climbing, fluid and keep the action flowing smoothly.

As you would expect from Rare, the special effects are outstanding - lovely, psychedelic effects when beasts are captured, ethereal shimmering, smooth morphing and transparency effects when Kameo inhabits a creature's body, heat haze surrounding flames when monsters breathe fire, superb water effects and realistic fog, to name but a few.

As the game is still some way off completion, with only the year 2003 cited for release, it's hard to say how the gameplay will pan out, but given the amount of thought and detail we've seen put into this project so far, do not be surprised if Kameo: Elements of Power, though ambitious, turns out to be one of the strongest hits of 2003.