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Down into the dungeon you will fall
That Kameo flows from one level to the next so smoothly is what makes its one bad note all that much more apparent. The ten total elemental forms are a joy to play around with, but during the game you'll have to reclaim them Metroid-style to rebuild your original strength. To get an elemental form back you have to chase down a "shadow troll" and battle through the same frustrating mini-boss fight.
What's worse these shadow trolls must be fought without the use of any of your elemental forms, by herself, Kameo is a piss-poor excuse for a fighter. You end up battling with bats flying all around you, colors flashing, and white demons that often grab you quicker than you can flip-kick them all while trying to line up an ranged attack with a moving enemy that you often can't clearly see. Then to top it off, each and everyone one of these sequences plays out in the same demonic courtyard. It adds up to feeling like Rare took one of the worst parts of the game and tacked more of it on to artificially lengthen the gameplay.
Speaking frankly of length, Kameo is a short game, but it feels like just the right length. What bothered me more than how long the journey took was how small the world felt. Each section, save for the battlegrounds, felt like a series of large rooms. That many sequences – such as the shadow troll chases – take place in very similar situations and surroundings only furthers this feeling that the game world is a tiny place.
The only epic part of your adventure takes place out on the big battlegrounds. You might have seen videos of this what with the thousands of trolls and elves. Personally my reaction was "so what." Yeah, there's a lot characters on screen, but you rarely get involved in the actual "war" itself save for a few highly scripted sequences that take less than five minuets to complete. Yes, riding around on a horse is fun, but sadly you only get to use the four legged companion to travel from one side of the battlefield to the other.
After finally defeating the big bad evil overload troll, who was of course three times the size of a normal troll just so you know he's bad news, by pounding the attack button over and over… and over… and over… and over… the game finally came to a rather strange end. There are several plot threads left unresolved, and a couple introduced at the last minuet with no follow up. I won't discuss them here, but if this and Perfect Dark Zero are any indication of the quality of storytelling we're going to be seeing from Rare this generation one can only hope they start to craft truly great gameplay scenarios.
The summation part begins here
In the end Kameo turned out to be a nice little game. Yes, it does get more than a little formulaic in how it plays out, but like Halo 2 the game pulls you along for the ride regardless. It would almost be a challenge not to finish this game. Despite being short, around or under ten hours, there is a healthy dose of replay value with stage challenges and split-screen co-op. If you're looking for something that isn't a first-person shooter or a racing game then this is your game. However, you'll want to just rent your visit to the world of Kameo.
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