A year after the GameCube released in North America, it was let known to the world that Nintendo’s renowned second party developer Rareware had jumped ship to the newcomer Microsoft. Nintendo fans were shocked, Microsoft fans delighted, and the gaming community as a whole stood in awe. What reason did Nintendo have to give up one of the developers that helped its previous console, the N64, stay afloat? After switching sides, it seemed that the Rare acquisition was Nintendo’s crafty way to get rid of a supposed lackluster developer.

Once on Microsoft’s developer list, the European based developer only released two titles in total for the Xbox, one being a mediocre new property aimed at a younger audience (but released on a console with a primarily 18+ userbase), and the other a remake of an N64 game. As time went by, it seemed as though Rare was slipping up in performance, then the Xbox 360 was revealed. After the announcement of the Xbox 360, it seemed as though Rare was back in full swing, quickly unveiling two titles, Kameo and Perfect Dark Zero. Kameo once started out as a Gamecube title, then switched over to Xbox, and finally calls its home the Xbox 360. Does Kameo’s extra long development time make the game a must have in the 360 library, or another in a long list of oft-delayed disasters?

Wanna Be A Pokémon?
If you’ve been in touch with the game since its announcement as a Gamecube title, then you’re well aware that the game’s defining gameplay element is the ability for the central character to take the form of several magical creatures. There are a total of ten different creatures you can become, each with different powers and origin. An example is a plant that can box, or something similar to an oversized abominable snowman. Each of these creatures are used not only as a defensive mechanism to ward off enemies, but also to help you solve puzzles to progress through the game. Unfortunately the balance of character use is uneven, so you will use some creatures more then others. Another aspect is upgrading your creature by going on a quest to find fruits, which are spread around the world. These upgrades aren’t vital to the game’s progression, which makes upgrading more of a personal desire, and not a necessity.

The story is quite predictable, and unimaginative. You start trying to save your family from the clutches of your evil stepsister, Kalus, and a dimwitted giant Troll named Thorn. As you might have guessed, you make a valiant effort, but lose and in the process lose all of your powers. The game then picks up from an Enchanted Kingdom, which is a safe haven for Kameo. Here there is a bustle of activity with shops and normal day to day citizens. However the real action takes place in a place called the Badlands, which Kameo must make her way across several times as she completes various objectives across the kingdom.

Kameo tries to create a massive epic scale experience, and to be honest it falls short. The journey is filled with typical epic features, namely the raging battles. However there is very little hands on interaction with the battles themselves. It seems like you are a bystander in the mist of the war. You watch what goes on, and aside from a few scarce incidents of involvement, you stand idle. To add insult to injury, the game is only around 12 hours long, which makes the 'epic' conflict feel like a schoolyard scuffle.



And the battle begins between the two of these big guys!
The combat system in Kameo is a unique one. When controlling the creatures there are numerous possibilities you can do, but some of them might not be effective, or just plain fun. As I mentioned earlier, upgrading is an option but isn’t a necessity. On the other hand, upgrading does make combat more entertaining. I could only take so much of the used and tired punching/kicking to take down an enemy. With the wide range of creatures you have under your control, it is to your benefit to make the best of their abilities. In addition to the normal fight sequences are also certain battles against Trolls that make you use your brain to come out victorious. An example would be to use a natural danger as a tool to inflict damage on a Troll. Another gameplay technique is the requisite matrix “bullet time” move that has appeared in seemingly every game, regardless of genre, since 1999. While fighting, the game will increase a meter that when filled will slow down the game so you have more then enough time to lay a smack down on an opponent. This allows for a variety of damaging mix-and-match combos between Kameo's various forms that are impossible to pull off with the game running at normal speed.