Kameo: Elements of Power (Pre-E3 2005)

Rare is a developer I have always been fond of. Throughout the years, they have made some of the best Nintendo games going all the way back to Battletoads on the NES. I was shocked when Microsoft bought out Rare and Nintendo let them depart so quickly. Sure the developer could be a little slow releasing titles but they were always good, right? Their first Xbox title was Grabbed by the Ghoulies and it was not a favorite among reviewers. I personally enjoyed the title but I am in the minority. Since then, Rare has not released another game.

Rare has had many titles in the works. Perfect Dark Zero has been rumored to have been in development for several years and Kameo: Elements of Power was scheduled to be a Nintendo GameCube launch title. Last year Rare showed off a nearly finished Kameo with all new gameplay and a release date later that fall. Sure enough, the game never came out and was delayed for no reason. We were told that Rare was redoing the gameplay all over again. However, it appears that they were readying this title for the Xbox 360.

The biggest improvement seen in the X360 version are the graphics. The main character looks simply gorgeous and the level of detail is stunning. You can even see individual blades of grass blowing in the wind!

As seen in Ninety Nine Nights, the Xbox 360 can display just about as many characters on screen as you could imagine. In the demo shown of Kameo, they show a scene where she is on horseback with another character riding beside her. What first seems like a few orcs chasing them soon turns out to be more than you can count. Hundreds and hundres are there–each with incredible detail.

It would have been nice to have Kameo at the launch of the GameCube or on the Xbox. But the game just looks and plays so well now. Rare has continued to refine and tweak the gameplay during the delays and it appears that this could be the start of a great new franchise.

Microsoft has already confirmed that Kameo: Elements of Power will be ready for the launch of Xbox 360. However, as we have seen with the launch of the PSP, the launch window is not just the first day the console is released. Despite the lack of a date, we should actually see Kameo on the Xbox 360 before Christmas.

Hopefully the rumors of hell freezing over before Kameo releases weren’t true.