Kameo

Kameo: elements of power

july 03, 2001 - E³ 2001 rolled around and Rare pulled a rabbit out of its hat. The company had secretly been working on a GameCube project entirely different from anything it had ever done before. Needless to say, many were surprised and intrigued at the kind of gameplay Rare was creating. The famous second-party labeled Kameo: Elements of Power as a role-playing adventure. From what IGNcube saw at E³, it could almost be renamed to Kameo: Elements of Pokémon.

Features

Explore lush 3D landscapes
Gorgeous eye-candy including exquisitely detailed animation, realistic particle effects, volumetric fog, and more
Capture, train, and command up to 60 creatures
Enjoy creature types of Ice, Fire, and other elements
Morph into your creatures or send them into battle
Face enormous beasts in boss battles

Gameplay
Kameo: Elements of Power is a third-person perspective RPG adventure based on the life of a gifted young girl by the same name. Her objective is to search out and rescue six Elemental Children. With her spock-inspired ears and her hoopty-earrings, Kameo looks like a disco-induced Jet Force Gemini character. Her goal is not just saving the world and defeat big bosses, though. She has to capture and raise young creatures, nurturing them into adulthood, then unleash them into battle at her will.

Once Kameo has captured a monster and has let it mature, she is free to either unleash it to attack enemies or morph into the beast herself. When this happens, the camera remains in third person, with the body of the monster becoming translucent around Kameo's body. What's refreshing about this title is the humor. For instance, in one boss level, Kameo is about to fight when the screen changes into versus (a little homage to Street Fighter) intro, packed with profiles of the two at battle, and Kameo mocking her rival by waving her arms like the tentacles of the foe. She points, rolls her eyes and laughs. Very sassy, indeed.

The method Kameo uses to capture the wildlife is done through a round colorful instrument that looks a lot like a Simon Says toy. Players point the tool in the general direction of the unaware creatures, a light then beams forward, and with good aim Kameo is in a battle to catch the creature in a bubble. From there players have to finalize the deal through a somewhat psychedelic-colored vortex that blankets the world in front of Kameo. You use the analog stick to center the bubble in the middle of the vortex. There's some resistance, and it's similar to "reeling" in a fish, but if done right you'll capture the creature for good. To give you an idea of what you just caught, a screen is displayed detailing the type --Ice, Fire, etceteras, height, weight, and name of the young beast. A 3D model of the character spins of above these statistics showing off the current size of the creature and what it will grow into at a later time.

Although most of the beasts involved weren't playable, there were at least four incredibly unique critters for players to access throughout the game. One called Koo, whom later evolves to become called Cling, is a large troll-like animal who has the ability to use his brute force to punch out his enemies, lift large objects, etc. Another critter, who later becomes known as Blaze, looks like a Lucas-inspired-ostrich, who has the ability to catapult fiery bombs at enemies. Other monsters give Kameo the power to propel herself in the sky, jettisoning herself to places she would normally not be able to. And of course what would a great Rare game be without the option of flying? But rest assured, there's a monster for that, too. In fact Rare promises a total 60 beasts in total to search out and train.

Controls
Rare takes the simple path in GameCube's controller. Although only utilizing the standard analog stick and four buttons, Kameo jumps, runs, flies, glides, swims, and few other things yet to be seen with relative ease. The control stick propels Kameo through all types of environments. The motion guides much like that we've seen in previous Rare titles, but you also have the ability to push the camera where you want with the C-stick. The face buttons provide access to a various number of things. The A-button is the action button, and depending on whether your are Kameo or a monster you can jump, hop and fly, among other things. The surrounding buttons --B, X, and Y -- can be set to quickly select certain monster types. It's very similar to the system introduced in Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time. The Z-button can be used to toggle monsters in and out of battle.

Graphics and Technology
From what three levels were playable at E³, the environments were quite vivid with an impressive draw distance, and unlike that last crop of Nintendo games featured no fog and steady framerates. The water effects shown in the "Koo Forest" stage looked much like those found in Rare's other adventure GameCube title Star Fox Adventures: Dinosaur Planet, and are just as pretty to look at. But after seeing the graphics found in Miyamoto's newest pet Pikmin, and the cause and effect the characters play on the blades of grass of the flower beds, we can't help but think Kameo should follow suite. However, there were some fancy effects such as motion blur and heat distortion that caught our eye. Fire-breathing animals distorted the air around their stream of fire, and shadows grew and contracted as monsters jumped at varying heights. Draw distance was also fairly impressive, and textures didn't suffer details as they sprawled out across vast landscapes.

The one strong point Kameo has in particular is its animation system. It is, unbelievably fluid animation that has us drooling for more. In particular the change from Kameo to one creature or another is extremely impressive. She'll be standing upright running forward, and if you change into the "grasshopper" creature, for example, her spinal alignment will seamlessly transform into something fitting for a quadruped. It's something you have to see with your own eyes, really. The transitions are almost flawless. There's no flash of light or thick smoke to hide the morphing process; it all takes place before your eyes.

Outlook
What was shown at E³ was only a very small piece of the game. So small in fact that until you played the entire demo with any success could you grasp what the idea for the gameplay is. Most areas were very limited simply because there was nothing to do in the huge worlds just yet. It's still somewhat of a mystery how things will pan out, but what is especially clear is that collecting monsters and training them for battle in a huge 3D world plays a big part. It's obviously influenced by Pokémon, and that's a very good thing. Everyone who's wanted the chance to roam vast 3D landscapes, catching monsters and fighting huge bosses will be in luck. Just the idea of that alone has huge potential. For that reason the entire IGNcube team and even IGN Overlord Peer Schneider cannot wait to play a more final version. If Kameo: Elements of Power delivers on its premise, it could turn into a mature Pokémon-themed title that takes place in full 3D.

Kameo: Elements of Power is set for release sometime in 2002 -- the sooner, the better.