In the third-person action-adventure game Kameo (pronounced "cameo"[2]), the player controls the titular character, an elf who sabotages her sister before her coronation to take the crown and the Elemental Powers that come with it. This causes her sister Kalus to free the troll King Thorn and form an alliance to take back her crown and the remaining elemental sprites. Kameo uses elemental powers to transform into creatures with different abilities, which she switches between to solve puzzles and advance through the in-game world.[3][4] The player controls the player-character with the left analog stick, the game's camera view with the right thumbstick, and the character attacks and abilities with the controller's triggers. The Xbox 360 controller's face buttons swap between three active, elemental powers.[4]
This screenshot of Kameo in the game's overworld typifies the bright color palette for which it was known.
These ten "elemental warriors"[5] include a fire-breathing creature who lights torches, a gorilla who climbs walls and throws foes, and a plant who punches opponents.[4] There are two each of five element types (fire, ice, plant, rock, water).[6] Some enemies have specific weaknesses and can only be affected by specific elemental powers or hazards in the environment.[7] The game is structured such that new character abilities unlock just as their benefits are needed to solve a puzzle.[4] Thus the game's puzzles depend on combat more than logic.[5] Each of the elemental forms has several ability upgrades,[8] which the player can redeem by collecting and delivering fruit to a sacred tome called the Wotnot book.[4] The Kameo character, herself, can move faster than the elemental warriors but has no special ability apart from breaking crates.[7]
The game begins as Kameo advances through a castle—with the help of three elemental powers—to rescue her family. As the tutorial prologue ends, Kameo loses her elemental powers and is ejected from the castle into the Enchanted Kingdom to grow stronger and try again. Kameo travels through four themed worlds (water, ice, fire, and swamp) at the outskirts of the Badlands, the overworld that connects the areas. Each of the worlds are interspersed with townsfolk[3] and combat-oriented puzzles.[5] Kameo can either travel to the worlds through the Badlands, where the elves and trolls skirmish, or warp from the Enchanted Kingdom.[3] A help system built into the game provides hints or direct solutions for struggling players.[7] Throughout the kingdom, Kameo finds and defeats the seven shadow creatures each guarding one of her elemental powers, while saving her family earning the other 3.[4]
The player can slow time by landing successive hits and kills on enemies to fill an on-screen meter.[7] The player can return to levels to attempt a higher score.[7] The game's action sequences, more than half of the game, require the player to defeat groups of enemies before proceeding to the next room, and ultimately leading to a boss battle.[5] Kameo has a two-player, split-screen cooperative gameplay mode in which players can fight alongside each other during the action scenes.[5] Rare added support for online cooperative play (via Xbox Live or System Link) as a downloadable patch following the game's release.[9]
