Soon after Microsoft acquired Rare in 2002 the gaming press learned of Kameo, an action platformer for the Microsoft Xbox. The game revolves around a pixy-like character named, you guessed it - Kameo - and her abilities to shift into the shapes of many unique creatures to fight off baddies and traverse difficult terrain. I first spied Kameo next to Rare’s other (and ironically, now only) Xbox game Grabbed By The Ghoulies at E3 in 2003. At the time it was a real looker, but didn’t have much to offer in terms of gameplay (ie. the demo was limited and dull). Since then, Kameo has shown up at last year’s E3 in 2004 and then finally this year in 2005. And the good news is, it’s finally nearing completion... and heading to the Xbox 360.

In a dark corner of Microsoft’s booth at E3 ’05 was Kameo, running on two glorious HD widescreen flat-panel monitors, in all of it’s newfound 720p glory. While already a beautiful looking title for the original Xbox, the wizards at Rare have managed to turn this into THIS in a relatively short amount of time. Check out these pics (1,2) for even better split-screen direct comparison pics. Awesome stuff.

Not only do the graphics look stunning in stills, the amount of on-screen animation capable of being pulled off on Microsoft’s new 360 simply needs to be seen to be believed. Lucky for you we managed to grab a few minutes of decent quality video with one hand while wiping the drool off our chins with our other free hand.

Click the links below to check out each of our four exlusive Gamersmark videos of Kameo: Elements of Power, once again being graciously hosted by our friends at www.xboxyde.com.

CLICK HERE TO GO TO VIDEO 1 DOWNLOAD PAGE
CLICK HERE TO GO TO VIDEO 2 DOWNLOAD PAGE
CLICK HERE TO GO TO VIDEO 3 DOWNLOAD PAGE
CLICK HERE TO GO TO VIDEO 4 DOWNLOAD PAGE

The most impressive part of the Kameo demonstration had to have been the sheer number of characters in the battlefield. The demo began with 1,000 trolls battling along a grassy hillside, with Kameo herself charging in on horseback swinging wilding from side to side, swiping at a seemingly never-ending sea of enemies. And just when you thought things couldn’t get any crazier on-screen, it did, as the Rare demonstrator adds 1,000 elves to battle the trolls. And as impressive as that is in itself to have literally thousands of characters on-screen, it gets even nuttier when he tells us that each character in the battlefield has it’s own unique AI, a fact that even days later I’m not quite able to wrap my head around.

Whether or not Kameo: Elements of Power offers the gameplay to back up it’s stunning visuals remains to be seen, but knowing Rare’s track record we can probably safely assume that it will be a masterpiece. Expect to see it on store shelves in the fourth quarter of 2005, barring another delay - yeah I’m looking at you Rare.