Loved it too! It's certianly not the best game on the 360 by any stretch of the imaginination, but it's a really good time from start to finish. Not many games like it anymore.
4:48 Okay since the lore wasn't included here, I'm going to fill the gaps and these are from official sources: A lot of things inside the game (from rushed development) and from fans, make it out that Kalus threw a tantrum, when it couldn't be further from the truth. Now, if you haven't played and don't want to be spoiled, don't click read more. I wish they had put this into the game because it changes just about everything. Also all of this lore's sources can be found on our discord server, Kameo: The New Fandom: discord.gg/HJCtxsb So when Solon was alive, he was still the only parent showing Kalus any affection, as the only time Theena has been showed to show her affection or positive attention, is in a flashback from Solon when he's dying. He sends the sprites off to take infant Kameo to the Enchanted Kingdom after he is fatally wounded and casts the ultimate curse on Thorn to turn him to stone, before his existence fades away, drained by the spell. Kalus is 3 years old when this happens, and when Kameo and the sprite appear (in the manga they dump her in the garden, while in the podcast and game, they carry her there and cause Kalus to scream in fright) in the castle, Theena makes the conclusion that Solon has been killed. In her grief, she clutches this baby and ignores her daughter. Theena smiles at this infant, names her Kameo and adopts her, telling Kalus to be kind to her and to keep the fact that she's an orphan a secret, before the servants literally drag 3 year old Kalus away to lessons to study to become Queen, while Theena plays with baby Kameo and ignores Kalus' please to spend time with her own mother. Time skip to Kalus being nearly 5 years old while Kameo is 2. Kameo is shown playing in a garden and runs up to Theena who smiles and shows her affection. 4 year old Kalus is seen walking in the background, again being dragged off to another lesson, immediately after finishing one. Theena sees Kalus, stops smiling and just stares at her sadly while Kameo runs over and gives her a flower. Kalus smiles sweetly and waits until Kameo leaves before burning the flower, being angry that since Kameo showed up, Theena, her own mother, has pushed her away and has favored an orphan over her own daughter. We are also shown that every single night Theena read Kameo a bedtime story but doesn't do the same for Kalus. This 2 year gap of Theena pushing Kalus away and playing favourites with Kameo has made this 4 year old child feel miserable and build up a wall around herself. Skip to the journals from the official website which describe events leading up to the game. There are two journals, one belonging to Kalus while the other is Kameo's. It is highly recommended to read Kalus' journal first before Kameos but I will summarize otherwise we'll be here all day: Kalus is preparing for the ceremony in a weeks time, during this she has repeatedly approached her mother, Queen Theena and asked her what to expect for the ceremony and repeatedly Theena either brushes her off or finds something else to do. In both journals, we see Theena make time for Kameo but not Kalus, especially when she really needs her, not just as her mother but as the next heir and Queen, in both regards Theena shirks off her responsibilities. Growing more terrified, stressed and unsure, Kalus decides to take matters into her own hands and train and teach herself and makes a list, one of them being to find an important/good job for Kameo. She comments how they haven't been close in years but considers making Kameo her royal adviser to replace the Goblin adviser Seraph. In Kameo's journal, she wonders what she would do once Kalus is Queen and even considers asking Theena to make Kalus make her, her royal adviser, showing that she is aware Theena is playing favourites between the two of them. Kameo also notices that Kalus is under a lot of stress and responsibility and how often their entire family looks at Kalus with disappointment whenever she struggles. On a certain date, tensions get high and there is an interview where they interview Kameo first, and this upsets Kalus that Kameo has stolen the spot light for everything, including the one thing she's been working towards her whole life and the single thing her father left behind for her. Things continue until they have a fight in a room where the Element of Power is kept. Kameo wonders inside and picks up the element of power, cleaning and checking on it, even though she knows she's not allowed to touch it. Kalus walks in a yells what Kameo is doing, and Kameo knows she's mad and scared and she tries to shove Kameo away from the element but Kameo steps back and Kalus bumps into the stand, knocking it to the floor with a loud crash as the element skids across the floor, causing Kalus to scream in fright and both of them freeze. Theena rushes in, yells at both of them but immediately focuses on Kalus, grabbing her arm really hard, yelling at Kalus that she's irresponsible and how she feels she cannot trust her. She looks so angry, Kameo thinks that Theena might have hit Kalus but she doesn't. Theena refuses to listen or give either a chance to explain and sends both of them to their rooms, having to tell them twice due to their shock. In the hallway, Kalus glares at Kameo before bursting into tears and flying to her room, slamming the door, spending the entire night crying and wondering if Theena ever loved her. This is not the first time Kalus has written in her journal wondering if her mother ever loved her. The day afterwards, Theena is still in a rage and talking/yelling with the ancestors. Lenya brings Kameo her dinner (it's not know if anyone brought Kalus anything, as Kameo comments that Kalus didn't leave her entire room for a whole day, implying she was either denied food or she starved herself) and tells Lenya that it wasn't Kalus' fault, explaining what happened and write in her journal that she *might* apologise to Kalus and that it would be easier if Kalus wasn't mad at *her* anymore. Lenya tells Kameo to wait until after the ceremony and the next day is the ceremony. Theena sends Kameo a note for her to meet her in her room, also sending Kalus the same note *remember this part.* Kameo arrives and Theena tells Kameo she will be getting the Element of Power and the kingdom. Kameo tries to refuse but Theena forces her to kneel, shushing her and not giving her a chance to speak, and Kameo doesn't even try too hard to reject it. Kalus decides to leave to meet Theena early, hoping her mother would finally tell her how the ceremony works and what to expect, bringing a scroll and quill with her to take notes. Kalus arrives just as the ceremony ends (like what we see at the start of the game) except it's only Theena, Kameo and Kalus. Kalus gets angry and says something that hurts Theena's heart (what she actually says isn't specified) but she storms off in anger. Kalus didn't do this out of spite. She was *forced* to train to become Queen for 15 years. Theena played favourites, emotionally neglected and may have even physically abused Kalus, then gave everything Kalus ever worked for, what her father had left her, to Kameo, because of favoritism. She never gave Kalus a chance to explain. Lenya never even tried to talk to Theena. Mystic showed Theena a fake vision and Theena had absolutely no faith in her own daughter who was trained specifically to be queen. Kalus was set up, used and manipulated by her own family. I'm not saying this is Kameo's fault but she's certainly not naive about being Theena's favourite and no one has helped this poor stressed out kid. The one thing her father left for her, something that was her birthright, that she was trained specifically for, for 15 years, all given to an inexperienced Kameo, because Theena subconsciously set her up to fail. Has anyone noticed at the end of the game, when Kameo and Theena land on the blimp, that Theena looks at all the carnage *with a smile?* She doesn't ask where Kalus is, she doesn't have a worried expression. *She's happy.* Even after the game, Theena says nothing about her own daughter's sacrifice but she also wonders where the Mystic is. This means that Kameo didn't tell her about the Mystic using both of them, and this may also mean Kameo didn't tell Theena what happened to Kalus, or that she did and Theena doesn't care. If you wonder around the garden, you can hear one of the Goblins say, "Theena misses Kalus terribly." but she doesn't say this to Kameo and keeps smiling and praising her. The only one to actually mention her in an engaged conversation is the lamp cleaner under the stairs to the palace. Kalus is not evil, she's nowhere near it. By no means did she handle it properly but she did have a plan in place. She was sabotaging Thorn behind the scenes to stop him from doing real damage to the kingdom, aiming to take her kingdom over with brute force with the Troll's help and get the Sprites and Wotnot, then chase the trolls out of the kingdom. Unfortunately Thorn is a war strategist and picked up on this quickly (shown in the unfinished beta ending) and then he tells her how Kalus undid Solon's curse and made his sacrifice in vain by freeing him, rubbing more salt in the wound. Despite all of this, realising everything she tries always fails, she makes a last attempt to make things right. She sacrifices herself, but this still isn't recognized or appreciated. From the other goblins saying, "I wonder when Kalus will come home?" Almost nobody knows what happened, and more then likely no one knows about the abuse and unfair treatment Kalus went through. I sincerely wished they made a remake or remaster of this game with all the lore included because the actual lore changes so much. I wanted to share this so fans at least have an idea of how much work went into this, because there is potential and enough content to make a prequel, remake and sequel.
wow that was a handful. a good handful its nice too know some people still love this game. i have loved playing it ever since i was little and i am happy too know its still talked about. i hope they remaster it in the future or make a 2nd game, it really deserves it.
That was beautifully written . Thank you . Feels like I've gotten closure after having had this be a part of my childhood collection . Have a blessed day . 🙏🏽 I wish SOMEONE would take what you wrote here and do something with it ... Prequel , remake , sequel and all .
It looks even better when played on Xbox One X as of 2020. They recently patched it and all the other Xbox 360 Rare Replay titles to render in 4K on that console!
I remember seeing commercials for Kameo and it made me want a 360 just for this one game. I did eventually get an xbox but I'd forgotten all about Kameo by then, until recently. Thinking of renting it out from Gamefly. Thanks for this review.
This is really meant as a compliment, I watch videos on your channel, although the topics don't interest me that much, but they are so well produced, polished and packed with great information, I watch them regardless :D
It's nice to see some content dedicated to Rare's efforts under Microsoft's control. They don't seem to get much love, but when I go back and revisit them, they are still pretty fun today. I remember really enjoying Kameo in particular back in, what--'06 or '07 (didn't play it at launch)? It seems like it's held up pretty well, all things considered.
This was RARE's best game during the Microsoft era. Kameo was where the last best game from RARE before being screwed over by Microsoft as many of their ideas were shelved for a Car focused Banjo Kazooie and Kinect Sports to chase the Wii Sports success that only lasted between 2006 to 2009. When the Kinect came out in 2010, nobody wanted to play Casual Sports games anymore because casuals went to smart phones while most Nintendo Gamers focused on the core experiences that were offered on the perceived casual Wii system. Kameo was perhaps the one RARE game that was clearly made for the GameCube system and as many ideas were changed during it's Gamecube/XBox Development time before being shifted to a release game for the XBox 360, it was well worth it.
I was really excited for Kameo at launch and still hold some amount of nostalgia for the game. It's not incredible but I was just glad to finally get some new Rare games which was enough of a reason for me to buy a 360 in 2005. I'd say I agree with you now that it's right in that middle of the road level of quality.
[Try4ce] I originally was going to comment in the video on how I was really close to buying a 360 at launch, and Rare was definitely a big part of that. I actually came close to buying a 360 several times, up until I finally decided a PS3 was higher priority for me in 2008. Then I finally bought my 360 last year, heh. No doubt it's a very compelling system... I just had plenty to play on PS3 and Wii as it was.
At the time of 360's publishing, I was working at local computer store. Consoles we're at short supply, we got 7 or 10 consoles at launch, which 2 or 3 was bought by employees (myself included). Kameo was one of the first games I bought and I though it was fantastic. Granted, there was/is faults, it's not perfect. Graphics were jaw dropping at the time (they still look good, I think). I may very well try it again now, either with Xbone's backward compatibility and I still have the original version too :) I say try it out, if you have a change to do it. You might really like it!
I bought this game with my 360 on launch day so it was the first game of that generation that I had played and it blew me away, the graphics were amazing at the time. I never got to finish it though as my Xbox 360 was stolen and I never replaced it. I still have the game in storage somewhere, I must pick up a cheap 360 and play it again.
Awesome to see you do a series on Rare. Everything you guys pipe out is gold. Can't wait for the PD:Z video. I too recall its amazing use of parallax maps. Something that to me felt 'next gen' for sure.
I really liked this game back when the 360 was released. And considering it was a well selling title, or whatever Xbox Platinum Hits requires a game to call it one, I don't get why they never made another.
[Try4ce] You know, I really liked Star Fox Adventures the first two times I played through it. Then I did one more replay to get 100% and realized just how vapid the gameplay was.
I really love these videos! Even if I'm usually aware of the backgrounds of these games already, you guys put so much effort into every aspect. Plus something really resonates with me. Between the music and the retro feel of everything... really brings back some great childhood memories.
Very complete review with great image quality. Big thumb up for this ! Most professional journalists doing video review don't go so deep - usually because their video review are sized down to 5-6 six minutes and I feel like it's too short , even if they probably do so based on their business model to have people watch more video and so, maximizing the advertiser's viewcounts So, even more thanks for the huge work here man ! I learned a lot and this is impressive 🙂
Ah, the game that made me want to buy the upgrade from my PS2 and Gamecube to the then mighty Xbox 360. Good times. I picked up this and the criminally underrated Condemned: Criminal Origins which was pretty damn awesome.
Great video, Try! I had always wondered about the Kameo game (as it was one of the few 360 launch titles I've heard a lot about but haven't touched) but I didn't know it went through so many transformations before shifting to the 360. As you confirmed at the end, it looks like an interesting albeit lackluster experience, but I'll definitely play it on my own sometime. :)
I love your intro. It's always so inspiring! And I love that in the updated version, you guys still put Phantasy Star Online in there, just as an update version. : )
Great video. Very informative & entertaining, I love this channel. I've owned Kameo for years, bought it used at some point, never got around to playing it. I think I'll give it a go soon, it actually looks to be fun. I love when a video inspires me to play a certain game. lol
Awesome video. I've had Rare Replay for a while now and have been wondering which Microsoft Rare games were worth playing. Definitely gonna checkout Kameo and catch your stream of the Xbox beta version.
The colours look more vivid on the xbox version imo.I remember seeing this game everywhere here in aus then eventually became cheap as.Should have grabbed it.I did have grabbed by the ghoulies and my partner at the time loved it.Love your channel guys just wish it was more frequent but excellent work!
+My Life in Gaming Is the Perfect Dark Zero video going to be uploaded anytime soon? It’s been well over a year since the Kameo one. Really loving this series! Just wish the gaps between videos weren’t so long. :/
I got my first... of many... Xbox 360 at launch and went with Perfect Dark Zero instead of Kameo. Played the demo though and it was properly fun. I should grab it someday. Looking forward to the Perfect Dark episode. I always found the single player pretty weak but got stupidly addicted to the multiplayer. I'm guessing you'll have to build up to an episode on It's Mr Pants. Gotta take your time with such an iconic character.
[Try4ce] Hey, I was THERE when Leigh Loveday created Mr. Pants in the Scribes section on the Rare website. That used to be my favorite thing on the Internet. I was getting into British humor at the time, but in retrospect I don't think I quite "got it," I just thought the strangeness of it was funny.
Lol, you say there isn't much in the way of gameplay yet they have puzzles, enemies and boss fights that utilize the different abilities of the elemental warriors. Also, visual storytelling. The element of power is on her head in the opening sequence. It allows her to use the elemental warriors. I have no idea how you can find this middle of the road compared to Grabbed by the Ghoulies wonky analog stick gameplay. Also, the game Kameo originally was was boring design. You switched from action gameplay to Pokemon collecting, and babysitting hatchlings. That is probably what evolved into Viva Piñata. Which is more focused on that aspect.
Everyone thinks that RareWare died after the buyout but they made some fairly decent stuff, Perfect Dark Zero is still my favorite Xbox 360 Game to this day
Well it's not a bad game. But the feel of the controls feels like a N64 fps, only worse. And the pacing is terrible IMO. The 360 version of the N64 game is still way more fun.
I never played the original when it was on the N64 but I did buy it on Xbox Live after playing Zero and while it was a fun experience I wound up preferring Zero as it was more of the kind of Double 007 clone that I liked (plus I actually like Joanna's redesign) I didn't really find issue with PDZ's pacing though as it was laid out more like the 6th Gen 007 Games which are what I was used to(over all it reminded me a lot of 007 Agent Under Fire)
M4775K311 Don't think I ever seen anyone call Perfect Dark Zero their favorite 360 game ever, though I just find it decent as I got that game for like 2 bucks.
+g1nobleteam A lot of people give it flak but I think that's mostly because of how Joanna got a redesign and then the fact that its become popular to hate. but it really is a pretty decent 007 Clone, I'll admite that it's nothing that's truly spectacular or of a Final Fantasy level of Story writing but I truly enjoyed it for what it was.
M4775K311 To me it those reasons aren't why I think it gets flak, but for how meh/decent Zero is in contrast to Timesplitters 2, or Future Perfect, and how disappointing Zero looks in contrast to those two. Also add in the Xbla port of the original Perfect Dark, which just cleaned up the framerate relatively well, and having dual analog that didn't require another controller also just cemented how fun the original was alongside how okay the sequel is, which also doesn't really have a interesting arsenal, which is something I adore about the original Perfect Dark.
This was the first ever game I played through and beat completely. I remember playing it all the way through after school on my step dads 360 when I was about 8 years old now I'm 17 and replaying it on said step dads xbox one (I don't have my own I switched to playstation when the last gen consoles came out and tho the gameplay is clunky especially with certain characters moves like pumleweed's little beyblade move not actually activating quite frequently or chilla's icicles having to be directly in the middle of hit boxes to be allowed to throw em i still think to this day this is one of if not the best early Xbox 360 games out there and well worth a play and or replay
Played through this on the 360. Was quite impressed with the visuals at the time and the game was... not bad, I did like it even if it was a bit clunky. But that OG Xbox version without all the slightly heavy handed normal maps looks a bit nicer to me in some ways!
[Try4ce] We stream on RU-vid, and I believe subscribers should get notifications when we go live. We used to stream on Twitch, but didn't have much of an audience there. We definitely like streaming on RU-vid because it's just where our audience is.
Skipped this back in the day. But as I got my hands on Rare Replay recently, I'm currently playing it. And I gotta say it's aged well and is rather fun. Tho it has it's bad sides to.
I picked this up alongside a Collector's Edition of Perfect Dark Zero for like less than five dollars, and it was pretty decent all things considered, so I'll likely replay it via Rare Replay. Though as for the next game in the series, the controls just seemed bad for the time in contrast to games like Halo 2, or the Timesplitters series, and the eventual port of its predecessor.
There should be another Kameo. It could have a similar combat system like the latest God of War games. I figured that would be a good source to draw inspiration from since they both use the R1 and R2 buttons for attacking. You could use the other buttons for special abilities or to command one of the monsters as they fight alongside you like Atreus does. Or they could include a selection wheel like in GTA so you can instantly scroll through and choose all your monsters. Either way they gotta change the combat system because... I didn't like this one.
This video really sold me on Kameo. I guess the reason I didn't like Kameo at the time of its release was because the Xbox 360 was a console for which to play fps games, and Platformers albeit some of my favorite games, were not what I wanted to play at the time. I've had Kameo and perfect dark zero for around a year now and have always wanted to play them on 360 to see what Rare did on Xbox. Also grabbed by the goulies would have sold me if it didn't have that god awful cover back in the day.
[Try4ce] It really is an off-putting cover. The main character design is not the best in that game, but I think the gameplay in Grabbed by the Ghoulies is some of Rare's most inventive since Blast Corps. It's a much smaller game in many ways, and you can see areas where it's obvious Rare had hoped to flesh things out more (the last bit is rather rushed), but the core mechanics are just a lot of fun.
Loved the game and still do but i do find the controls a bit floaty at times and needed tighting up a bit. Kameo needs a update and a 4k patch on Xbox X.
+Screwy [Try4ce] Nothing in particular, it did crash the first time, I tried it a second time and got past it. I eventually played the build all the way up until you go to the water area, after the first boss, but the water area would never load. I tried it probably 3 or 4 times.
+Screwy [Try4ce] Nothing in particular, it did crash the first time, I tried it a second time and got past it. I eventually played the build all the way up until you go to the water area, after the first boss, but the water area would never load. I tried it probably 3 or 4 times.
[Try4ce] Well, this coming Sunday I'm planning to stream the Xbox beta! Stop on by at 9pm EST, or check out the archive in the playlist that we put on the front page (archives are unlisted, but available in a public playlist).
[Try4ce] Is it really? Playable to the end? I didn't have time to play much of it, and I had a hard time finding much information about the specifics of the build itself. That's kind of insane. I did get one freeze early on, so I imagine it could be tricky to play the whole thing.
Conker's Twelve tales, the GB version of the Battletoads arcade game...Rare has a history of finished but unreleased games. Rare...rare had a tough life.
[Try4ce] That's actually really common with third-party games prior to console launches. Why it happened with a Microsoft first-party game, I'm not sure.
[Try4ce] How so? There were some different effects put on it this time, but I thought it was pretty close to the usual. I don't consider audio my area of expertise, so if anything in particular seemed off, I'm definitely open to feedback.
Just sounded a bit more abrasive. Some of the depth had been cut out, because usually you have sort of a broad spanning voice. Things got sort of narrowed here and it felt like the syllables were really forward rather than broad, if you get me. The end of the words tapered quickly rather than slowly, as is usual.
[Try4ce] Hmmm interesting. I tried some new effects that may have cut certain frequencies a bit. I don't pick up on varying frequencies and the "richness" of sound as well as a lot of people, so maybe I should just cut that effect out. It's possible that my auto-gating cut off some words too quickly, though I manually adjusted it when it wasn't working well for particular clips (like when a word ends in an S). I did have the threshold higher than normal, but it sounded fine to me. Thanks for the feedback, I'll adjust my preset for next time!
Enjoy that next review with the Perfect Dark Zero Try, cause after that, it's straight down the shit-hole with Viva Piñata, B-K Nuts & Bolts and Kinect Sports :p
[Try4ce] I feel like I've heard more positive things about Viva Pinata than PD Zero. And I remember hearing decentish (maybe?) things about BK back in the day, but not anymore. I'm going into all of these with an open mind! Opinions are too inconsistent for me to believe anything about them!
theimporter Fuck that, the Viva Pinata games were fucking awesome and are extremely overlooked classics imo in the breeding sim genre. People's expectations of that game are what ruined it/ not the game itself
theimporter BK Nuts & Bolts is great! It influenced games like Scrap Mechanics on Steam. Viva Pinata was great too. I just had a couple of problems with it. Mainly, I wanted more space for fences and toys. I wanted to hit left on the Dpad as quickly as possible to switch between my seeds, water can, etc. And the seed pop-up took awhile to load.
[Try4ce] Getting videos done the way we do them takes a lot of time. We're hoping to increase our frequency in the near future, but it's impossible to promise. I do want to do the other Rare games someday, but it's always a balancing of priorities for what will be the next edit project.
