They let anyone in here…
It truly is the time in gaming when anything and everything is making a return. I never once imagined I would be writing about Kao the Kangaroo in 2022, yet here we are. Developer Tate Multimedia has resurrected one of the forgotten mascot platformers from the early 2000s and delivered a brand new game in the series. What makes this even more of an anomaly is that it is a very competent experience. Sure it won’t set the world on fire, but if you grew up enjoying the copious amounts of anthropomorphic animal platform games Kao the Kangaroo is certainly worth your time.
The story of Kao is about what you would expect from a game whose main character’s namesake is a play on words. The cookie-cutter rescue plot is told well enough, but oh boy that voice acting sure is all over the place. Strangely the main character is the worst offender with his awkward accent and poor delivery. Others fare better, but none of it is Oscar-worthy in the slightest. The idea that Kao’s powers come from his father’s gloves is pretty standard. What isn’t though is the fact that they come with their own quick-witted entity. This game is weird and I kind of love that.
MSRP: $29.99
Platforms: Xbox (reviewed), PlayStation, Switch, PC
Price I’d Pay: $29.99
Taking pages from the platformer playbook the game play bleeds right into the tropes. There are several biomes throughout Kao and each one serves as a hub area with a selection of missions and collectibles scattered throughout. Progression is tied behind runes with each certain amount collected unlocking new levels to explore. It is the traditional platform playbook, but it works.
Combat feels familiar with a double jump and dodge roll as well as a bevy of combat options. There are elemental effects that can be stored up in Kao’s gloves that unleash massive attacks. Thankfully the enemies are not just boilerplate in design and actually change up over time forcing new ways to tackle them as well as increasingly challenging platform sections. Don’t get me wrong this game is not hard by any stretch of the imagination. I was able to blast through most of it with few deaths, but collecting everything it has to offer does serve up plenty of enjoyment. Even if it is not remotely on the challenging side.
There is a lot to see and do here. There are the aforementioned levels, a host of hidden levels locked behind various challenges, and plenty of collectibles. Still even with all this content this is not an extremely long adventure. I beat the main campaign in under ten hours and cleaned up most of the extra stuff well under 20. That isn’t hateful for a game of this type, but the challenge simply was not there, so if that is your thing this is not your game.
Visually the game reminds me of a lower-budget Crash Bandicoot. This is not a knock. The colorful worlds are varied and the character animations are actually pretty decent. I was a fan of the music and some of the voice acting, though some of it, like Kao, are simply embarrassing at times. The game performs well on just about every platform. One major gripe I have though is how is it 2022 and we have a game with 3D camera control that does not offer the option to invert? I mean that should be standard these days.
Kao the Kangaroo is a lot better than I expected considering it was a revival of a game that was even lesser know when it originally launched. I miss these types of platform games and we truly still don’t get enough of them. While the difficulty is nearly non-existent it is still worth checking out for gamers that grew up with the likes of Ty, Tomba, and the Jersey Devil. A simple time when mascot platform games were a dime a dozen, now they are few and far between.
Review copy of game provided by publisher.
