Microsoft and Rare Ltd Please Remastered Kameo Elements Of Power and Make The Sequel Kameo 2 for the Xbox One.

Kameo: Elements of Power is a 2005 action-adventure video game by Rare and Microsoft Studios released for the Xbox 360. The player controls the title character, an elf, who journeys to recover her elemental powers and captive family from her evil sister and the troll king. Kameo's ten elemental powers let her transform into creatures and use their varied abilities to solve combat-oriented puzzles and progress through the game's levels.

The game received generally favorable reviews and sales estimates ranged from subpar to par. Reviewers praised Kameo's graphics as setting standards for the new console, and noted its vivid color palette. Their criticism focused on the gameplay, in particular its repetition, awkward controls, easy combat, disorganized introduction, and overbearing tutorial. Reviewers found the story and Kameo's character lackluster, but largely liked the other characters and the core morphing concept. They had high praise for the orchestral score and other technical features, apart from the game's camera. Rare released several cosmetic downloadable content packs, and a free online cooperative mode upgrade.

The game received generally favorable reviews and sales estimates ranged from subpar to par. Reviewers praised Kameo's graphics as setting standards for the new console, and noted its vivid color palette. Their criticism focused on the gameplay, in particular its repetition, awkward controls, easy combat, disorganized introduction, and overbearing tutorial. Reviewers found the story and Kameo's character lackluster, but largely liked the other characters and the core morphing concept. They had high praise for the orchestral score and other technical features, apart from the game's camera. Rare released several cosmetic downloadable content packs, and a free online cooperative mode upgrade.

Retrospective reviews remembered the game for its bright and impressive graphics. Kameo was included in Rare Replay, an August 2015 compilation of 30 Rare titles for the Xbox One, alongside documentary-style videos about the game's development and its planned sequel. The latter was canceled after a few months of production due to both poor sales of the original and Microsoft's new focus on games for its Kinect peripheral.

A sequel to Kameo was in production but was ultimately canceled. George Andreas began work on the sequel after finishing the first game. Kameo 2 was designed to be a darker take on the original. Rare redesigned Kameo to have smaller eyes and matured the other creatures. For instance, the trolls were given steampunk designs. The sequel put a heavier emphasis on the open world, as the team was influenced by Assassin's Creed (2007). Rare began to use Havok physics software for smoother inverse kinematics animations,[46] and planned to incorporate assets from an unreleased game, Black Widow, which featured a giant, mechanical spider.[48] For creature upgrades, the team planned to let Kameo fly as an eagle so the player could experience the grandeur of a bird's-eye view.[10] Kameo composer Steve Burke said that he worked on the sequel for a year. He wrote several new audio tracks in a Celtic style and recorded voiceovers, which together were used in a concept demo pitched to Microsoft. The project was canceled after about three months of production as Rare re-focused on Microsoft's Kinect effort.At the time, Microsoft redirected its internal studios to support the project.The original's lackluster sales also contributed to the cancelation. The public had heard reports of its cancelation during the 2009 restructure and had seen an artwork leak in 2011, but the cancelation was not confirmed until Microsoft Studios vice president Phil Spencer did so in 2013. 1UP.com questioned whether Kameo needed a sequel at all. Rare released a retrospective documentary of the unreleased game as part of its August 2015 Rare Replay collection. A Kameo 2 concept artist narrated the documentary, which focuses on art that would have been included in the game[50] apart from a brief video clip.[51] Rare later released a follow-up making-of Kameo video in March 2016.[9] The sequel's video did not elaborate on why Microsoft canceled the project.