A feud has begun between two sisters, Kameo and Kalus, resulting from Queen Theena bestowing the power of elemental transformation upon the younger sister, Kameo. In a fit of rage and jealousy, Kalus dispels an age-old curse suffered by Thorn, the troll king, and frees him to wreak destruction and chaos across the kingdom, capturing the Elemental Ancestors along the way. Kameo unfortunately loses her powers and must save and recruit elemental warriors since acquiring their powers and strength are necessary in the effort to save the Elemental Ancestors and overthrow the troll king.

The 10 warriors that Kameo can transform into are based on five elemental powers -- plant, water, rock, ice, and fire. Four of the elemental warriors can be programmed at a time into the face buttons for quick and immediate transformation. Success in the game is largely dependent on how well you master the creatures' abilities. And because it is a necessity to utilize each of the different elemental creatures towards completing tasks and solving puzzles, a good amount of time needs to be spent on training each of the warriors.

For example, if in the first time playing the game, you were to just be dumped into the game at a mid-level mission (as in the demo version), you'd most likely get frustrated with the inability to jump using Chilla, the ice yeti. But think about it, yetis don't jump, do they? But they can climb ice walls and throw icicles at enemies with precision (they're also great at activating crystals and attacking enemies from afar). So who can jump? Princess Kameo has the ability to hop-glide, and Major Ruin, the armadillo, has his super-"Sonic" rolling and smashing ability where you can build up rolling speed bursts to jump over small cliffs and roll up onto ledges.

And what about those stubborn trolls who hide under spikey, spinning bunkers? Pummel Weed, the feisty little plant, can rough those guys up with an underground burrowing sidestep followed by a mean uppercut, and then just get trigger happy and finish him off with Weed's hard-hitting boxing skills.

Beyond pretty environments, Kameo's visual display also offers some interesting mechanics. A meter and point counter appearing on the screen encourage you to attack quickly. The more combos -- moves like Major Ruin rolling, ramming, and pinning two enemies on its spiked-back, or the back-to-back punches that Weed throws -- the more points you earn and the increased likelihood of a bullet-time event.

Kameo is looking to be well-deserved of attention and Rare has done a good job of preserving what they do best -- beautifully detailed graphics and environments. But Rare's previous games aren't the only ones that Kameo is borrowing from...

Try a bit of Sonic-armadillo roll-and-destroy (that also may remind you of the ball controls in Metroid Prime). Add a sprinkle of Max Payne bullet-time with Weed's finishing move as time s-l-o-w-s down for a five second destructive pummeling sweep, clearing out all surrounding trolls. And finally, you'll be expecting Scorpion or Sub-Zero to appear when you add a dash of Mortal Kombat and the words "Flawless!" and "Brutal!" appear on the screen after you defeat enemies. Now you've really got yourself a pot of stewed game bites.

After years in development, the game is on track to hit stores in January, so unless the Rare delay curse strikes soon, the finished version shouldn't be too far away.

A more mature Kameo Seems like a very good game. Cant wait for it's Release