If I say Kao to you, few of you will be able to tell me that it's a series of 3D platform games started on the Dreamcast in 2000 and which, despite its 4 games scattered over the following half-dozen years, never failed to leave a serious mark on the history of platform games.
If I tell you that now a reboot of the series has just been released, it shouldn't tell you much more than that. Except that in this case, you would be wrong to ignore it. Or not. Not going to shoot the suspense of this test right now, either!
You play as Kao, a fearless young kangaroo whose father has disappeared due to mystical gloves and whose sister is also missing while trying to find her father.
It's your turn to decide to go looking for them and try to elucidate the mystery surrounding their disappearance and find the one who is behind these mysterious crystals.
Quickly, it is the famous boxing gloves that you will find and put on to obtain powers capable of helping you in your quest. But be careful that the gloves don't consume you!
Jump, double jump, combos, climbing by the ears, fireballs, mystical balls are a sample of your actions that will help you to progress and defeat your enemies.
Nothing really original, like the title as a whole, but it's easy to get caught up in the game controlling the young kangaroo from platform to platform. The game is very colorful and offers a rather cute visual to attract young children aged 8-12, the obvious target of the title. Be careful though, because addressed to children does not mean in this case that the title is simple!
The difficulty is even correct and progressive and some collectibles will be well hidden, even requiring perfect mastery of Kao's skills to be harvested. The real concern comes from the side of the bugs, in particular collision which, even if they are not present in abundance, can spoil the pleasure of controlling our pocket-sized protagonist who will sometimes fall while jumping from a platform because of a bit strange hitbox, and at other times it will be the disproportionate hitbox of a piece of scenery or an enemy that will be problematic.
Because directing Kao, without reaching the perfection of a Mario, remains a pleasure. Especially since the combat phases will add a little spice and will break the not necessarily inspired platform sequences. So no, once again Kao is not bad. But the 3D platform has so many near-perfect credentials that it's hard to stand out in the market.
So we ignore these flaws and finally discover Kao's qualities, starting with his charm with a touch of humor that you can't refuse. Well, it's generally visual humor for children, a bit like Spyro, but it manages to hit home even with grown-ups. The levels, although narrow and very interventionist, are connected by rather nice hubs, even if a little more life would have been welcome
Suddenly, we say to ourselves "At the next checkpoint I stop" to find ourselves 5 levels later to notice that we should have stopped there are 35 checkpoints.
And that's not necessarily the sign of a great game, but of a fun game to play and it's already not so bad, mine nothing.
- Xbox (Xbox Series X tested version)
- Playstation
- Switch
- Steam
