It’s been more than 25 years since Crash visited us for the first time. Of course, we have enjoyed platform games in the two-dimensional form before, but the incorporation of the third dimension into jumping is not forgotten. Originally, you could conjure up a lot of fun in two dimensions, and you don’t have to immediately turn into a plumber with a red hat. Even though jumping games or platformers (call them whatever you want) were mostly the domain of console platforms, they occasionally peeked into the PC scene as well. With this, we observe a minute of silence for Claw, who may be resurrected from the world of the dead by the Monolith.
Those who have not experienced it will not understand what was triggered by the transition to three dimensions. The first Playstation was a promised land of amazing adventures that can only be remembered with a tear in the eye. It was a lot of helpless screams that were heard after another and another failure by Crash, Croc, Spyro, Bango-Kazooie, Tonic Trouble, three-dimensional Rayman or Earthworm Jim, Ape Escape, Sly Cooper, Ratchet and Clank, Jax or Daxter. Lots of examples and experiences. Two, and more than one broken controller. Kao the kangaroo must not be missing from this company.
We have completed the nostalgic window. If you belong to the greying set, you are already prudently hunting in old memories of convulsively clutching gamepads, because this time you must finally succeed and skip the difficult passage. The genre of three-dimensional platformers almost died unnoticed. A few years back, a sack was torn open with, let’s face it, an average pile of ordinary ballast, but it provided ample material for the playing youth. Quality was lagging behind quantity. Ratchet is constantly trying to innovate and come up with new and new adventures, Mario is a clear unit on Nintendo, but a classic and quality platformer to look for in the archives. It doesn’t have to anymore.
Kao The Kangaroo is originally a Polish game by X-Ray Interactive. A lot of time has passed since the release in 2000 (I’m that old), the creators changed the name (Tate Interactive, and released several games such as the Urban Trial series or Steel Rats ) to return years later to the kangaroo that made them famous. Kao The Kangaroo is the most classic, the most traditional and the least original 3D platformer that you can choose today in the crowded market of indie ballast or long-awaited AAA hits. It brings all the good things that we love about this genre and at the same time why we hate these games and they can drive us insane.
You may come across the opinion that Kao The Kangaroo is an average game. It’s not. It is a great and even exemplary example of what a 3D platformer should look like. Oh yes, it has an infantile story (Kao has to find and save his father and sister), but what did you expect from talking animals? An intimate confession of human suffering against the background of the fateful love of two young people standing against each other on different war fronts? Or dialogues that do not reach the level of regular production? It doesn’t have to bother anyone, Kao is and should be an infantile game, and in this, it fulfils its role perfectly.
The focus on a younger audience is immediately visible, so in addition to jumping in three dimensions and a few lines of the story (with a Czech translation, so that the little Caparti don’t fumble and you with them), here you will find funny enemies that you can destroy with a boxing style, a huge number of platforms, some of which are static, others moving, falling, various hooks, vines, moving blades, popping knives, deadly lava, slippery ice, falling into places you haven’t seen, time puzzles, coins that buy you lives or hearts, diamonds, letters the main character. And that’s enough. Not only for the length of the sentence but also the content. We don’t need any RPG elements, news and whatever else a hipster innovator can think of.
It’s everything, and with the right dosage, it’s a perfect experience for the regular production of a tired player or young blood, who won’t mind the infantilism (we don’t mind either, let’s be clear) and maybe it will lead them back to the crystalline gameplay from all those Fortnites or Apex. Or what’s in fashion now? You have a kangaroo that collects money (you can use it to buy, for example, quarters of a heart, which represent one life) and mainly jumps. And boxing with enemies. This one will just run at you, some will fly, so watch out, another one will throw something at you. Don’t forget about the bosses who have sooo much health, you have to gradually eat them away, dodge attacks or use a precisely defined attack at the right moment.
And that is all. That is, except for jumping, if you happen to forget it. Sometimes you will come across a logical puzzle, but mostly they are in the spirit of finding an alternative path to activate the button. It is of course possible to scramble through the levels, which will take you a maximum of twenty minutes if you go through them quickly, because you will want to clean everything up, but getting to the top, where the treasure is hidden, is not so easy. That’s also why you can play the game in barely 6-7 hours, but in this case, it’s half the experience.
You can, of course, return to individual levels. The game is divided into four worlds. In the beginning, it is the home of Kaa, reminiscent of the classic mixture of forests, caves and beach comfort. Next comes a jungle full of monkey enemas, and then you’ll freeze on snowy plains to finally look into a dark world of terror. Okay, it’s not exactly Dark Souls, and you won’t be peeing like Resident Evil. But even children’s games must not lack a proper dark climax. Each of the worlds will offer you three levels with a separate arena for the boss. We agree, at least you don’t have to move through the whole level to get to it.
At the same time, each world is located in a central hub that replaces the open environment. Paths lead back and forth from it, you can also hang around here, jump here and there, look for objects, and when you come across a purple glowing door, you have found the entrance to one of the levels. To be able to look into them, you need special stones that you collect in the levels themselves. It’s a shame that you can’t choose a level according to your taste, but you go through them linearly, as you will always be missing at least one stone to unlock a new world or level.
Technical processing does not reach the level of Ratchet and other blockbusters from new consoles. The level of textures is below average, the objects are primitive. The colour range, shadows, graphics and particle effects put the time to sleep – but no lover of the genre will mind. Kao The Kangaroo is supposed to look like a child, and it does exactly that despite the simplified graphics. The motion animations are reasonably well done, but it’s no Pixar. Also, don’t expect breathtaking treatment of the characters, perfect dubbing (even the negative characters have a nice voice) or a stunning soundtrack with elaborate sound accompaniment. Everything here fulfils its function in a minimalist way.
The problem in platformers was often the inappropriate camera and controls. Even though sometimes you miss the sight of the kangaroo, you lose your life in a fatal fall, although you should have caught yourself on the platform, or you fall through an object, or you get stuck on a chest, the control is relatively simple. You don’t need to learn dozens of attack combinations: you can jump, punch or roll. By combining all options, for example, you activate a heat-powered platformer (you get a special fire bonus) or throw a boomerang or, on the contrary, you freeze water so that you or large crates can move on the ice. Nothing complicated, nothing demanding. On the gamepad. Put down the keyboard and whip yourself instead because playing Kao The Kangaroo can cause you to collapse. Everything you learn at the beginning you use for the rest of the game. Negative? But hey, it’s a 3D platformer and not an RPG.Kao The Kangaroo is a wonderful example of a title that isn’t afraid to come to market with proven gameplay from the past. Because playing with Kao is fun. It must be dosed correctly, a stereotype will certainly appear in one go. On the plus side, it offers exactly the kind of fun we remember from twenty years ago. If that doesn’t suit you and you need to have RPG elements everywhere, serious dialogues, perfect graphics and an open world where the game is a service… then Kao The Kangaroo is not the game for you. However, for old-school jumpers and younger players, Kao The Kangaroo will offer an excellent dose of fun.
REVIEW : A Little To The Left (PC)
