I love 3D platformers, and I recently had a chance to play a demo build of Kao the Kangaroo, the upcoming revival of the series set to be released on May 27. I haven’t played the original Kao games yet to compare them, but my time with the latest entry was a promising glimpse of what it will contain.
The demo takes place in a series of lava-filled caves, where you’ve gone in search of a special wrench. Since it’s a demo, there isn’t a lot of context for the story or why Kao is looking for this wrench (not to mention why his boxing gloves are talking to him), but it gives a solid look at the gameplay. You have a double jump, a punching combo, a dash roll, and a few other moves to help you traverse the treacherous caves. Your health is represented by hearts, and if you run out of health, you lose one life and respawn at your last checkpoint, which are generously placed throughout the level.
Combat felt a little slow to me at first, until I got used to the idea of it being a 3-hit combo instead of a single attack. Occasionally, you also need to aim and throw a boomerang, but this was simple enough thanks to the lock-on feature. Overall, I found the controls smooth and easy to use while using a gamepad, but a bit more cumbersome when I tried it with a mouse and keyboard. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find a way to invert the camera, which is an option that would be nice to see in the full game.
Your attacks have a use beyond combat, however. Not only are there plenty of coin-filled vases and crates for you to smash through, but the level quickly introduces a mechanic where you can add an element to your gloves. Here, fire is the only option, but a button command to cycle through element charges suggests eventually you’ll be able to have more than one at a time. Flammable obstacles and fire-activated switches are the two most common things that require you to have a fire charge. Each charge can only be used once, and so often that was part of the challenge, reaching an area with a fire charge in order to backtrack and use it on the obstacle at hand. Charges are not used up when you attack enemies or break items, so there is no way to waste one.
The level was fairly linear, with a set path from the start to the end, although with small detours along the way to find additional collectibles. That’s one thing Kao the Kangaroo has in abundance: collectibles. I picked up coins, jewels, the letters that spell out “Kao,” scrolls, some sort of talismans, heart fragments to increase my total health, and an extra life along the course of my exploration. Aside from the last two, I have no idea what these collectibles are for, but having plenty of things to collect is always nice. I also found something I couldn’t interact within the demo, which looked to me like it might be a bonus stage of some kind.
Kao the Kangaroo feels like a throwback to classic 3D platformers. Although this demo only provided a look at a single level without context for its story, the gameplay feels solid and the mechanics entertaining. I’m looking forward to seeing the full game when it launches on May 27 for all major platforms.
