( 1 reviews )
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( 6 of 6 found this review helpful ) Posted: Apr 17 2006
I bought "Kao the Kangaroo: Round 2" from Amazon, since I couldn't find it anywhere in stores. Seeing that the platformer is a dying genre in video games these days, I thought it would be worth a look. Kao is a typical platformer. With an arensal of attackslike those of Crash Bandicoot and Sonic the Hedgehog, this aussie kangaroo is charged with rescuing his animal friends from an evil hunter. Some notes worth mentioning: - I've played the game for only about 6-7 hours, and am already 90% complete. If you're an average gamer like me, you may prefer renting this one instead of buying to save a couple bucks. This way be why this brand-new game costs only $19.99. - The format is very redundant. You will either 1) walk around collecting things, 2) run from something (i.e., a manical snow plow, gushing lava, or a huge boulder), or 3) fight a boss. - There are some quirks that are downright irritating. For instance, there's one level where Kao hops onto the back of a pelican that can only fly for a couple of seconds before it gets tired and stops. This is a severe limitation in the game, as it is rather obvious that the bird cannot make these long strides. I spent literally about two hours on this. Further, the first boss, the magical shaman took a good half hour to figure out how to beat (hint: Stomp the ground where the green arrows appear). - The game focuses more on collecting things rather than fighting enemies. There are way too few baddies on the journey. - Finally, Kao does not appear at all like he does in the cover art. In the game, Kao is a cute, bug-eyed, happy kangaroo, whereas on the cover, he is angry, violent, and militaristic. Overall, Kao 2 is worth checking out, especially if you grew up on platform video games. But beware of some of the slight caveats that may end up driving you bananas.
