When I was a kid, I remember enjoying Kao the Kangaroo on my Game Boy Advance. It was a fun traditional platformer featuring a kangaroo whose favorite hobby was to knock down its enemies and discover tons of secrets. Back in the days Kao was one of the more well-known names in the platforming scene and could easily be named in a list together with Spyro, Crash Bandicoot, and even Super Mario. After a while, Kao sadly disappeared from the stage, until now! After a hiatus of roughly 20 years, Kao is back and is here to impress! Is this a fun platformer to add to your list? Time to find out!
Kao the Kangaroo needs to save the day
After a long slumber, Kao wakes up to find his sister (and father) missing from the village or potentially even worse. Of course, this is more than enough to pick up the shiny red boxing gloves and head out to save his missing family. The story of the modern Kao the Kangaroo game isn’t really that captivating or worth following but it does the trick of giving you a reason to travel to different locations. When it comes to those locations and the overall presentation of the game, Tate Multimedia really did impress. When I first booted up the game, it reminded me of the feeling I got when I started my adventures in Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart. I do realize it’s mostly because of the nostalgia of my GBA days but I must admit, this modern take really works amazingly well. The world of Kao the Kangaroo comes to life in ways you’ve never seen before. I love the attention to detail on the character models and the environments. This isn’t just a random world, it really feels lived in and alive. Running around in the gorgeous biomes is something I loved doing, even on the Switch version, which is supposed to be the weaker version visually speaking.
Open biomes, linear levels
The main reason why I loved exploring the levels is the level of freedom you’re getting in this modern version. If you follow the story, Kao will travel to different biomes all with their own themes. The biomes serve as the central hubs where you can travel to the levels the biome has to offer. This approach works pretty well because of the semi-open worlds it creates. In the biomes, you’re free to go where you want and discover the secrets at your own pace. It’s a fun variation compared to the more linear levels. The levels themselves are typical modern platforming levels with a rather oldskool layout and approach. In most regular levels, you’ll go from the start to finish with some (obvious) secret paths for more unlockables. Although they aren’t that special or memorable, the levels do quench your thirst for some fun 3D platforming. It never reaches the Super Mario level of quality and it won’t end up in the hall of fame of the genre, but it does still provide a lot of casual fun.
What I like about Kao is how well it combines traditional platforming with a more action-orientated approach to combat. Kao isn’t wearing those red boxing gloves just for show, he isn’t shy to use them against his enemies! Combining your attacks with jumps will also allow you to travel to places you thought were out of right. Without going into spoiler territory, the red gloves aren’t as simple as what you would first expect from them. It seems like they house an ancient power deep inside them, a power that can be awakened and transform the regular boxing gloves into something far more powerful. Experimenting with these special powers and collecting all types of different collectibles in the levels really add an extra layer of fun. It’s worth revisiting the levels if you didn’t succeed in collecting everything in one run. Again, the levels aren’t perfect but they surely aren’t bad either. The best thing about the levels is perhaps even to occasional boss you have to face. In those boss fights, you’ll have to learn the pattern of each and every boss and use that to your advantage to inflict some damage. The boss fights offer challenging variation to the gameplay and are a blast to play.
It isn’t flawless
Although the gameplay is solid and fun, the game itself isn’t without some issues. In terms of performance, this isn’t the best platformer, especially on the Nintendo Switch. Bringing a modern 3D platformer to Nintendo’s hybrid console is a risk since it automatically competes with some of the best games in the genre. Compared to other 3D platformers on the system, Kao isn’t the best one on a technical level. The cutscenes aren’t performing how they should and it happened a couple of times that I ran into a bug. Next to the technical issues, I didn’t really like the voice acting or the way the story unfolds. If you leave all of those things out of consideration, Kao the Kangaroo certainly offers traditional 3D platforming fun but is never on the same level as some other games on the same system. If you’re expecting the next big thing from this, it’s nothing like that. It comes closer to SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom – Rehydrated than Super Mario 3D All-Stars for example. Of course, that’s nothing to really worry about if you jump in with the right expectations.
Conclusion:
Kao the Kangaroo offers some traditional and fun 3D platforming filled with tons of things to explore and collect. It’s a blast from the past that’s brought to modern standards and it really works. It’s not on the same level as the heavy hitters in the genre but it certainly isn’t bad. If you’re looking for oldskool fun, this should be on your list, it won’t disappoint.
