{"id":22364,"date":"2022-06-24T00:01:39","date_gmt":"2022-06-24T00:01:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/?p=22364"},"modified":"2022-06-08T12:36:48","modified_gmt":"2022-06-08T12:36:48","slug":"kao-the-kangaroo-ps4-ps5-switch-xbox-one-x-s-pc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/2022\/06\/24\/kao-the-kangaroo-ps4-ps5-switch-xbox-one-x-s-pc\/","title":{"rendered":"KAO the Kangaroo (PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, X\/S, PC)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Back in the late 90s and early 2000s, 3-D platformers were all the rage.\u00a0 Many of them had popular mascots like Crash Bandicoot, Spyro the Dragon, and more.\u00a0 It was kind of like how in the early 90s, 2-D mascot platformers were the big thing, thanks to Sonic.\u00a0 But for every popular character, there are many forgotten 3-D heroes, like Billy Hatcher or Super Magnetic NEO.\u00a0 Another forgotten 3-D mascot was KAO the Kangaroo.\u00a0 First appearing on the Dreamcast, he actually got five games before never being heard from again.\u00a0 Until now.\u00a0 KAO the Kangaroo is back with a new game that\u2019s more of a reboot than a remake, and it\u2019s just like the 3-D platformers you remember, for better or worse.\u00a0 It\u2019s available on all current game systems and PC, but reviewed on PS4 here.<\/p>\n

In the game, Kao (pronounced K-O) lives on a tropical island with a bunch of other talking animals.\u00a0 When his dad and sister go missing, Kao searches for his dad\u2019s boxing gloves and goes after them.\u00a0 But why did his dad hide the gloves, and why do they give off a purple glow and talk to Kao?\u00a0 Are they cursed?\u00a0 You\u2019ll find out in this 3-D adventure.<\/p>\n

Kao can do all the things that a typical 3-D action hero can do.\u00a0 Jump, double jump, punch, roll, ground pound, and more.\u00a0 They do a good job explaining most of the moves, but sometimes they miss some or don\u2019t describe them very well.\u00a0 You\u2019ll visit small hub worlds with a few levels in each, plus a lengthy boss fight and bonus areas that test your platforming and combat skills.\u00a0 The main levels are fairly linear, with secrets off the beaten path and crystals you can punch to temporarily reveal hidden platforms and such.<\/p>\n

It wouldn\u2019t be a 3-D platformer without things to collect and this one has plenty!\u00a0 You\u2019ll find stone runes hidden all over the place in the hub world and levels, and you use those to unlock new stages.\u00a0 Coins are also everywhere, and you\u2019ll use those to buy extra lives and heart pieces to increase your health meter.\u00a0 And you can also buy outfits for Kao to wear.\u00a0 I love the outfit that makes him look like his classic character from the first game, googly bug eyes and all!\u00a0 You can also find diamonds and letters that spell out KAO in every stage.\u00a0 Unfortunately, the game doesn\u2019t tell you what they do or why you should collect them.<\/p>\n

But that\u2019s not the only problem in the game.\u00a0 With all the heart pieces you collect, losing a life from being hit hardly ever happens because your health bar can quickly grow and heart pickups are easy to get.\u00a0 But what does kill you most are falling into insta-death pits, water, lava, and more.\u00a0 And it\u2019s hard to judge jumps because of the perspective sometimes. Even though checkpoints are all over the place, if you run out of lives completely, you have to start the level over again.\u00a0 And since levels can be pretty long, that can get annoying.\u00a0 It caused me to lose interest in this game faster than what I normally would have.\u00a0 I\u2019m all for games with classic sensibilities, but the lives system has got to go.\u00a0 Other than that, if you miss the 3-D platformer era of gaming, you may want to check this one out.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Kid Factor:<\/strong><\/p>\n

KAO the Kangaroo is rated E-10 with ESRB descriptors of Animated Blood, Fantasy Violence, and Comic Mischief.\u00a0 You punch cartoony animals that fall over and disappear when defeated, and that\u2019s it.\u00a0 Didn\u2019t really notice any blood.\u00a0 Reading skill is helpful for some of the text, and younger gamers may have trouble with the more difficult obstacles and bosses.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Back in the late 90s and early 2000s, 3-D platformers were all the rage.\u00a0 Many of them had popular mascots like Crash Bandicoot, Spyro the Dragon, and more.\u00a0 It was kind of like how in the early 90s, 2-D mascot platformers were the big thing, thanks to Sonic.\u00a0 But for every popular character, there are […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":22318,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22364","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-game-reviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22364","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22364"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22364\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22366,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22364\/revisions\/22366"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22318"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22364"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22364"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22364"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}