Hands on with Kao the Kangaroo - Preview

I have to be honest, it has been more years than I would care to admit, since I had even thought about Kao and even when I was playing game, it only Round 2 from the Gamecube back in 2003. So, seeing that the hopping marsupial getting a revival in 2022 came as a surprise, but one that I quickly found myself welcoming. Having had the chance to go hands on, I came away both impressed and a little worried.

First a little bit of history about Kao, the first game released back in 2000 for Dreamcast and GameBoy Advance, with a PC port released a little while after. Kao’s story was simple, when poachers kidnapped his family, he set off on a quest to save them and with it, the gameplay was very much the type of the mascot platformers of the era. The series had three additional games, one exclusive for GameBoy Advance, one that hit the consoles Gamecube, Xbox and PlayStation 2, along with PC and then a third entry that was only release on PC and then since then, the series has been quiet. But that last game was released back in 2005, so any game released 17 years later, would need to adapt and become more modern in its mechanics and approaches, but that is where the worry for this one comes in.

The build of the game that I got to play has Kao attempting to navigate to the terrors lair, who they are and what reason Kao has for going there, was not something that was explained, but hey it is a slice from a much larger game. While Kao is on his own, Walt, a spirit of a Koala appears to provide guidance from time to time, well at least part of him appears and while that could have been enough, it seems that the developers at Tate Multimedia have more in-store, simply because the boxing gloves that Kao wears, have life within them. So, while I didn’t get a chance to learn more of the overarching story that the game is aiming to tell, the mystery behind the gloves and their powers, connection to another realm and the reason for heading to the lair, were enough to hook me into learning more.

On the gameplay side of things, it honestly felt like I was back in the early 2000’s, with a lot of the platforming mechanics that were a staple of the time, back again. Much like Psychonauts 2 last year, there is a time and a place for old school design and Kao seems to walk that line of keeping things fresh, while also dropping in more modern elements. For example, a lot of the combat is basic, punching and whatnot, but there are some counter abilities that feel more recent and it did help with removing the nostalgia blinders. The platforming aspects sadly leaned more into the past than anything more recent, but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing, as it felt like welcoming back an old friend. The downside is that some of those platforming aspects, which were frustrating two decades ago, are just as annoying now, like a double jump that really doesn’t jump, or platforms that are positioned just slightly out of reach, unless you nail the double jump correctly.

As what I played was very much a work in progress build, there were some issues with some enemies and traps not activating correctly, or even funnier, not being tangible enough for Kao to actually get hurt by, but the rest of it was fine. I am excited about the level/world design though because what Tate had for this build was quite fun, there were collectables to discover, as was the way back when the series started and while some could be spotted easily, some required some light puzzle solving to discover. Even if there wasn’t much hidden away in the various alcoves and pathways, there was still a reason to visit down them, for coins or diamonds at least and the exploration never got tiring.

How Kao the Kangaroo shapes out in the long run is something I can’t predict, but from what I played here, it has a solid foundation to become a fun game. It proudly wears its nostalgia on its sleeves, but at the same time, is making use of more modern and updated gaming trends. While my time was limited, I did enjoy it and it does make me want to play more of it.