Kao the Kangaroo is the latest entry in a franchise that almost no one has thought or cared about since the last entry was released in 2005..
Singleplayer.
I like to consider myself pretty knowledgeable when it comes to gaming history. While I do not have every release date memorised chronologically, I have a decent awareness of what is available at any given time, and platforming is a genre that has always been one of my favourites as a longtime fan of Sonic the Hedgehog, Spyro the Dragon and Crash Bandicoot.
However, I must admit that when I was first offered a review code for Kao the Kangaroo, I did not automatically remember the short-lived and relatively poorly reviewed Kao the Kangaroo franchise from the early 2000s.
And by the looks of just how few people are playing Kao the Kangaroo, it seems like almost nobody else did either, with even Kao’s most ardent supporters admitting that Kao the Kangaroo (2000) is a forgotten platformer with niche market appeal.
Kao the Kangaroo had exactly one shot at attracting a sizable audience, and that was by launching as a day-one release on Xbox Game Pass; unfortunately, that ship has sailed, and with so many better platformers arriving on the service soon, any future release onto the service is unlikely to bolster Kao the Kangaroo’s userbase to the degree needed to ensure future installments of the series.
Kao the Kangaroo is a surprisingly good platformer mechanically. While it does not bring innovation to the genre, it does tick all the boxes and provides a modern and visually pleasing platforming experience for both new players and longtime fans of 3D platformers.
Despite (In my opinion) choosing the wrong franchise to revive, it’s clear the developers care about the genre, and for all of its failings, Kao the Kangaroo is a solid platformer and one that has been made with care.
Unfortunately, with just 5.5 hours of content available for the average gamer, by the time the “tutorial” stages are over and the main act of the game is well underway, Kao the Kangaroo is essentially all but over, with only 2-3 hours of content left to enjoy, making it impossible to recommend at full price or for anything less than a 70% discount.
Kao the Kangaroo has some of the worst voice acting I have ever heard, with almost every character suffering from not only a terrible fake Australian accent but poor timing and delivery, ensuring that every moment of the plot is ruined by C-grade voice acting and D-grade dialogue.
While good writing can only do so much to salvage bad acting, the combination of bad acting and terrible dialogue is a recipe for disaster. Except for poorly translated indie titles, you would have to go a long way to find a game with a worse combination of terrible acting and poorly written dialogue than Kao the Kangaroo.
Kao the Kangaroo left me genuinely confused about how the script made it past even a preliminary review; when even your puns don’t land, that should be a red flag that your script isn’t working, and a scriptwriter should be their own harshest critic.
While I will concede writing a believable and engaging plot about a stereotypical Australian automorphic kangaroo isn’t easy, and I certainly would not like to take on the task, I feel Kao the Kangaroo would be a better game with no dialogue at all than what we currently have.
The developers are passionate about Kao the Kangaroo. They have laid out a comprehensive roadmap of paid and free DLC, culminating with a Spooky DLC release just in time for Halloween.
While I feel the developers should not charge for any DLC content until the base game is substantially larger and free outfits DLC does little to expand upon the actual game, the fact the developers are still making content after failing to attract a sizable audience is a feather in their cap, and shows they are dedicated to the game, even if they have made (and continue to make) a few mistakes along the way.
Kao the Kangaroo is a action video game developed and published by Tate Multimedia, it was released on 27 May 2022 and retails for $29.99.
Kao the Kangaroo is available on the following platforms: Nintendo Switch, PC, Playstation 4, Playstation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S.
On average Kao the Kangaroo takes between 6 and 11 hours to complete.
Estimated completion times are derived from various sources and may vary based on the skill level of each player.
The following peripherals are officially supported:
Kao the Kangaroo is rated PEGI 7+ and contains:
Kao the Kangaroo isn’t a bad game; visually and mechanically, it is on par with what you have come to expect from a modern platformer.
However, it is a game that has no real purpose in existing, considering the continuation of a second-tier platformer franchise from the early 2000s was at the top of nobody’s wishlist, and except for a few diehard fans, no one has been asking for Kao’s return in any form.
