Kao the Kangaroo Review

There’s only one thing better than a mascot platformer, and that’s a mascot platformer revival.

Returning after sixteen years with a modern multi-platform adventure from Polish studio Tate Multimedia, Kao the Kangaroo is perhaps a bit more of a deep cut than the ‘Crash’s and ‘Spyro’s of this world, but calls from diehard fans have generated enough buzz to get the bouncy boxer back to go another few rounds.

So, on a scale of Bubsy to Crash, is it an absolute Conker, or a Croc of ****? Do the controls feel Clanky, or has the series been Ratcheted up since its last entry in 2005? Well, let’s give it a Ty, and see what it Gex right.

A reboot for the long-dormant series, Kao the Kangaroo sees the titular young joey leaving home in search of his missing father and sister, seeking to uncover the secrets behind these strange purple crystals that are popping up everywhere. With sage advice from his Koala mentor (because, … of course), Kao soon finds his dad’s old pair of boxing gloves, imbued with a strange energy to help him to save the day.

The voice acting is pretty dodgy and, to begin with, Kao’s various remarks reminded me why the strong, silent type works so well in a 3D platformer. His cheesy references and one-liners did start to win me over by the end, though, and other characters like the travelling ‘salesman’ Minkey were a laugh. It’s a goofy and simple story, exuding lots of janky PS2-era energy during cutscenes, but it’s easily skippable if you’d rather dive straight into the action.

Looking at everything from the gameplay, through Kao’s updated design, to even the box art for this new adventure, you’d be forgiven for thinking that Kao the Kangaroo has, *ahem*, kangaroo jacked his style from another Australian marsupial’s recent revival. And while there’s certainly a level of familiarity down under in its derivative DNA, the game opts for an open level structure — more akin to Crash follow-up Jak & Daxter than the crate-smashing bandicoot himself.

Spread across your quintessential jungle, lava, and ice environments, levels see Kao smacking the sense into waves of different enemy types and bosses, as well as using his trusty boxing gloves to solve puzzles with the aid of elemental abilities. You’ll also find small, ‘eternal well’ challenges throughout, which are essentially bonus stages that offer rewards and test your platforming skills. They’re a welcome addition, and reminded me slightly of those Galaxy precursor levels in Super Mario Sunshine where you’d lose F.L.U.D.D.

Runes, coins, diamonds, KAO letters, and even heart containers tick the ‘collectathon’ box, but some are much more useful than others. Cool unlockable outfits for Kao are charming, and provide an added incentive to collect the KAO lettering hidden throughout worlds, but the diamond collectibles seem to be completely worthless, and I also felt like I had a huge surplus of coins by the end. Hunting secrets and smashing crates for cash is an instinctive impulse in the 3D platformer, but when you realise, by the end, that some of the trinkets serve more as arbitrary padding, it leaves a sour taste in the mouth.

In contrast, while it’s extremely simplistic, I never grew tired of Kao’s combat, which is an Arkham-esque slobber fest. It’s super satisfying to bop enemies with your boxing gloves, building up a special attack meter that then lets you knock over waves at a time. Controls are also fluid and responsive, with Kao’s animations making him a joyful joey to hop around as.

Kao’s character designs and visuals look good, if a little rough around the edges in parts — as we’ve come to expect from games on multiple consoles. Technical hiccups and bugs, however, are frequent, and less than ideal. Music would often cut out or not load properly between levels, character model textures didn’t load properly in later stages, and I’d sometimes get a Switch error message (that didn’t do anything) when going back to the main menu.

At launch, lots of players — myself included — encountered a bug that didn’t save progress properly, leading many to waste time, and some to stop playing completely until it was fixed. Thankfully, larger issues like these autosave bugs have been addressed quickly, with the passionate development team keeping fans updated through their active social feeds, and supporting the game with additional content updates to make it the best revival possible.

As a smaller studio brushing the shoulders of giants with their 3D platformer, Tate Multimedia deserve praise for what they’ve been able to achieve with Kao, but issues of varying intensity are regular enough to impact the overall experience significantly for a lot of players.

Overall, even without the performance hiccups and bugs present, Kao doesn’t pack enough of a punch behind his enchanted gloves to make weight with his mascot contemporaries. Despite not quite getting that podium finish, however, his revival from Tate Interactive is an enjoyable one, and will scratch that platforming itch for fans hunting for something new to fill that genre void this summer.