Kao the Kangaroo from 2022 is the reboot to a series that began in 2000, with the original starring a kangaroo whose family is captured by hunters.  I know absolutely nothing about these games (save for what I just looked up on Wikipedia), but I was drawn to the newest entry because I’m always interested in retro-looking modern platformers (such as New Super Lucky’s Tale).  Although this is a reboot, this is not a retread of the original game, as this time around, Kao (pronounced KO) is not saving his family from hunters.  Instead, he’s looking for his missing sister and father with the help of talking boxing gloves, with his ultimate goal being to defeat the mysterious Eternal Warrior.

Kao the Kangaroo is a pretty typical platformer.  The game features several hub worlds, each with a handful of levels and a boss fight.  While the hub world is very open, the levels are more linear, but still provide plenty of secret paths to explore, making the locations feel rather similar to those present in Ty the Tasmanian Tiger (another platformer originally from the early 2000’s featuring Australian animals).

The game has plenty of collectibles to discover, though I find it strange that many of them serve absolutely no purpose, which was rather disappointing.  Sure, runes are required to unlock new levels, scrolls provide you with information, and coins can be used in the store, but as far as I can tell, the KAO letters and gems do absolutely nothing.  There are also heart pieces to increase your health and Eternal Wells, which provide platforming challenges or the occasional battle where you must defeat a certain number of enemies.  Kao can also gain new abilities, such as several elemental power-ups for his gloves, such as flame charges to melt ice and ice charges to freeze water.

Kao’s gameplay is the strongest element, which is fortunate because the game suffers in other areas.  The story and characters are pretty basic (not that I expect much from a platformer).  But what’s worse is the voice acting, which is fairly wooden at best and cringey at worst.  Kao himself always sounds like he has a cold, and his teacher Walt has a rather annoying way of speaking in short phrases rather than full sentences.  A game’s writing is something I don’t normally critique because it’s one of those things you just don’t notice when it’s done adequately enough.  But the writing isn’t great in this game, either.  Just to name an early example, multiple characters accuse Kao of “playing the sad card” whenever he sounds upset about his missing dad.  It just felt like a weird attempt at a running joke (that, fortunately, only happened twice) that made very little sense.  Yeah, Kao’s sad about his missing dad and wants to keep his dad’s boxing gloves as a way to remember him.  I wouldn’t say that makes him a brat who’s trying to play on people’s sympathies.

The game is also not terribly polished.  Lesser examples include textures popping in and objects taking some time to disappear after you’ve broken them.  A funny example includes Kao appearing twice in a cutscene, as I caught his gameplay self jumping rope in the background (his idle animation) while another Kao was speaking in the foreground.  And an annoying example was when the game started making this piercing buzzing noise before the sound went out entirely.  I was forced to quit out of the game completely to get the sound to come back.  Luckily, none of these glitches were game-breaking, but the game still needed a bit more work before it was fully ready for the public.

Despite some flaws, I’d still say Kao the Kangaroo is a very solid platformer with a retro feel to it and some nice, colorful graphics.  Sure, it’s a bit odd that many of the collectibles serve no purpose, but if you’re looking for a fairly easy and relaxing platformer, and you enjoy accumulating said collectibles just for the sake of it (like I do), then Kao is not a bad option.  But if they ever decide to make a sequel, I hope they hire some more talented voice actors and fix some of those issues before releasing another game before it’s ready.  Kao the Kangaroo is available on all major consoles and PC for $29.99, though at a length of 5-11 hours, you’ll likely want to wait for that $11.99 sale.