The PSP has been short on platform games and Atari is here to fill the void. While Kao Challengers fills the gap, there is still plenty of room for more.

Story
Here goes another anthropomorphic animal adventure, this time it's on the PSP. A kangaroo named Kao is out to save the day from the evil Hunter that has been kidnapping all of Kao's animal friends. The game starts off in a hub world where you travel to different locals, trying to collect some coins to pay off a sailor to get to the Hunter. If you are looking for a deep and involved plot, Kao Challengers isn't where to look. Sadly, the fluff story makes the game seem silly and, occasionally, the dialogue between the creatures is unintentionally funny.

However, this all can be forgiven seeing that Kao Challengers is a decidedly “kid friendly” game. The talking bees will provide enough “magic” to keep kids entertained until the end of the romp. Kao Challengers is reminicent of a bad Saturday morning cartoon. The generic plot won't keep hardcore platform gamers interested for a long time (that and other issues). Kao Challengers just doesn't have a spell binding story to grab you and bring you to Kao's colorful world.

Sound
The level background music is uninspired. When you can hear the background music, you'll wish that it would go away. The sound effects were marginal and the voice acting is downright bad. The accents, or attempt at them, on the animals are flat and wooden. This contributes to the shallow story that just holds the game together at the seams. The overall sound is mediocre and could have been improved upon in many ways with more polish and time.

Control
Kao has a great number of moves he can do but all of them feel unresponsive. Every thing from badger herding to snowboarding feels like you are not totally in control. Fighting bad guys that get in your way can also be a chore too. Once you get the boomerang, punching seems like a waste of time. Many of the platform jumps that have to be made aren't that great of a challenge. On occasion, there are some jumps that will make you groan from continually missing them and finding just the right spot to land (this becomes apparent when snowboarding). The feeling of no control sometimes makes Kao Challengers are tough game to swallow.

This is compounded by the dreaded camera control, or the lack there of camera control. Somehow, the camera always manages to find the worst angle to play the game from. When you try and manually move it, it'll get stuck on it and you end up with an even worse angle than before. Something as important as the camera control should have been addressed when the game was on the drawing board.


153 coins down, only 2847 left to go!

Graphics
The world of Kao Challengers is cartoony and colorful. Nothing is meant to be realistic looking or have harsh edges. This is where the game succeeds, the vibrant world is pleasant on the eyes. While nothing stands out, there are some nice lighting effects and the character models look ok. The level “themes” are what all gamers have come to expect from a platform game: a forest, snow land, and a volcano all make their standard appearance in Kao Challengers. The one area where the visuals slump is the texturing. Many of the textures look muddy when you look around Kao's world. This is disappointing because if they were cleaned up, the game would have a complete cartoon feel to it.

Gameplay
The gameplay all through out Kao Challengers has been seen before. Elements from other platform games have been taken and put along side one another. While the badger herding was a fun diversion, it wasn't a brand new task that platform gaming hasn't seen before, it just had a different wrapper. The bosses in Kao Challengers are large and in-charge but they really fail to capture the essence of "a battle of epic proportions." You'll find that some of the snowboard level jumps are more trickey than beating one of the bosses. As expected now days, there are a myriad of things to collect all for the purpose of unlocking doors and bonuses. There's a name for that, and it's called the Banjo-Kazooie syndrome. While it may add challenge to the game, you have to ask yourself, is it fun? The answer is no.

The jumping from platform to platform with different level themes gets tiresome and boring, while that came be said of most games of this genre, there is usually a hook to keep you glued to your seat. Thankfully, there are unlimited lives because the amount of times you'll be falling into a bottomless pit is ridiculous. While many platformers hinge their game on tight jumps, Kao Challengers seems all willy-nilly in that respect. The gameplay is frustrating and takes away from overall enjoyment of the game.

There is one saving grace to Kao Challengers and that is the inclusion of some interesting multiplayer options. There are many different modes to play, from a death match to racing mulitplayer games, Kao Challengers covers many bases. A personal favorite is a "tag" like game where you have to wear a chicken on your head. These are all nice touches but they still don't make up for the main game.

Overall
While the game has some major flaws the game is for young gamers in mind. On top of that, the game is selling for a budget price of $20. If you need a platform fix really bad and only have a bit of cash, the purchase can been forgiven. Just don't expect a memorable journey like that of other few platform games out of the PSP already. Personally, I liked the visuals but the overall game experience left me wanting more. All the games Kao Challengers reminded me of only left me wanting to play those other games. I don't know about you, but that seems a little backwards, if you ask me.