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Bringing the soundtrack’s classically-inspired inclinations to a head, these majestic pieces wring every last bit of gravitas from their solemn melody lines and expert choral counterpoint. Where the choir truly shines is on “A Legend is Born” and “The Legend Unfolds (End Credits Part One)”. “Hero’s Theme (Main Theme)” features a fairly stereotypical approach, but delivers its bombast successfully, thanks to its robust melodies, admirable amounts of counterpoint – and details like the clever use of minor-key choral harmonies around 2:00 that help create the required vast sense of scope. Again, the music is reaching for that imposing fantasy gravitas – and once more, it gets there, thanks to Burke’s skilful handling of the choral material. Present from the start on “Kameo’s Quest (Title Screen)”, Burke deploys choral sounds – often split into male and female voices – on several compositions. This vital choral component is another defining characteristic of this score. Instead, a cue like “Danger in the Sky” only keeps gaining in stature and drama as it adds layered choir vocals, taking the piece to what’s indeed an epic conclusion. What’s so impressive on “Thorn’s Pass”, “The Badlands”, and “Danger in the Sky” is how composer and orchestrator retain the constant march tempi and resulting overwhelming momentum, while ensuring that their pieces never become monotonous. It’s the kind of monumental battle music that most fantasy game scores reach for, but so often fail to pull off successfully due to a lack of variation and strong melodic material. Beginning with “Thorn’s Pass”, Burke unleashes a string of large-scale action cues that march forward with rhythmic single-mindedness, aided by an onslaught of heavy percussion and towering brass leads. Burke doesn’t greatly innovate here, but he and Raine largely follow genre stereotypes with obvious skill.Ĭase in point: the inevitable fantasy bombast, which particularly comes to dominate the latter half of the score. Ultimately, there’s about an hour’s worth of first-rate orchestral scoring to be found amidst Burke’s work – a magnificent fantasy score that stands out from the glut of Western fantasy game soundtracks of the 2000s.

In other words, there’s a lot of material to work with when compiling the strongest compositions from the Kameo: Elements of Power soundtrack.

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Burke publicly documented the several iterations his work went through by releasing all the music he wrote for Kameo as a free download on Rare’s website (minus the contents of the official soundtrack album). Due to Kameo’s protracted development, Burke’s work went through several changes – from MIDI to streaming audio and from a light and playful approach during the Nintendo years to something more action-based and darker after Microsoft took over. A graduate of King’s College London and the Royal College of Music, Burke had been interested in game music since the 1980s, starting with the C64 and the Amiga. The experience clearly was a positive one – the following year, Rare composer Grant Kirkhope returned to Prague to record Viva Piñata with the same ensemble.īurke himself had joined Rare in 2001 and soon started working on the Kameo: Elements of Power soundtrack after providing additional music for Star Fox Adventures. Composer Steve Burke chose around 80 minutes of his four hours of material written for the Kameo: Elements of Power soundtrack to be performed by the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra and King’s Choir, led by always dependable orchestrator and conductor Nic Raine. This was the first score that Rare decided to have recorded by a live orchestra – a decision that was made quite late during development.

Kameo’s graphics were not the only aspect of the game’s presentation that drew compliments – Steve Burke’s lush soundtrack was equally well-received. Still, while Kameo didn’t manage to capture the magic of Rare’s classic Nintendo titles, it enjoyed strong enough sales and a generally warm reception.

Views on the game’s playability and length were slightly more divided. Given its protracted development, it was no surprise to see just how polished Kameo was, with its lavish fantasy visuals praised by nearly every critic. Ultimately, Kameo: Elements of Power became one of the launch titles for the Xbox 360. Initially announced as Ariel’s Quest for the GameCube, production was moved to the Xbox after Microsoft purchased Rare.

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This fate also befell Kameo: Elements of Power, which was in development for a full five years. It’s hard to say whatever curse it might have been, but throughout the 2000s, developer Rare struggled with cancellations or lengthy delays on several of its games. Kameo: Elements of Power Soundtrack, Steve Burke, 2005

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