Peter Jackson's King Kong: The Official Game of the Movie

"A movie-to-game transition done right"

Peter Jackson's King Kong: The Official Game of the Movie (longest title ever, I swear to god) is a first person shooter/brawler game based on Peter Jacksons 2005 film. It was released on November 17, 2005. It was developed and published by Ubisoft.

Graphics - 8/10
The graphics are great. I rarely ever find myself stopping and checking out the scenery but I made an exception for this game. From mountain tops to caves to the jungle itself, theres a mass amount of detail. Character models and animations are flawless, it looks so smooth and natural. Kong and the V-Rex look so good that when you see them you really do feel a bit intimated. You can tell they put ALOT of effort in graphics, and having good graphics is never a bad thing.

Sound - 9/10
Just like the graphics category, awesome. From V-Rexs thundering roar to the screech of a Millipede right behind you...everything is great. The music fits the mood (I think I say this in all my reviews...I need a bigger vocabulary) perfectly. One thing I really love is that they got the original actors to voice their video game counter parts. And they do a great job too, doesn't sound forced or anything, just...perfect.

Gameplay - 9/10
When you play as Jack, which is most of the game, the game is played like a FPS. You aim, shoot and reload...but the FPS part of the game is more of a survival FPS. Yeah, you find ammo but not much of it. You gotta use it wisely or else you're screwed. Of you're daring (or just play without looking at the Options menu) you can either able or disable the HUD. I like it off, it adds more of a challenge when you can't see when you gotta reload. Plus the circle button can be used to have Jack shout out how much ammo you have left but that alerts any nearby enemies. If you do run out of ammo then you can usually find a stack of bones or some spears. You can pick those up and toss them for average damage. Spears/bones can (and will) be used when you have to burn some weeds down to get through or to kill a bug and feed some spiders.

As Kong, the game is more of a Brawler type game. You can punch, grab, dash and climb. You can even pick up large trees and smack the crap outta things. Your goal in Kongs game is usually just to protect Ann. Sometimes you'll have "boss" fights, like a giant leech or a few V-Rexs's. Most of these fights are pretty hard so to make up for that the creators made it so that by pretty Triangle really fast, Kong hits his chest. If he does this for a few seconds without taking any damage he becomes invincible and stronger. You stay in this mode for about 30 seconds but if you're good thats more then enough time.

Now unlike most games, there is no health meter or anything. Instead, if you take as you take multiple hits, the screen turns red and music starts playing. That means you're near death and should take cover to recover your health. After a few seconds, if you haven't taken anymore damage, the music stops and the red goes away, which means you're good to go.

Story - 7/10
The story in this game is pretty different compared to the movie...but it still follows the basic plot. Jack & company go to skull island. While exploring they get ambushed and Ann gets captured by the natives, then by Kong. As Jack you try and follow Kong while fighting many dinosaurs and huge versions of bugs. As Kong you have to protect Ann. Simple stuff but if you watch the movie (and you should), then you'll see what I mean.

Replay Value - 4/10
Once you beat the game there really isn't a reason to play it again. Once you beat the game once, you unlock an art gallery but honestly, who really cares? Now, you may have noticed a percentage meter in the level select screen. As you beat levels, it goes up. Duh. But once you get past a certain percent you unlock more stuff, such as an old movie filter, or a high contrast filter. Kinda meh, in my opinion. Also if you collect enough points you unlock other stuff, like interviews and even an alternate ending. Chances are you'll get all the points you need by the end up the game so unless you want to play with some sort of filler, replaying the game is pretty much pointless.

Final Thought - 7/10
King Kong is a good game that suffers from shortness and lack of replay value. Despite that, I'd recommend the game to fans of the movie and FPS fans. It's sorta hard to find nowadays (at least for me) but it should only 10 bucks so if you buy it on the spot and end up not liking it for some reason, its not like you're losing out on some big bucks.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 07/18/07