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

"A game that stays true to the movie, which actually helps!"

King kong, an old movie, now redone, and released as a game. Very rarely have I ever played a game based on a movie this good. And while I have not actually seen the movie, I will just from playing the game.

Game Play-10/10 What makes this game so great in my opinion is how simple it is. There are only a handful of weapons you can use, maybe 10-15 different enemies, and a easy to follow path through the entire game. While this might make it sound like a bad thing, it really isn't, somehow even when you fight the same boss for the 4th time, its still new and different.

Story-9/10 Quite the same as the movie as far as I know. You play as Jack, the writer of the movie, and go along with the director to the island to see if its a good place to film. Eventually Kong appears and all hell breaks lose on the island. Then its a fight to survive and get off the island with the crew.

Graphics/Sound-7/10 As far as visuals go, the game could do a fair amount better, many times you will see when you get around a large bush or some sort of flora, that it has no 3rd dimension, and is completely 2D, this was really surprising seeing as how the PS2 has so many games that really push its performance and do well.
As for the sound, I think its wonderful, just walking along in the jungle you can hear all kinds of creatures, and you don't know whether the things that make those noises are going to attack you at any second, or are just passing by. This adds to the sense that you can(and often are) be attacked at any moment by any number of things.

Playtime/Replayability-5/10 This is the main part of the game I feel was lacking. It takes about 3-5 hours to beat, almost all of which is spent on the island. There is one level in New York, but it lasts about 10 minutes. Even though the same tasks are somehow fun to do, it doesnt last nearly as long as it could have. Once you beat the game, there are SOME extras, but to unlock most of them you have to replay many of the levels over and over to rack up points used to unlock these extras. A few of them are unlocked with codes you can get from the game's website, but the main unlockable, the alternate ending, can take a long time to unlock, and even then, isn't to fulfilling.

Final Recommendation-Overall a great game, but much to short for a purchase. I recommend renting it, and you won't even have to worry about bringing it back it a certain amount of days, you can beat it it one or two.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 12/10/05