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

"King Kong is an often thrilling adventure over in a matter of hours."

King Kong, the video game based on Peter Jackson's King Kong movie is an adventure that's often thrilling and surprising that will leave you gripped to your seat at times. Best of all - play as man and play as Kong? Yes, Kong.

It is set out as mainly a first-person view game although at times when you play as Kong you are forced in a fixed third-person view. For the most part, you won't be playing as Kong. You will be given the control of the character, Jack who you will uses throughout most parts of the game. When you jump right into the game you are set out at sea on a boat in stormy conditions. Pretty much at this point you can only control the camera (which can also be inverted) until you reach this island...Skull Island. Sounds welcoming, doesn't it?

For those who have watched the movie they will see many elements used in the game. This includes much of the story, voice acting and of course the environments. It is not a direct-telling of the story from the movie and seems to be more like an edited-down version. As you start off on the edge of this island you are introduced to some rather creepy crawly things coming out of the sea. Eliminating them is pretty simple - pick up bones/sticks that are around you to throw at them. Much of the game revives around shooting but due to the limited capacity of your bullets, you'll often find yourself using bones as the last resort to kill an enemy. The enemies vary from strange looking bugs to big dinosaurs. Throughout the course of the game, it aims to surprise you at the worst of moments. So, when you think it's all over don't be fooled. Things come at you from behind and above through cracks in rocks.

There is no health bar or any other HUD elements present. You can take a few hits but any more and you're dead. Health regenerates after a short period of time. The only possible way to tell if you are hurt is that the screen will get redder and redder. It will gradually fade away so long as you are not taking any more damage. The B button can simply be pushed to check your ammunition amount as this is not displayed on the screen either. Another thing is that there is no aiming reticle whatsoever but it's pretty much easy to adjust to.

Many of the enemies only need to take a few hits before they are down (such as the millipedes) but you will often need to take cover whilst trying to take down something as large as Kong. The creature I am on about is the dinosaur. These will be throughout much of the game and can be the hardest of enemies to defeat. Sometimes, the game will deliberately not make you kill them. So, thus you'll need to find a way to get past them or distract them. It's all about logic - killing a smaller creature near a dinosaur will usually keep their focus on that piece of meat rather than yourself.

It may be noticeable that if you walk to a certain spot in the environment you'll notice dinosaurs suddenly come running towards you. This can often be frustrating because you're thinking "Am I going to make it or not?" These moments will often keep you gripped and then you'll come over with a sigh relief knowing you have just passed that level. The main element that makes you think that there is an enemy nearby is the sound effects. You won't know where they are sometimes but boy can you hear them! This particularly gets very tense when you are crawling through water at an unbelievably slow speed. The whole tense thing continues through much of the game until the very last few levels where you are placed in New York.

Aside from killing enemies you can often feel "stuck" at times. Trying to find a lever to open a gate can often be hard. It may take a good lot of thinking to know where the lever is. Even when you do see them you will have to sometimes often clear your path. With the help of the other characters (who all have excellent voice acting) you will find they can help you out at times and all you mainly do is follow them. Occasionally, the game forces you to go through on your own but you will often be reunited with your buddies not long after.

A great extra addition they managed to put into the game was the ability to play as Kong. He has a different control system to that of Jack. The camera is also fixed at a first-person view. It may feel a bit awkward at first but works reasonably well. You'll be able to bite your enemies to death, thrash them and do the infamous Kong roar. How cool can it get? Playing as Kong sometimes involves you holding Ann too. It is often noted you must protect her at times throughout the game whilst snapping dinosaur's jaws. Now that is what I call a great addition.

When you manage to finally get off Skull Island you'll be off to New York. The last few chapters of the game you would think would be the best but actually not quite. It feels like the developer just didn't have enough time left and so they quickly put together these last chapters. It doesn't feel too challenging at all but it can be made up when you get to play the alternate ending. Unlocking bonuses is an excuse to play through this game again. It's not something I would recommend jumping back into but it could probably be worth it for the bonuses. There is an interview with the director of the film, Peter Jackson and an ending where Kong survives. There are some more but the ones mentioned are probably the best to get unlocked.

The visuals in the game are pretty good for a launch game. This is a good example on what the Xbox 360 can do. The environments look very well designed and the dinosaurs, creatures and Kong all look stunning. There may be an odd patch here and there that doesn't look right but overall, it should perform well on the graphical side. The game contains a lot of dialogue - it's clear and ties in well. The roars from Kong and the dinosaurs have been carefully placed that give the game that added thrill factor. There was one minor problem where the sounds in the game went higher pitched once. This was most likely due to a glitch and was easily fixed when the game was restarted. Also, take into note the soundtrack is different from the movie. This does pretty well on its own and it changes depending on whether or not you are in a calm or thrilling situation.

King Kong proves to be good but it's one of those games that you can get done in under ten hours. Whether or not you feel like playing the game again is up to you. Not much effort is really required to get the achievements though. The achievements could of been a bit more challenge. They are basically given to you for passing certain chapters. If you're up for a brief but enjoyable action/adventure game then look no further than King Kong.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 04/03/07