Peter Jackson's King Kong: The Official Game of the Movie
released on Nov 17, 2005
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Peter Jacksons King Kong Review
Peter Jacksons King Kong was released on all major consoles around the time of the films release. Developed by Ubisoft, they wanted this to be a bigger budget game to match the movie and do it justice. They put the creator of Rayman in charge and asked him to make a game worthy of the movie and not just another quick cash grab.
It’s clear from the onset that King Kong is more than the usual movie to game adaptation. The production value is clear to see, menus look sleek, all the actors from the movie reprise their roles and do a decent job too. Graphicly it’s a decent looking game, its not going to win any awards for its visuals but its more than a simple up-res of a last gen game. High res-textures are abundant and improved lighting over the last gen version really helps to improve the emersion. The game sets a decent atmosphere, skirting the line between horror and action adventure well. Skull island is a foreboding place and the game makes you feel every moment. The game is a first-person shooter 70% of the time as you play as Jack, and a 3rd person view when playing as Kong.
When playing as jack guns and ammo are in short supply and only for emergencies, there is a pistol, rifle and shotgun only, but all useful and fun to use. Most the combat focuses on using the environment to your advantage, sticks and bones that can be thrown at enemies, lit on fire to burn down parts of the environments. You can use bugs to distract enemies, diverting their attention to save ammo. Enemies are varied, large bats, millipedes, drakes, all the creatures seen in the film are here and are tough opponents. You can only take 2 or 3 hits before seeing game over, regenerating health is present, an annoying red hue comes over the screen when close to death, but it obscures your view too much and often will result in certain death because of it. Speaking of views, the field of view is far too zoomed in, this makes melee combat a pain, especially as enemies move quickly around your feet.
When playing as Kong the game switches to a 3rd person view, and becomes a melee brawler. Kong handles rather clunky, due to how he is designed his actions are slightly delayed, the camera also opts for a cinematic view, similar to resident evil games which make him more of a struggle to control. It looks awesome to battle dinosaurs and throw them about when it works, but often these sections where a struggle to get through.
The story starts about a 3rd of the way through the film when you arrive on skull island, scenes from the film are used at times to bridge some large gaps but for the most part, once it starts it’s a liner experience taking you to the end of the film. If you’ve not seen the film you can tell what’s happening but some of the levels don’t blend into one another as seamlessly as you’d like. Theres little re-play value to be had here, all levels are open once you have completed them, but none really stand out and standalone experiences to enjoy. Achievements wise its an easy 1000 Gamerscore that you will get for just completing the game. I had a good time with King Kong, id be in no rush to return but what was here was enjoyable.
7.0/10
Peter Jacksons King Kong was released on all major consoles around the time of the films release. Developed by Ubisoft, they wanted this to be a bigger budget game to match the movie and do it justice. They put the creator of Rayman in charge and asked him to make a game worthy of the movie and not just another quick cash grab.
It’s clear from the onset that King Kong is more than the usual movie to game adaptation. The production value is clear to see, menus look sleek, all the actors from the movie reprise their roles and do a decent job too. Graphicly it’s a decent looking game, its not going to win any awards for its visuals but its more than a simple up-res of a last gen game. High res-textures are abundant and improved lighting over the last gen version really helps to improve the emersion. The game sets a decent atmosphere, skirting the line between horror and action adventure well. Skull island is a foreboding place and the game makes you feel every moment. The game is a first-person shooter 70% of the time as you play as Jack, and a 3rd person view when playing as Kong.
When playing as jack guns and ammo are in short supply and only for emergencies, there is a pistol, rifle and shotgun only, but all useful and fun to use. Most the combat focuses on using the environment to your advantage, sticks and bones that can be thrown at enemies, lit on fire to burn down parts of the environments. You can use bugs to distract enemies, diverting their attention to save ammo. Enemies are varied, large bats, millipedes, drakes, all the creatures seen in the film are here and are tough opponents. You can only take 2 or 3 hits before seeing game over, regenerating health is present, an annoying red hue comes over the screen when close to death, but it obscures your view too much and often will result in certain death because of it. Speaking of views, the field of view is far too zoomed in, this makes melee combat a pain, especially as enemies move quickly around your feet.
When playing as Kong the game switches to a 3rd person view, and becomes a melee brawler. Kong handles rather clunky, due to how he is designed his actions are slightly delayed, the camera also opts for a cinematic view, similar to resident evil games which make him more of a struggle to control. It looks awesome to battle dinosaurs and throw them about when it works, but often these sections where a struggle to get through.
The story starts about a 3rd of the way through the film when you arrive on skull island, scenes from the film are used at times to bridge some large gaps but for the most part, once it starts it’s a liner experience taking you to the end of the film. If you’ve not seen the film you can tell what’s happening but some of the levels don’t blend into one another as seamlessly as you’d like. Theres little re-play value to be had here, all levels are open once you have completed them, but none really stand out and standalone experiences to enjoy. Achievements wise its an easy 1000 Gamerscore that you will get for just completing the game. I had a good time with King Kong, id be in no rush to return but what was here was enjoyable.
7.0/10
Very weird FPS and 3rd person brawler hybrid movie tie-in game. King Kong was one of the release titles for the console and as such probably got more playtime and accolades that it deserved. It's the type of game that looks decent in videos but is actually a chore to play. You play mostly as Jack (Adrian Brody in the movie) running around shooting stuff on an island full of giant bugs and dinosaurs. These parts of the game feel like they should be survival horror style. You have a very limited number of weapons and ammo and frequently rely on picking up sticks and bones to fend off the various creatures that attack you. The lack of a hud or aiming reticle gives the game quite a cool atmosphere and a unique feeling which make these sections somewhat interesting but still often a bit of a slog. The problems are numerous. Linear levels, dumb NPCs that follow you around, poor controls and repetitive puzzle sections which normally require setting bushes on fire. Worse still are the King Kong missions. Playing as King Kong, these missions feel like continuous quick time events mixed with some very basic brawling. The controls also are annoying, making the boss fights much more frustrating than they should be and I found myself dreading playing as Kong, which should really be the highlight of the game. If you stick the weapons and unlimited ammo cheats on, the game becomes much more playable. Still, it's no where near as much fun as it looks and even King Kong fans will struggle.
I liked that there was no HUD at all. The gameplay was annoying at times unfortunately.
A game that desperately would benefit with a remake. In today's standards, it's not that great but for its time. What a game that translated well from the film. A linear survival chapter based experience that just needs a modern version. Still fun to go back to every few years!
Nostalgic, childhood game I replayed for the first time in over a decade. So nostalgia vision beware. A solid horror, action, survival game. Perfectly paced at around 6 hours in length it doesn't overstay it's welcome. The only thing I didn't really enjoy was the King Kong sections. They felt like a poor beat em up game. But hey they make up a fraction of the game.
This feels like what Jurassic Park Trespasser tried to do. It completely gets rid of any hud, the protagonist tells you how much ammo you have left (there's even a joke about it in the game) and greatly relies on your improvisationel skills by only hand-dripping you smoll amounts of ammo and spears to throw. I think it mostly succeeds in what it tries to do: it's immersive, some of the setpieces are really effective and nerve-wrecking, yet it always feels a little off. It's janky, rather ugly and the Kong sections, while few and far between, lack the impact they should have.
I wish I'd like it more since it's pretty unique but just not memorable enough.
I wish I'd like it more since it's pretty unique but just not memorable enough.