King Kong Hands-On

Ubisoft's King Kong has the rather daunting task of offering an experience that compares to or complements the upcoming Peter Jackson film of the same name. To make matters worse, the film and game are both dealing with a film icon of enormous proportions. So how the heck do you pull something like that off? For starters, you hand the keys to a veteran developer with a body of work that's matured nicely, in this case Michel Ancel and his Montpellier Studio. It also doesn't hurt if you get the director, who happens to be an Academy Award winner and owns the special-effects house pumping out the jaw-dropping visuals for the film, to collaborate. Such is the case with Ubisoft's King Kong, a promising cinematic game that's coming to the party about as bulletproof as you could hope. After whetting our appetites at this year's Electronic Entertainment Expo, where Ubi got the crowds in its mini-theater jumping, the developer let us try out a work-in-progress version of the game to see if the game lives up to the lofty expectations set by its first impression.

Before we get to specifics, we'll cut to the chase: Does King Kong live up to its first impression? Yes. Oh yes. The combination of Jackson's stunning vision for the film and Ancel's Montpellier team, no strangers to cinematic wonder as evidenced by Beyond Good & Evil, appears to be a winning one. We had the chance to try out a handful of different levels, playing as both Jack Driscoll (the male lead in the film played by Adrian Brody) and Kong himself (the alpha-male lead in the film played by the most convincing assemblage of CG to grace the silver screen yet) and are pleased by what we've seen.

We had the chance to try out five levels from the game, some of which we tried at this year's E3. Four levels cast us as Jack, and one let us get our Kong on to good effect. The first level, where you play as Jack, gives you your first glimpse of Kong just as Ann Darrow, the actress who gets nominated as a monkey treat by the natives of Skull Island, is nabbed by the mighty one. You'll be freed by Carl Denham, one of the members of your troubled expedition, and you'll both set out to follow Kong. The level lets you get a feel for the first-person controls and the game's lack of interface. It's also quite effective at reminding you of your place in the world of Skull Island. The next segment drives home the point that you're basically kibble to the creatures around you--you'll be trying to get your band of merry men away from a massive dinosaur, the V-rex for those of you following the film, a cousin of the more familiar tyrannosaurus. Though you may initially get the impression that the level pits you and your group against the V-rex, the fact of the matter is that the level is all about getting the hell out of the thing's way and protecting your group. There's no way for you to kill it, so you'll have to slow it down and distract it as your other party members clear the way ahead by opening gates. This theme runs through a forced scrolling level that finds you riding a makeshift raft down a river bordered by hungry rexes who are ecstatic at the moving buffet. The next segment is the stuff of nightmares and is almost funny if you think about it. You'll have to navigate a running pack of brontosauruses, which gets you to cave where you think you can catch your breath but turns out to be full of deadly critters.

The Jack levels do a great job of making you feel like a leaf in a windstorm. You're at the mercy of just about everything around you, relying on little more than a spear, some fire, or some weapons if you get lucky. However, there's something to be said for being so insignificant. You'll be able to take full advantage of the world around you if you use your brain. One of the big things that Ubi is touting is the game's "food chain," which is on good display throughout these levels. Raptors can be distracted if you hit a nearby bat so that it falls, dead or wounded, near them. At the same time, bats can be distracted if you harpoon yourself some insects on a spear (creating a makeshift shish kebab) and pitch the treat past them. Another useful aspect of your surroundings is the level of interactivity. You can pick up spears or sticks lying around to defend yourself, or if you're lucky, you can use them in combination with fire to either increase the amount of damage they do when hitting an enemy or set nearby shrubbery ablaze. Sure they're not the most heroic things to do, but if you're trying to throw down with prehistoric creatures, dirty fighting is a must.

The mechanics of the game work surprisingly well considering there's no interface. Your health is reflected in your view of the world. You'll know you're taking damage in a number of ways; chief among them is an unpleasant jerking motion and a red flash. As your condition gets worse you'll notice a red haze, you'll move sluggishly, and you'll generally get the impression that something really bad is happening as your health gets low. Tracking your ammo without an interface is a bit trickier, but it still works pretty well. Basically, Jack will call out his ammo as you play. So, for example, if you fire off a few rounds with your shotgun he'll say how many shots he has left. Attacking works surprisingly well, and even though you don't have a reticle, you'll be able to use your gun sight to varying degrees. Your rifle's scope lets you aim using traditional means, while your pistol requires you to eyeball your shots. When using a spear you simply have to point the dangerous end towards your target and let it fly.

Monkey Shines

The Kong level lets you control the mighty simian as he heads off to rescue Ann from becoming an hors d'oeuvre for some V-rexes. The section is broken up into two short bits. One finds you enjoying the freedom that comes from climbing and leaping like only an ape can, and the second is a good old-fashioned fight between Kong and not one, but two, rexes.

The running and climbing segment shows off the simple control scheme for the big guy. Doing all the crazy leaps and climbing is dead easy thanks to a simple control layout. The appeal of this section is due in large part to the animation and the sense of weight it gives Kong. You definitely get a sense that you're guiding a massive creature around, and it's very cool to see him make his way around the environment with a grace you wouldn't expect for something his size.

The combat, on the other hand, has Kong using his mass exactly like you'd expect. Combat is very visceral and brutal, and you'll be able to beat the prehistoric snot out of your foes with ease. You'll have two main attacks at your disposal as well as a grab. Mixing up both will let you perform combos that dole out an impressive amount of damage. The coolest part of the fight, aside from the fact that you're going toe-to-toe with two massive rexes, is that they're not pushovers. Just because you're controlling Kong doesn't mean you'll be able to steamroller the duo. The two will try their best to stomp you and perform some brutal moves of their own. The rexes are fond of trying to grab hold of Kong and maul him. Thankfully, if you're quick, you'll be able to get out of the grapple before taking too much damage. Of course, once you get the hang of the solid controls you'll be able to crack some jaws. You'll be able to initiate a quick button-mashing sequence that will let you tear open the jaw of one of your foes--and not in the fun way. We're also fond of Kong's roar, which is something you can do just for kicks.

The visuals are looking superb and compare favorably to what we've seen of the film. The game has a bit of an unfair advantage in this department, thanks to Ubisoft's collaboration with Weta Digital, which has allowed the team to use the digital art from the movie. Not that we're complaining, mind you--the level of authenticity this brings the visuals is impressive to say the least. The environments feature gorgeous detail and rich coloring. The sense of life is enhanced by the use of weather effects, such as rain and lightning, and by interactive elements, such as foliage that moves as you tromp through it.

Unfortunately you won't be able to appreciate it all too much, since more often than not you're trying to stay alive. As pretty as your surroundings are, they rarely let you forget that they're home to all manner of creations who view you and your teammates as a "snack pack assortment" of treats. The character models we've seen so far, namely Jack Black as Carl Denham, look great and border on photo-realistic. As for the monsters, Weta's art is on fine display in the game and is complemented by eerily smooth animation for the raptors, V-rexes, bats, brontosauruses, and massive centipede creatures you'll encounter. As for Kong, well, they don't call him the king for nothing. The gargantuan simian is one of the highlights of the whole experience, with lots of detail and a hefty amount of character. You'll notice a range of color throughout his fur and a wealth of scars on his body and face that serve as his "cred" for being lord of the jungle. Better still is his animation, which has an excellent sense of weight to it. Of course, we've never seen a massive ape leaping through the jungle or fighting dinosaurs, but we feel pretty sure it would move a lot like Kong does.

As far as the platform breakdown goes, we were able to try the game only on the PlayStation 2 and Xbox. Thanks to the game's use of the Montpellier's Jade engine, which has been modified to accommodate gigantic apes, among other things, the game looks great on both platforms. You'll notice some differences in the two versions, such as the expected resolution and slight performance differences, but the game is still a wonder on either platform even at this incomplete stage of its development. Given how well Beyond Good & Evil ran across systems, we expect Kong will follow suit by the time it's finished.

The audio, one of the key components to selling the whole crazy experience, is most definitely on point. The roar of Kong and the cries of the other critters in the game are exceptional, with mighty teeth-rattling rumblings or unsettling screeches that are exactly what you'd expect in the post-Jurassic Park era of monsters. But while the broader elements of the audio will garner favorable attention, we'd like to call out a host of smaller details that we bet will escape notice initially. The ambient noise from the jungle around you is fantastic, as is the mix of audio from your teammates and the murderous natives eager to stab you. Music is used sparingly and for dramatic effect in what we've played so far, which works surprisingly well.

Based on what we played, King Kong is shaping up to be a great complement to the film. More importantly, even without the large ape license, it's feeling like an impressively solid original game, which isn't something you can always say about movie games. There's a lot to be impressed by here in terms of new ideas and gameplay mechanics. If the rest of the game manages to maintain the same level of quality we've seen, and the rough edges that caught our eye are smoothed out, it should match its celluloid cousin in terms of quality and spectacle. King Kong is slated to ship this November for the DS, GameCube, GBA, PC, PS2, Xbox, and Xbox 360. Movie purists should note that this is a month before the film's December release, so if you're looking to avoid spoilers you may have to hold out a bit. Although honestly, most folks know how this story ends--it's not like Kong will be saved at the end by a brigade of flying monkeys wielding lasers (although we'd pay good money to see that). In any case, we'll bring you more information on King Kong as soon as it becomes available.