King Kong's a short ride but on the X-Box 360 it's a impressive graphical improvement over the other versions.
Platform: X-Box 360
Developer: Ubisoft
Publisher: Ubisoft Montipellie
Genre: Action/Adventure
Age Rating: 12 BBFC
Release Date: November 17th 2005
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Game Score: 8.0/10
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Summery:
King Kong's a short ride but on the X-Box 360 it's a impressive graphical improvement over the other versions.
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Review Notes: As of December 2005 the movie had already been released so please treat this review as if the movie had not been out yet at the time.
Peter Jackson (responsible for The Lord of the Rings Movie Trilogy) tags along with Ubisoft to bring the Official King Kong game based on the upcoming King Kong remake in which it's based on the classic 1933 film blockbuster. Unlike most failed movie licensed video games King Kong delivers a sheer pacing experience before you'd have a chance to see the film.
The storyline follows with Carl Denham (Played by Jack Black) as he hopes about making big for his upcoming movie. He hires an actress to start in his movie Ann Darrow (Voiced by Naomi Watts) and takes along his cast and crew to an uncharted island known as Skull Island. Screenwriter Jack Driscoll (Voiced by Adrien Brody) and Hayes (Voiced by Evan Parke) a Green Beret tag along for the ride as they uncover lost Ancient Civilization home to many dangerous inhabitants and a giant 24 foot gorilla named Kong. While the game doesn't necessarily follow much storyline of the movie but it does a good job in expending the style with it's deep cut-scenes and dialogue. In order to appetite these moments you might want to wait till the movie comes and watch it before getting this game.
King Kong game comprises between both First Person and a Third Person brawler combined games. You survive the wilderness as Jack Driscoll through a First Person perspective and Battle huge Raptors, V-Rexes and beastly snakes in a Third Person beat em up style. The game concentrates on a complete experience without any Multiplayer modes to speak off.
Playing the Jack levels you start off on the deserted island searching for your lost allies. Along the way you'll be pursued by many of islands dangerous beasts that lurk around most corners of the environment. Through the game Jack will find many bones and spears which can be used for defending or to be thrown at enemies. Jack can make use of guns that Captain Eanglehorn (Voiced by Thomas Kretschmann) will drop a gun off for Jack to use. The load-out consists of a Pistol, Shotgun, Sniper Rifle and a Machine Gun in which each can be swapped for another gun anytime as Jack can only carry one gun at a time. You'll also need to be watchful for your ammo as the stocks for each pick up only have a short supply and also since there's no HUD to tell you how much you have left sometimes Jack reminds you about much ammo he has left in reserve, although you do have the option to turn on the Crosshair and HUD if you wish to make things easier but it's disabled by default to be more realistic. Bones and Spears are used to solve puzzles such as burning thick bushes to clear a path, to attach a dragonfly or a slug onto as bait to lure spiders away or to use them as throwing weapons. There's some puzzles in which you'll have to locate a lever to plug into a pole allowing you to move on and they can be easy to solve. You'll face numerous ferocious beasts such as Cave Serpents, several Dinosaurs, Giant Crabs and Skull Island Natives. Some enemies take quite of firepower to put down but using Spears helps out more since most can die in hit from them. Sometimes you can distract by killing bats which can help you to escape danger. You also lack a health bar either but any time you get hit the screen flashes red and blurs alerting you that you're in critical condition and if you're struck again you'll die. Your team members can also be of help sometimes as they can throw spears from safe distances from enemies but sometimes you'll end up trying to keep them away in-case enemies get to close to them. You can also interact with your team members to get spare spears or to swap weapons with Hayes. Through most of the game you'll play as Jack but it's a good thing that it's an enjoyable experience much to that of the Kong levels.
In some Levels you'll get a chance to experience the power of the 24 foot tall gorilla but however there isn't much levels where you'll play as Kong. Kong levels take you through a Third-Person perspective where you'll face giant monsters, swinging through vines and climb your way through the environment to save and protect Ann from danger. Kong has own share of puzzles such as being able to place Ann to a fire for her to burn down thick bushes and to carry her around or to move a huge obstacle blocking the way. Most of the time Kong will face numerous beasts with his punches, slamming and tackle attacks which knocks enemies of guard and he can use his trademark roar to temporarily increase his power. When he knocks down an enemy you have to finish them with the Mortal Kombat style finishers to break jaws and wings of either a V-Rex of a Giant Terapusmordax. The Kong levels are very enjoyable but these moments are only brief and there's only a few levels of them. The main disappointment to have with the Kong levels is the last one where Kong is rampaging through New York City. You can throw cars around to take out the search lights and into other cars with soldiers and police officers shooting, you can't destroy or take down any of the buildings unlike in the movie but the moment where Kong climbs the Empire State Building one of the best moments in the movie is amazingly fun. Kong has some amazing moments from the movie and it can be downright fun to play as a giant 24 foot ape but there's no enough Kong levels and you can't destroy buildings in New York.
The game overall takes about 6 to 8 Hours to complete the main campaign in one sitting. Upon completing the game you'll unlock gallery artwork which can be viewed in extras as well as unlocking the classic Black and White view screen and also flipping the screen horizontally. Beating the game also unlocks a Score attack where you can replay levels to beat record points and the high scores can be uploaded on the King Kong game website which connects to online rankings. The scores in the game total the amount of points based on kills, shots fired, spears used, friendlies injured, attacks missed and so forth. It's a decent remedy to add some replay value but it doesn't add much to the game.
Added to the 360 version are the achievements in which are incredibly easy to unlock on a single play-through. You'll get a simple 1000 Gamerpoints without any trouble what-so-ever.
King Kong is one of those movie games that shines really well in the production values. On the 360 the Details, Visuals and Models all look even better then what they looked on the other consoles. The jungle environments are varied with deep visuals on detailed character and creature models from the movie, impressive weather effects and monster roars having impressive shock effects. However the game's frame rate drops considerably when the action gets intense and also spotted some minor glitches which can occur from time to time. The music sets the mood for some of the major highlighted moments of the film and you can expect the voice-acting to be as solid as the movie with the actor's playing their roles from the Movie.
Although your trip through the wilderness will be a short ride but King Kong is a step up from other failed movie licensed games before it other then Goldeneye on the N64. With it's impressive production values, deep combined Gameplay of both First Person and Third Person along with a storyline which is great for expanding upon makes the experience very enjoyable. Sure you'll get some disappointments with Kong but the game will be best served as a one way trip as It's a short adventure but King Kong the game proves to be a satisfying experience that fans should check out. The 360 version is worth checking out for the HD visuals and details that look way better then the other console versions.
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The Pros:
1. Great perspectives of both Jack and Kong Levels
2. Deep storyline for loosely expanding upon
3. Impressively updated graphics from the other console versions
4. Great Puzzles to solve through out the game
The Bads:
1. Quite a short game for 6 to 8 Hours.
2. Not enough Levels where you play as Kong.
3. You can't destroy buildings in the New York city level
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Reviewed by: Anthony Hayball (BlaZer91)
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