Movie games are no doubt notorious for their questionable quality. Often, publishers and movie companies sign deals that say games based off their movie counterparts must release a certain date, most the time to coincide with the release of the film itself. But at the same time, companies rarely fund or invest the money or time that’s needed to make a game that can stand alongside the film it’s based off and shine just as bright as the movie itself. Indeed, a trend of crummy movie-based games have riddled the video game industry since the dawn of time.

That said, as years have passed, the quality of movie-based games are definitely improving. Games like GoldenEye from Rare come to mind, which not only turned out to be a game as good as its movie sibling, but one that’s actually considered one of the best games ever designed. Since its release, Electronic Arts has tried to capitalize on the success of Rare’s shooter, with a number of James Bond-themed games based on a share of both new and old Bond films. Perhaps in a similar fashion, Ubisoft has teamed up with Universal Studios to try and both cash-in on the King Kong franchise and deliver a game that doesn’t put the series to shame.

Famed director Peter Jackson even went as far as to pick the man to headline the project himself, Michel Ancel – creator of Beyond Good & Evil. The two men worked cooperatively to make sure that both the film and game were up to par. A the end of the day, this team work shows in King Kong the game. Ancel and Ubisoft have crated a movie-game with an absorbing atmosphere and entertaining design. Unfortunately, the adventure is plagued by some shaky progression and just doesn’t flow as well as it could. Similarly, the title is pretty short to warrant its retail price.

The Facts

• Designed by Beyond Good & Evil creator Michel Ancel and overseen by famed movie director Peter Jackson
  
• First-person adventure elements blend with third-person beat-em-up ones
  
• Beautiful and lush visuals bring the world of Skull Island to life
  
• Rated T for Teen
  
• Dolby Digital support for Xbox and Xbox 360 and Dolby Pro Logic II for GameCube and PlayStation 2
  
• Letterboxed 16x9 aspect ratio

A Prehistoric Island
King Kong is based on the recently released Peter Jackson remake of the classic King Kong film from 1993. However, because of licensing agreements, Peter Jackson could not re-design the original script much with his Hollywood-ized remake, thus he’s used the video game, along with the help of Ubisoft and Michel Ancel, to tell a slightly different story – one that’s quite different from the original King Kong movie, in fact, and the brand new movie as well.

These changes are mostly welcome, though, because those that have seen the remake or the original will find Ubisoft’s approach to the story quite intriguing. The core plot is the same, though, so it’s familiar enough to keep fans of the Kong franchise pleased. But at the same time, because there are some twists and turns here, they’ll be kept on their toes too.

The game starts with a clip from the trailer of Peter Jackson’s film. It shows Carl Dunham, an aspiring director, searching for a woman to play the roll of his female star for his upcoming documentary. He eventually finds Ann Darrow, a young blonde who’s barely scraping up enough coin to make it on the streets, who he talks into going to Skull Island with him to shoot the film. Along for the ride are a few other characters, including Jack Driscoll, who gamers actually play as throughout most the game and some background characters like Hayes and Jimmy, two shipmen that become apart of the journey once all are on a ship to the mysterious Skull Island.



King Kong
As said before, the fundamental plot itself is unchanged, but the way many events unfold and the events that unfold, in fact, have been altered quite a bit. But, again, these changes are welcome, because they don’t stray too far from the original storyline and at the same time, they offer plenty of new surprises to keep even the most hardcore fans hooked.

All in all, storytelling in King Kong is a little disappointing, as is the progression of the adventure. It just doesn’t flow well, which surprises us considering Michel Ancel’s work on Beyond Good & Evil. For example, the opening cinema in the game consists of nothing but half the trailer of the official remake by Jackson. This feels a little half-assed, as Ubisoft didn’t even go the extra few feet and render it in the very capable game engine. What’s more, the game is split into over thirty different chapters, each lasting anywhere from five to twenty. Because this is the case, just when things start to roll, the game cuts and has to load. This takes players out of what would be an otherwise relentless atmosphere.

In the game, players spend most their time playing as Jack Driscoll from first-person. In this sense, King Kong reminds us of both Metroid Prime and even Half-Life 2 because in no-way is this a straight-up first-person shooter. It instead brings to the table mostly puzzle solving, adventuring and pure exploration. While there’s a good chunk of weaponry throughout the journey, the title’s design even discourages against using weaponry too much, by limiting the amount of ammunition players find. Instead, the title throws at gamers plenty of spears, sticks, poles and the like which can be lunged into any beats along the way.



King Kong
The HUD design itself also strays from the norm, perhaps making King Kong so refreshing. By default, there’s no HUD (heads-up display), meaning players can’t tell how much health or ammunition they have by looking at numbers on screen. Alternatively, and more realistically, they must rely on more organic practices for this information. For instance, when Jack’s health is low, his vision will be distorted, and his heart will begin to beat. Furthermore, when players reload their gun, Jack will say how many clips he has left.