•• Story ••
The story follows the basic movie premise. You are Jack, a hired mercenary following a group of filmmakers on a jungle island. In tow is the lovely Ann Darrow, the star of the film. Through a series of events, Ann is captured by King Kong, realizes he is a gentle giant, and escapes. The giant gorilla is captured, brought to the New York, climbs the Empire State Building and then falls to his death. Now before you whine about how I spoiled the story, too bad. The story is about 65 years old and the statute of limitations is up.

And following the story to a tee like this is the one negative against it. You know how the story is going to end so there's no suspense. You know that when you are controlling Kong in the last level and you are forced to climb the Empire State Building, it's going to end in his demise. This kind of story does not lend itself to good gameplay. Who wants to do all the work to progress through the level only to die a cruel death? And to make it worse, you know that it's going to happen.

•• Gameplay ••
There are really two types of games in King Kong: A 3rd person actioner and 1st person shooter. Most of the game is done as a shooter as you play Jack. The controls are a little different from your typical shooter. You have to hold the left trigger to lower your gun and then hit the right trigger to fire. As well, the right trigger is used as a melee attack when the gun is not lowered. This requirement to press 2 triggers is a little annoying at first because it seems pointless. There are enough buttons on the 360 controller to assign the melee action to a different button. But then I realized that this was a multi-platform game and the original xbox controller didn't have the extra shoulder buttons. So instead of re-engineering the control system, they forced everyone to adapt. The control scheme isn't bad, but it does take some getting used to.

The arsenal of guns is extremely limited. You'll have the opportunity to wield a pistol, shotgun, and sniper rifle. And that's it. And when you do get them, they'll have very limited ammo. This forces you to go native and start chucking spears and rib bones from dead carcasses. Fortunately, their are plenty of them lying around so you never really run out of something to fight with.

Another part of the shooter game is puzzles. These are cleverly disguised, but always amount to the same thing: Find a spear or rib bone, light it on fire (who knew that bones burned?) and then use that fire to either light another urn or burn off a section of foliage so your team can progress. Pretty basic stuff, but I still found it fun.

For most of the game, you'll find yourself running through caves, on ledges, in swamps, and up hills. None of these are particularly difficult for a few reasons. You can't fall off the ledge so there's no sense of danger. The path is very linear and easy to follow. I rarely found myself lost and part of that is because the non-player characters would always show me the way. I would argue that this part was a little too easy.

The enemies you will engage don't present much of a challenge because they seem to come one at a time. The bad guys consist of dinosaurs, bats, millipedes, sharks, and scorpions. Plus a few island natives from afar. This game is not meant to be a slam-bang actioner like Quake, where you blaze through a room of baddies. This game is meant to be an adventure with exploration (no matter how linear), discovery and a few enemies along the way to add a challenge. It succeeds on this level, but those hoping for a massive spilling of blood will be disappointed.

Playing as Kong is an altogether different beast (get it? Beast?). This gameplay is done in the third person and is the most fun part of the game. You run around as kong, bashing and knocking your enemies around. You can grab objects to do even more bashing. And the best part is continually mashing the Y button which takes Kong into fury mode, where everything is slow-motion, full of motion blur and Kong does even more damage. he lets out a ferocious roar and beats his chest. It is really quite impressive and a real blast.

As well, you can swing from vines, run across walls and jump around. These events are a lot of fun, but I soon discovered there is no way to fail. You can't miss a vine jump, you can't fall off a wall. You will always leap to the next area as long as you press the X button. Having these tasks more difficult might have made the game more challenging.

The worst part of playing as Kong is that you don't get to play him often enough. The times I was playing Kong were ferocious, with tons of action, lots of roaring, and a ton of fun. And then it would switch back to a first person shooter, and an average one at that. You are Kong for roughly 30% of the game.

The above might seem more negative than I want it to. That's because the game is actually quite good, so the negative moments really stick out. But let me say it again. I had a blast playing this game. It was immersive, fun, varied, and adventurous. And clocking in at about 8 hours, I felt it was just long enough. Any longer and it would have gotten repetitious and I would have gotten antsy waiting for it to end.

•• Graphics ••
The graphics of King Kong are surprisingly good considering this was a launch title that shipped on multiple platforms. But this game is not merely a port. The graphics are extremely detailed with lots of effects, particularly when Kong is in his fury mode. Ample use is made of the requisite motion blur and the fire looks fantastic.

The human models are good, but not great. The lip synching, for whatever reason, never seems to match the lips, which only seem to twitch when talking. Along those lines, the animations of the humans seemed a little less than fluid and not very realistic. This is in sharp contrast to Kong which was an amazing model. He had many facial expressions (all of them being rage) and a few different moves. When he smacks the baddies, they crumple and react marvelously with the physics. Fighting in fury mode is a real blast. And when he beats a boss, the camera zooms in on a double-roar to a closeup of his face. Man, it just makes you want to stand up and beat your chest. It is wonderfully effective.

And just wait until you get to the valley of the stampeding brontosauruses. What a joy to behold, especially when you are in the valley trying not to get crushed!

•• Sound ••
The best part of the game. I get so excited when game makers pay attention to the sound. There is nothing more immersive than the sound design. Argue with me on that fact all you want. I'm right.

And the sound in Kong is fabulous. I'm sure they have an advantage being based on a movie. They simply used the sound effects and music from the movie. And this paid off in spades. Kong's roar is amazing! It just fills the room. As well, the dinos are great and the bugs give a true sense of creepiness. The Voice-over work is excellent, as good as I've seen in any video game.

The music seems to be the score from the movie and it works well to create a sense of mood and even emotional connection with the great beast. I knew how the game would end, but it was still kind of a bummer when it happened. And part of that is due to the excellent musical score.

•• Multiplayer ••
None whatsoever, not even co-op on the same box.

•• Achievements ••
The Achievements for King Kong are pretty basic. Finish the game and you'll get all 1000 of them. Not exactly the most creative use of one of the best features of the console.

•• Parents Should Know ••
This game is rated T for Teen and is basically OK for that age group, maybe a little younger. There is some human death in the end, but most of the game is dino and monster bashing.

•• Conclusion ••
A mediocre shooter, King Kong excels when you are Kong and truly capture the excitement and emotion of the film.

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Recommended:
Yes