Review by Colin 117

The real name of the game is: "Peter Jackson's King Kong: The Official Game of the Movie". If only the game was as stretched out as the title and the movie it was based on! From here on we will refer to the game as simply "King Kong". King Kong has some very satisfying moments, but doesn't break any new boundaries and falls very short in the value category.

Gameplay
This game is awarded an 8/10 for gameplay more for the excellent job it does at immersing the player in the game, than for its technical gameplay merits. There is no dual wielding, vehicles, melee attacking (at least in the FPS part of the game) or any of the exciting things that are starting to become staples in all the new popular FPS titles. Hell, there isn't even a reticule! But that's where the fun starts.

When playing King Kong, you needn't concern yourself with a reticule, health bar, ammo count or anything else you might be used to seeing on your heads up display in an FPS. You have no HUD at all! This does wonders for the intensity and occasional scare factor the game delivers. Since the player is spending no time lining up his crosshair for the kill, the game offers quick and thrilling encounters with enemies. An example might be you frantically running away and shooting at a massive T-rex, or quickly turning and firing at a Pterodactyl that is suddenly swooping in your path. Although it's very simple gameplay, it's done well and is arguably the most enjoyable aspect of the game.

About 30% of the game is not an FPS, as you take control of Kong himself and unleash destruction on everything in your path. This is as fun as it sounds AT FIRST, but quickly grows tiresome as you hammer the same couple buttons to kill the same few enemies and complete jumps where you have very little control over where you are jumping.

There is also a puzzle-solving element to King Kong, but much like the Kong levels, it is intersting at first and quickly grows repetitive as the game designers either decided to use similar puzzles over and over out of laziness or simply ran out of development time (the latter being more likely).

Graphics
Discounting the benefits gained from an HD display, the graphics in the xbox 360 version of King Kong are still an improvement over what is offered on the other platforms. These improvements include but are not limited to the lighting, geometry, textures, fire effects and the hair that covers King Kong. On an HD display this is an impressive looking game in many ways, although some things (like the character's faces) do suffer from the "multiplatform effect". Something that should be mentioned, this is a very dark game and will be hard to see on certain displays unless you adjust the brightness, and that can lead to a washed out image. It seems to look best on LCD type screens as they are generally very bright.

Sound
The game performs strongly in the aural department as well, offering excellent voice-acting from the actual cast of the movie. The sound effects are also above average, sporting some very convincing jungle sounds which are excellent at immersing the player in the game when combined with the no-HUD game design. The heart pounding and heavy breathing you will hear when low on health does an admirable job of keeping you on the edge of your seat. The full orchestral score is always setting the right mood and is top-quality and reminiscent of the music heard in the movie.

Achievements
The achievements are as weak as the replay value. Play through the game once, and you have them all. They have strange names though, which at least makes it not overtly obvious that they are just awarded for completing levels.

Lasting Appeal
It would be very hard to convince anyone of the lasting appeal that King Kong offers, because there is next to none. You can unlock some odd things like playing the game as a mirror image or playing with weird artistic filters applied to the graphics but none of this is what players are looking for. There isn't even multiple difficulty levels to try! You can tell the development team was running out of time or something as the city level at the end of the game wasn't nearly as well done as the jungle levels. It just felt empty.

Final Score
King Kong is clearly just offering a single player experience, and does a good job with what little it offers. However, if a game is only going to offer a single player experience there needs to be a lot more than 5-7 hours of it.

• Very immersive
• Successfully captures the spirit of the film

• No replay value
• No multiplayer

Note: A rating scale of 0 - 10 is used, with 10 being the highest a game can score while 0 is the absolute worst. Each category has a point value associated with it and a final score is displayed at the end of the review. The opinions expressed in this review are not necessarily the opinions held by the owners of www.achieve360points.com.