Usually video games released
to coincide with a movie release are very average.
However in this case, Peter Jackson's King Kong
is a fairly good action game.
I say fairly good instead of
great due to one major problem in the game -
playing as Kong. While most reviewers liked
that you could play as King Kong, I cringed
everytime I was forced to attempt to control
the beast. Playing from third person perspective,
the controls for Kong are terrible. Especially
in cramped quarters, the camera angle will suddenly
jump from behind Kong to in front of him, meaning
you have to press the backwards key instead
of forwards. On top of this, fighting other
giant beasts as Kong is nothing but a chore
in mashing the keyboard as fast as you can hoping
he'll actually do something. Then when he's
grabbed a beast to perform his fatality, you've
got to pound on the 'grab' key as fast as you
can to kill it. Terrible.
Fortunately, playing as Kong
only takes up about 20% of the game. The rest
is played as Jack as he repeatedly tries to
get his love interest back. But that's not perfect
either because you only get one gun at a time
and limited amounts of ammo. At times your forced
to play with spears that you find. Sure it makes
the gameplay frantic and intense, but I'd rather
take a leisurely stroll through paradise and
admire the scenery without having to spear giant
dinosaurs.
The best thing about Peter
Jackson's King Kong, and it's saving grace,
is the level design. Although the engine looks
slightly dated with pixelated 2D vegatation,
the actual level design is great. Almost all
of the game takes place on the island (apart
from two awful city levels at the end) and there
is enough variety in the texturing and scenery
that it never gets old. The highlight for me
was climbing up to the highest peak of the island,
where Kong was sleeping. Atmospheric effects
such as the lighting and fog look excellent
and capture the creepy, mysterious fantasy island
from the movie perfectly.
So while the gameplay was slightly
held back with some annoying challenges, in
particular playing as Kong, the atmosphere and
design of the fantasy island made up for it
for me.
Add cheats for unlimited ammo
and a level skip for every Kong level, and this
is a very good game, although very short at
around six hours.
