Going Ape

Talk about a ten-ton gorilla of a game: Peter Jackson's King Kong The Official Game of the Movie is like nothing you've ever experienced.

A joint venture between the director of The Lord of the Rings feature film trilogy and Michel Ancel, creator of Beyond Good & Evil, it's the most ambitious silver screen to Xbox® and Xbox 360™ adaptation ever seen. As hands-on playtime reveals, the title—which puts you in control of both hero Jack Driscoll and the gigantic gorilla himself—also deserves to be one of the most commercially successful. The adventure skillfully blends combat, puzzle-solving, and arcade action with Hollywood-grade special effects, upping the bar for all future feature film conversions.

The adventure skillfully blends combat, puzzle-solving,
and arcade action with Hollywood-grade special effects,
upping the bar for all future feature film conversions.

Your journey closely follows the plot of the movie. As the story opens amidst a raging storm, an unlikely crew arrives on Skull Island, an uncharted landmass teeming with prehistoric life. Leading the procession is unscrupulous filmmaker Carl Denham, whose obsession with making the perfect picture thrusts both he and his cohorts, e.g. playwright Driscoll and leading lady Ann Darrow, directly into harm's way. All characters are, of course, voiced by—and, except in the case of Driscoll, who's played by Adrien Brody—skinned in the likeness of their feature film counterparts, including Naomi Watts (Darrow) and Jack Black (Denham).

A fair fight? We think not.

But never mind the plot: it's secondary to the jaw-dropping action itself. Not since The Chronicles of Riddick™: Escape from Butcher Bay have I experienced a title so immersive. Thank the almost complete absence of video footage; apart from a brief intro, all story sequences are crafted using the in-game engine itself. Ditto for an utter lack of on-screen indicators, flashing icons or any hint of a user interface. Viewing the world through hero Driscoll's eyes—which you'll do roughly 75% of the time—you'll find no unsightly dialogue prompts, inventory readouts, or tacky HUD displays disturb your suspension of disbelief.

Need to chat with someone? Walk up and have a word. Feel like swapping weapons with a traveling companion? Ask them to toss a pistol or Tommy gun over. Wondering how much ammo you have left? Driscoll tells you. Oh, and curious how you'll know when you're at death's door? Easy … the screen starts flashing red and black, the sound of your heart beating grows intensely loud, and an orchestral score begins playing in the background.

This being the case, you'll feel a palpable sense of connection with the character. Not to mention terror too: Whether fleeing rampaging raptors or chucking spears at angry Tyrannosaurus Rexes to keep them from gnawing your head off, the tale's an eye-opening thrill ride from start to finish. Mostly, you'll be creeping through the underbrush, lighting fires to clear paths or dodging beneath Brontosaurus' ground-rattling footfalls. But at a moment's notice, everything can change, as giant centipedes suddenly slither from beneath cavern walls or mutant bats come winging out of the blue yonder with a roar.

One of these characters just doesn't belong.

The combat is great—mostly because your feeble attacks are largely ineffectual. While it's possible to prod away at enemies with spears or sharpened bones (the game's most commonly featured weapons) or chuck these items at them, direct confrontations are usually disastrous. Even pistols and shotguns hardly slow certain beasts. More often than not, the best solution is the subtle one. For example, impale a bug on a stick, then toss the skewer into a herd of dinos, where it'll set the vegetation they're standing on aflame. Thankfully, for those times when you're in a tight spot, secondary characters will also grab weapons of their own and provide backup.

Every so often, you'll get to control King Kong himself, albeit from a third-person viewpoint. During these thrilling chase or combat scenarios, you'll swing between branches, run sideways along walls, and otherwise convincingly mimic the giant ape's movements. Frankly, no game—even Destroy All Humans!™—does as a good a job of making you feel like an unstoppable monster. Swat raptors away with a flick of your arm. Grab man-sized monsters, crush them to a pulp with a squeeze of your mighty fists, then bite their ugly heads off. Pick up a log and send adversaries tumbling in a heap of broken bones with a super-powered swing. You are the alpha predator.

Beat your chest enough times during such sequences, and you'll enter a berserk fury, which is where things really get interesting. The screen takes on a sepia-colored tone. All attacks are delivered in slow motion, so you can see the blood spray as baddies (and you can annihilate three or more with a single strike) go flying. And boss characters such as toothy T. Rexes won't just take a beating, they'll also feel the brunt of brutal finishing moves which let you pry open their jaws and snap their meaty necks.

Open up and say, Aaaarrrrrgggghhhh!!!

Details are everything here. Water drips, sunlight shines through caves and forested canopies in transparent, glowing beams, and chanting fills the air as islanders mass for the attack. Oh sure, it's a nice touch that you can't shoot a firearm while swimming, but the fact that the screen blurs to reflect the sheer force of the dinosaurs' mighty exhale when they scream at you with a screen-shaking roar? Now that's going above and beyond the call of duty.

Still, that's Peter Jackson's King Kong The Official Game of the Movie in a nutshell—equal parts spectacle and substance. This being the case, there's no sense heading for the theater anytime soon. Take my advice instead: skip the opening day crowds and head straight to video (game) instead.

Article by Chris Zimmerman