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AwEsOmE!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 11 / 11
Date: November 25, 2005
Author: Amazon User

King Kong the video game is an absolute must have. I rented it, playing it non-stop, and I actually beat it in less than 24 hours! The 1st person shooting is awesome. To find guns, or spears to throw at your enemies, you must search and search (and search) for gun ammo and different spears to bring your enemies down. The game has a variety of different creatures that attack you. Ranging from massive centapedes, velocaraptors, and T-rex's as well. The other characters that are with you are extremely helpful. You know how in most games, the other characters that are with you just kindof stand there? Not so in this game. The other characters do everything in there power to help you out. You arent provided with a health bar or any information telling you how much ammo you have left, you rely on the other characters telling you when you need to re-load. You know when you are wounded because the screen goes all red. While playing as King Kong himself, you use your brute streangth to bring your enemies down. You also can scale rock cliffs to evade those menacing Raptors or Tyranasaurs. All in all this game is EXTREMELY well done, the only down side is that it could have been a LITTLE longer. Other than that its great. Awesome graphics, and entirely great game-play. I cant wait untill the Movie...!

WOW

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 12 / 12
Date: November 30, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Wow what a beautiful game. I am very impressed by the graphics on this one. But what about the gameplay. It is very unique. Most of the game you are a human running around in first person shooter mode. This is pretty cool. Sometimes you will have to look around in the environment to find things to use. An example would be finding a spearlike object to hurl at a t-rex. THis sounds like it would be tough, but it really isn't. While you cock the spear with one hand, your other hand points to where you will throw the spear. THis brings up a very unique aspect of the game. There is no health meter, no reticle for shooting, no ammo readout. NO nothing. You are IN the game just as a real person would be. This helps with the immersion in the game. But what about the Kong Levels? They are way fun and way short. they are probably only about %25 of the game. They are fun though. A little clumsy on the controls, but fun. All in all this is a good game. Not great, but pretty good. (...). Whatever the case, you will be pretty happy with your purchase.

OH MY GOD!!!!!!!!! NO FREAKIN WAY!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 7
Date: November 30, 2005
Author: Amazon User

THIS WAS AMAZING! I AM USAULLY A WAR GAME TYPE OF PERSON BUT I WENT FOR THIS. I THOUGHT I WAS MAKING A MISTAKE OF GETTING THIS RATHER THAN CALL OF DUTY 2.IN THISS GAME, YOU GET TO DO EVERYTHING YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO DO IN THE MOVIE. YOU PICK UP GUNS OUT OF BOXES THAT ONE OF YOUR FRIENDS DROPS OUT OF A PLANE. YOU WILL HAVE A TOTAL OF 5 DIFFERENT WEAPONS LIKE THE SPRINGFIELD SNIPER RIFLE, THE TOMMY GUN, A GERMAN LUGER PISTOL, A SHOTGUN, AND AN OLD FASHOINED NATIVE SPEAR. YOU WILL FIGHT AGAINST MEGAPEDES, VELOCIRAPTORS, GIANT CRABS > THESE GUYS ARE PRETTY HARD TO KILL) AND A HUGE V-REX( I NEARLY SCARED MYSELF TO DEATH WHEN THIS THING POPPED UP OUT OF NOWWHERE!) WHEN YOU PLAY AS KING KONG, YOU CAN DO COOL THINGS LIKE JUMPING ON TREES OR SKYSCRAPERS, AND RUN ON WALLS, AND THROW OBJECTS FOR EXAMPLE A CAR OR TREE, OR YOUR ENEMY. MY FAVORITE THING ABOUT THIS GAME IS SEEING JACK BLACK PLAYING AS CARL DENHAM WHO IS FILMING EVERYTHING IN THIS GAME. ABSOLUTELY GET THIS GAME IF YOU LIKE ACTION AND SHOOTING COMBINED!!!!! ONE OTHER THING, EVERY TIME YOU BEAT THE GAME OF A TOTAL 34 MISSIONS, THE GAME CHANGES AROUND AND IT IS ALWAYS DIFFERENT!! lIKE ONE OF YOUR TEAMATES MIGHT GET KILLED OR ANOTHER TIME THEY MAY NOT! IT'S UP TO YOU TO CHANGE THEIR DESTINY< EVEN YOURS! BUT SEROUISLY, GET THIS GAME! aLSO GOOD FOR A CHRISTMMAS PRESENT.

The experience: great, the game: mediocre

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: December 20, 2005
Author: Amazon User

If a game should be challenging, putting you into sweatening situations, this almost ain't no game at all. Like when you play a silent Hill game on the easiest difficulty (without puzzles) it is more of an intense journey than anything else. In the extra interview Peter Jackson he said that the game is a survival course on what has to be the most dangerous island on earth. If that is, all of our islands are pieces of cake. It's not dangerous, it might be frightening at times, but not dangerous, actually there were around 3 Situations I had to retry, the rest went smoothly and without any troubles. I should also say that there is only one difficutly, being extremly low.

During the game there are about 5 things you can do: pick up a speer or animal bone and throw against enemies or hit'em with it several times untill it breaks apart. There are harmless animals like fish creatures and butterflies. You can put these on top of you spear/bone and throw it somewhere to distract the enemies. You can put it on fire as well and burn down bushes to get a clear path. You can pick up weapons and ammos and use them, you can sneak as well. You need to find specific pieces of wood to open doors.

All in all, that's extremly few things to do over the course of a 7-hours-game. It's repetion in the purest form. Every level almost consists of executing each "possibility" at least once. Don't play this game if you're out for a killzone-like experience on a Skull Island. It's far from that but the experience still is great. The details are AWESOME, the air is pretty wet and thick, so however you move the lights will move and break as well. If you have a fish attached to the spear, it will want to escape and try to bite you. If you're walking throught deep water, you lower the weapons over your head. Whenever you get the chance to get a wider view of the island, there's some kind of cool orientation to it. A Mountain in the distance gets bigger during the game, so you really feel like being and moving there, although there is not much of a choice which path to take, well, none at all. Meaning it looks bigger than it feels. Also the pace is very fast. There are a LOT of levels in the end, but they're extremly short, sometimes crazy short! The loading times are no problem at all, but you feel a bit like rushing throught the game when it's such a short time between the loading sections. Not a problem as long as you don't want to PATIENTLY ENJOY the game too much. I know that next time I play it I will do it in one course I guess, literally playing the movie in 6 hours. There are some trail-levels, leading you along a path, having you to fight against enemies attacking from everywhere. These levels are the shortest ones. But no wonder: so many things move and happen like a lot of discussions between the characters and stuff. So if a level endures only one minute, that minute will be full of stuff, be it dialogues, scripts, attacks (also scripted attacks animals on animals) or whatever.

A great experience, a much too easy game, and ways too short. It's no wonder as these kind of games are mostly being made for the fans of the movies, not for game freaks. So the difficulty level has to be pretty low to keep nongamers from getting frustrated. In the end you "control" a movie, no more no less. But the story is great, the setting awesome, KingKong a lovable creature like in the movie - no monster at all, just a wild animal.

unbeliveable

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 3
Date: December 28, 2005
Author: Amazon User

THIS GAME IS UNBELIVEABLE!!!!
the movie is the 2nd best movie ever made Z(1st being lord of the rings) and this game is great too!!! go buy this game now it is pretty easy but its a fun easy i luv it
probley the best movie game ever ( other good movie games are enter the matrix and spider man 2) but this game is one of my fav games ever!! go buy it now!

Great first person missions....HORRIBLE Kong controls....

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 2 / 4
Date: January 02, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Hopefully that headline speaks for itself. The first person (Doom) style gameplay is excellent and stunning. The scenarios where you actually play as King Kong are really bad. Bad control, horrible camera switches/angles. It's truly like 2 different games! If the King Kong portions of this were released with no first person gameplay as Jack, I think this would have had the worst reviews since Shaq Fu. BUT, because the first person stuff is so visually stunning and controls perfectly, the game is good. It's strange that Peter Jackson even approved the Kong portions, but I guess he felt that's what fans wanted. There isn't a lot of freedom (like in Medal Of Honor) to explore in any direction. The pathways are narrow and the creatures have basic attack patterns, but it works overall. The jungle graphics are GEORGEOUS as is the sound design.....Worth a look.

Kong is still king

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 1 / 2
Date: January 18, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Peter Jackson's King Kong is an immersive, if somewhat unpolished experience that is way too short. Fans of the film will probably want to check it out, and fans of FPS in general may enjoy it as well.

The has you more or less playing through the events of Peter Jackson's film, with a lot of deviations in order to lengthen the game. You play as Jack Driscoll, the hero, for the majority of the game, as you travel through the atmospheric location of Skull Island, and try your hardest to survive.

No doubt about it, there's a lot of fun to be had there. King Kong's most impressive feat is its ability to immerse you in the world of the game. The fact that there is absolutely no HUD (heads up display; as in Health meters, ammo meters, targeting reticules), greatly adds to this.

The gameplay as Jack Driscoll basically boils down to survival. You are greatly outmatched by the ferocious beasts on the island, and you really have to be on your toes. This leads to some very intense, and often frightening moments, whether your taking cover and shooting your shotgun, sniping from afar, or boldly charging in with your machine gun. There's a good deal of strategy as well, since you'll soon find that you have to conserve your ammo. Spears will become your best friend, and you must learn to use them to your advantage.

When things get tense is when King Kong really takes off. At certain times you simply must run and find cover in a cave while a vicious raptor snaps at you and tries to get inside. But the star moments of the game is when the Tyrannosaurs make there appearance. These are some of the most intense, frightening, and downright impressive scenarios I've seen in a game. Your firepower is not enough to take down a T-rex, and these scenarios usually involve you running for your life, and trying to distract it while your NPC friends open a gate. One good bite, and your gone. Another level has you on a raft, with a T-rex on either side, ready to eat you if you aren't fast enough with your spears. While there are many tense moments, none of them match the sheer rush of avoiding a massive T-rex; they are the crowning achievments of the game.

When the T-rexes finally get their proper beating is when you come in control of King Kong himself. Playing as the big gorilla is somewhat simple and unrefined, but a whole lot of fun. As Kong, you perform some simple platforming by swinging on vines and branches and such, and you battle huge beasts. When you play as Kong, it switches to a third-person view, allowing you to watch the HUD-less action like it's a movie. Combat as Kong unfortunately involves little more than mashing the attack button again and again to bash the T-rexes. You can mix it up a little, such as jumping from a perch and crushing them, but the fact is that the Kong sequences are quite simple. They are a lot of fun though; and it's unfortunate that only 20%-25% of the game is devoted to Kong.

The graphics are very impressive overall. Skull Island is a beatifully designed place, oozing with atmosphere. Lush forests, flowing rivers, ancient stone temples, valleys, swamps, and more await you. The world design is certainly the crown; unfortunately the character models are somewhat unimpressive.

The sound is one of the best aspects of the game. The roar of a T-rex is terrifyingly glorious, and it's only one of the many diverse sounds you'll hear. All of the actors from the film loan there voices to the appropriate characters, and they do an excellent job.

King Kong is definitely worth checking out if you're a fan of the film, or even if you aren't. Sadly the adventure only lasts for 6-7 hours, so you might be better off giving it a rent. But that's up to you; either way, you should give it a try.

Awesome game!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: January 30, 2006
Author: Amazon User

You know the plot, so I'm not going there. for 70% of the game, you play as Jack Driscoll, in which you're job is not to save the day, but leave Skull Island alive with grossly oversized raptors, giant flying rats, and millipedes the size of anacondas running around. For the other 30% of the game, you play as Kong, punching out dinosaurs and the aforementioned giant flying rats, which offers no end of fun. Go pick up a copy of the game ASAP. You won't be sorry.

Best Movie Adaptation

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: February 01, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I have to say that this is one of the best movie tie-in games that I have played since the Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. Let me begin with the good. The graphics for this game are just stellar. The lighting is spectacular and the later temple levels are just breathtaking. I also liked the atmosphere the game created with the music when you are near death, the lack of a targeting reticule, and the lack of a health bar. It helps create that sense that you are stranded on a deserted island with monsters all around you. Which leads me to another point. There are truly moments when you are scared. For example, creatures will creep up on you through tall grasses and get you from behind. The creatures, though, do bring me to only a slight disappointment: the thing where kill something to draw the monster's attention away from doesn't always work. Sometimes there is no point in doing it, especially when there is always spears nearby when you run out of ammo, etc. It's kind of hard to explain but to me, personally, it wasn't that useful. Also the game is short and the controls for Kong can be clunky, but you do get the sense of being a one ton "Prince of Persia." I would also like to see some more open environments as this kind of felt a little claustrophobic. Anyway good game. There should be more like this out there.

A Sweet Game With A Sour Aftertaste

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: February 16, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Movie-to-game translations are often abysmal, unfun, and disgraceful. However, Peter Jackson's remake of the 1933 classic is not only strong gaming material, but Ubi-Soft and Jackson collaberate to make one of the better gaming experiences based on a film. The pride and passion are evident throughout most of this adventure piece, because not only does it attempt to use the movie material faithfully, it also is a unique twist on the first-person-shooter genre.

GRAPHICS
---The GameCube's graphics in this game are a mix of great and underwhelming. The best graphics are in the creature animations. Dinosaurs, flying predators, and the ape beast himself have fluid movements, and never look like stiff robots. The water and fire patricle effects are also very crisp. The human characters don't look bad, but they don't move well. Part of their jerky movements are due to some scripting glitches (think "Medal of Honor), where the computer-controlled characters move to eagerly too their next destination. The level environments aren't jaggy or poorly-drawn, but the coloring of this game made me a little bored. The jungles of Skull Island are so blue and green, and when you're navigating claustrophobic environments very quickly, this can become an uncomfortable experience. As for New York, the climactic sequence of the movie, I wasn't too impressed, because it's so dark you can barely see anything. Overall, a solid graphical presentation, but with some sore spots.

SOUND
---The music is not James Newton Howard's from the film (damn!), but it is actually an originally composed score just for the game. And a very good musical composition it is. I can't say anything really stands out to me, but when the final Credits roll, you'll listen with a smile. The voice actors in the English language setting (one of several) are those from the film. The acting isn't bad, but the written dialogue, which (ironically) was supervised by film co-writer Philippa Boyens, is pretty lame. Listening to the talented Naomi Watts speak so insightfully on the nature of Kong is cringe-inducing. Jack Black...well, that depends if you liked him in the film, but everybody else is fine. The enemies and environment sounds are crisp and very well-done. If you can forgive some bad dialogue, then turn your bass all the way up, because when you fire those guns, your heart is gonna race.

GAMEPLAY
---The first-person gaming of "King Kong" isn't typical. There is no HUD (health bar, ammo count, etc); instead, Jack Driscoll (you) can only survive a few attacks and vocally tells you how much ammo is left in your guns (you'll use 4). You'll mostly be grabbing nearby spears and throwing them at the island's predators, and it's going to be an intense experience most of the time. Crocodiles, bugs, dinosaurs, flying bats (can't remember their names) --- they're all dangerous if you're not careful. The spears are also interact with the environment to break doors and burn areas like torches & fields. There will also be a few protect-segments and chase sequences. This is mostly pretty good stuff, if a little repetitive. The 25% of the game where you play as King Kong, however, is going to polarize gamers. I personally don't care for it. The camera is too awkward, the combat too simple, the button-mashing redundant, and the jumping and chasing feel like they're on automatic pilot. Basically, I didn't enjoy this mode at all. The animations of Skull Island's beasts are fantastic, but the gameplay just isn't fun. The New York levels have shoddy cameras, so the game actually ends on a poor note. These final stages should've been the culmination of everything that "King Kong" is about, but the payoff is weak at best.

MOVIE-TO-GAME TRANSLATION
---You won't see a few characters, and the plot doesn't really follow the film's storyline. But the actual movie is one hour of exposition, and two hours of non-stop action anyway. What I miss about this game is the beautiful moments featured in the film. The quiet tender scenes between Ann Darrow and Kong would've made a stronger impact in this game. Instead, Ubi-Soft (and Peter Jackson, I guess) took the adventure segments, changed the plot to be more gamer-convenient, and extended the two hours of action to 6 hours of gaming. Not a bad idea, but then some of the attempts to portray some of those tender scenes come off as completely corny and obligatory. As I said, "King Kong" is one of the better translations, but that's not saying much.

OVERALL
---"King Kong" is a solid game, but 50 bucks is way too much for a 6-hour game. Even the current $20 price is a jip. There are extra goodies after you beat the game, but the final New York levels aren't that great, and playing as Kong just wasn't very fun for me. I will confess that I thought the 2005 version of "King Kong" was an average movie (6.5 out of 10), but this is a game that you should only rent or borrow, because I can't imagine many revisiting this one after a single play-through.

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