bapenguin
12-28-2005, 09:23 AM
King Kong: The Official Movie of the Game: The Review
By: Nicholas “bapenguin” Puleo, Editor-in-Chief
Platform: Xbox 360
Traditionally movie tie-in games have been total suckage. Every now and then we get a solid movie tie-in like Riddick, but these are few and far between. Get ready for the next glimmer of hope for franchise games as King Kong: The Official Game of the Movie provides a solid gameplay experience with incredible immersiveness.
Gameplay
King Kong is played from two perspectives and two characters. You play as Jack, movie script writer turned Hollywood hero; and you play as Kong, giant gorilla turned Hollywood hunk. Jack is played from a first person perspective with absolutely no HUD or interface. Kong is played from the 3rd person. Aiming while playing as Jack does take a bit of getting used to since there’s no targeting reticule. The lack of HUD means lack of ammo indicators. To remedy this there is frequent voice over on the status of the ammunition in the gun. You can only hold one gun at any time as well as a spear or bone. Spears are your friend in this game. Because of the scarcity of ammo, spears and bones will be your primary ammunition against the variety of dinosaurs, bugs and bats.
The best thing about gameplay as Jack is the immersiveness. The lack of HUD combined with excellent use of audio really creates a hectic feeling in certain situations. When playing the game, you really feel like you ARE Jack. It’s the little touches like breathing heavily after a quick sprint away from danger or when the situation gets tense that really help make this.
Kong is a bit trickier to play as. As Kong you are locked into a fixed camera position from the 3rd person perspective. While it’s usually a blast to control Kong, sometimes you get the ole frustrated camera syndrome. When playing as Kong it’s easy to leap from tree to tree, climb walls, pound your chest, pick up and throw objects and just plain unleash your dominance on the animal kingdom. During the Kong sections of the game you’ll have to keep Ann safe from danger, either by picking her up and putting her in safe places or by beating back the V-Rexes.
What the game does really well is transition between the two characters. You take control of either or as their paths intertwine. Even though the game is the official game of the movie, the storyline is somewhat different and the paths the characters take are somewhat different. This is kind of nice because playing the game doesn’t spoil the movie for you….or vice versa for that matter. In fact, I felt the “Kong Scene” in the game was much better than in the movie.
Graphics
The game’s graphics on the Xbox 360 are more than adequate. There’s nothing spectacular, but there are nice effects here and there. Some of the character models look a bit odd, and the game has an overall blue look to it. But that’s just the style.
The one thing that bugged me most about the graphics are the lack of lighting. The game is a dark game at times and it’s very difficult to see. On top of that, when you light something on fire it doesn’t always cast light on things around it. It sort of ruined the experience at times taking away from the realism.
Sound
King Kong is the kind of game to get that 5.1 system thumping. From the brontosaurus stampede to the T-Rex roar, your room will be shaking. There’s a good use of environmental effects like raindrops, birds and bugs. Hearing your character breath is a nice touch as well. What music is there is very theatrical, and helps set the mood for certain scenes.
Conclusion
King Kong is a solid title, albeit a bit short for some people’s taste. The game took me around 10 hours or so to complete, but it felt just right. Any longer I would have gotten tired of chucking spears at bats and lighting bushes on fire. There’s a few nice touches in the game that set this apart from other adventure/FPS titles.
The Good
Immersive
Tense Moments, excellent transitions
Different than the movie, but stands in its own right
The Bad
Takes some getting used to the lack of HUD
A bit Short
The Ugly
You know the ending
Frustratingly dark at times, hard to see where to go
Score
http://www.evilavatar.com/images/icons/e3_5.jpg
3.5 out of 5 EvilEyes
By: Nicholas “bapenguin” Puleo, Editor-in-Chief
Platform: Xbox 360
Traditionally movie tie-in games have been total suckage. Every now and then we get a solid movie tie-in like Riddick, but these are few and far between. Get ready for the next glimmer of hope for franchise games as King Kong: The Official Game of the Movie provides a solid gameplay experience with incredible immersiveness.
Gameplay
King Kong is played from two perspectives and two characters. You play as Jack, movie script writer turned Hollywood hero; and you play as Kong, giant gorilla turned Hollywood hunk. Jack is played from a first person perspective with absolutely no HUD or interface. Kong is played from the 3rd person. Aiming while playing as Jack does take a bit of getting used to since there’s no targeting reticule. The lack of HUD means lack of ammo indicators. To remedy this there is frequent voice over on the status of the ammunition in the gun. You can only hold one gun at any time as well as a spear or bone. Spears are your friend in this game. Because of the scarcity of ammo, spears and bones will be your primary ammunition against the variety of dinosaurs, bugs and bats.
The best thing about gameplay as Jack is the immersiveness. The lack of HUD combined with excellent use of audio really creates a hectic feeling in certain situations. When playing the game, you really feel like you ARE Jack. It’s the little touches like breathing heavily after a quick sprint away from danger or when the situation gets tense that really help make this.
Kong is a bit trickier to play as. As Kong you are locked into a fixed camera position from the 3rd person perspective. While it’s usually a blast to control Kong, sometimes you get the ole frustrated camera syndrome. When playing as Kong it’s easy to leap from tree to tree, climb walls, pound your chest, pick up and throw objects and just plain unleash your dominance on the animal kingdom. During the Kong sections of the game you’ll have to keep Ann safe from danger, either by picking her up and putting her in safe places or by beating back the V-Rexes.
What the game does really well is transition between the two characters. You take control of either or as their paths intertwine. Even though the game is the official game of the movie, the storyline is somewhat different and the paths the characters take are somewhat different. This is kind of nice because playing the game doesn’t spoil the movie for you….or vice versa for that matter. In fact, I felt the “Kong Scene” in the game was much better than in the movie.
Graphics
The game’s graphics on the Xbox 360 are more than adequate. There’s nothing spectacular, but there are nice effects here and there. Some of the character models look a bit odd, and the game has an overall blue look to it. But that’s just the style.
The one thing that bugged me most about the graphics are the lack of lighting. The game is a dark game at times and it’s very difficult to see. On top of that, when you light something on fire it doesn’t always cast light on things around it. It sort of ruined the experience at times taking away from the realism.
Sound
King Kong is the kind of game to get that 5.1 system thumping. From the brontosaurus stampede to the T-Rex roar, your room will be shaking. There’s a good use of environmental effects like raindrops, birds and bugs. Hearing your character breath is a nice touch as well. What music is there is very theatrical, and helps set the mood for certain scenes.
Conclusion
King Kong is a solid title, albeit a bit short for some people’s taste. The game took me around 10 hours or so to complete, but it felt just right. Any longer I would have gotten tired of chucking spears at bats and lighting bushes on fire. There’s a few nice touches in the game that set this apart from other adventure/FPS titles.
The Good
Immersive
Tense Moments, excellent transitions
Different than the movie, but stands in its own right
The Bad
Takes some getting used to the lack of HUD
A bit Short
The Ugly
You know the ending
Frustratingly dark at times, hard to see where to go
Score
http://www.evilavatar.com/images/icons/e3_5.jpg
3.5 out of 5 EvilEyes