If you have been playing games for really any length of time, you probably know that most games that are based on movies suck. Well actually, it's pretty much every one. They usually lie somewhere between a crappy game & being the worst game ever created. Of course, with that last sentence I am referring to 'E.T.' way back on the Atari. It's widely known as "the game that started the great videogame crash of the 80's". King Kong sets out to break that track record, and for the most part it succeeds. It's a visual, audio and atmospheric treat that shouldn't be missed by any gamer. The problem is that it's over WAY too soon, really has no reason to come back to it, and playing as Kong (while being very cool) could've been so much better.
Pros: You get to play as Kong; very nice visuals that really make you feel like you are on Skull Island; great little touches, like monsters eating each other's corpses and Jack Black's character filming while the group is getting attacked; the audio is amazing on all fronts; I can't even begin to explain how cool it is when the T-Rex or Kong lets out a big roar; they got the actual actors (Adrian Brody, Naomi Watts, Jack Black, etc.) to do the voices in the game; a nice mix of first-person shooting, first-person melee combat, and of course third-person smashing with Kong; this game is so atmospheric, it gets terrifying at times; you get to rip a T-Rex's jaws in half; a nice selection of weapons are available; your companions have great A.I. for the most part, as do the monsters that attack you; I really liked how there is no on-screen HUD, health meters, etc.; the way you are notified of your remaining ammo is great and I wish more games would adopt this idea; this is probably the best six-hour game you will ever play.
Cons: WAY too short; I literally beat this in one six hour sitting; there are no Xbox Live features whatsoever; there is no multiplayer either; while the game looks very nice, it doesn't look entirely next-gen in many spots; the achievements are way too easy to get as you get all one-thousand just for beating the game; while playing as Kong is a blast at first, the gameplay in these sections are VERY basic and it gets old smashing on a few buttons over and over; if you have already seen the movie, you already know what's going to happen here; the end of the game is very disappointing, as you only get to smash up New York for a very brief period; after leaving Skull Island, the 'Jack' character completely leaves the game for some reason; the gameplay never really evolves from the start of the game; sometimes the characters that are with you get stuck on things in the enviroment; this has the longest and dumbest name in all of videogames.
About that last statement: I really hate it when a director puts his name in the actual movie title (or videogame in this case). Like we don't know who made the movie? It just comes off as being pretentious and is a huge pet peeve of mine. Don't even get me started on 'Mel Gibson's Apocalypto' or 'John Carpenter's -insert crappy movie here-'. But, back to the game.......
While this is a game that I think any fan of the movie should check out, I really don't think it's worth a purchase. This is the perfect example of a weekend rental. It's fun, looks nice, very short, and you get a cheap one-thousand gamer points for beating it. I bought this game for $30, but it's hard not to feel somewhat cheated. I can't even imagine how ticked I would be if I would have shelled out $60.
Obviously the draw of this game will be the ability to play as Kong himself. I must admit the first couple times you get to use him, it's an amazing experience. Nothing can beat pounding the hell out of a couple T-Rex's, tearing their jaws open after beating them, and then lettting out a roar that will send your neighbors to their phones to report a noise violation. But you don't get to play as Kong very much and that actually might have been a good thing, since his sections are very basic button-mashers that get old after the 'wow factor' wears off. The real treat, in my opinion, lies in the solid first-person adventuring of Skull Island. Just be sure you are o.k. with the fact that the movie seems to be longer than the videogame that's based upon it.
Create an Account
Member Login
