 Review By: Cameron Morris |
Developer: | Ubisoft France |
| Publisher: | Ubisoft | |
| Genre: | Action | |
| ESRB: | Teen | |
| # Of Players: | 1 | |
| Online Play: | No | |
| Accessories: | N/A | |
| Buy Now: |   |
Graphically the game is impressive on nearly any system, with great character models and texture work and lighting, just whatever you please. Enemy models in particular look pretty great, and the fact is really driven home during key sequences - most poignantly when you, as Jack, are forced to flee down a white-water river with two T-Rexes in pursuit. Kong himself looks great, with fur about as good as that in any game up to now and some real expression built into his haggard, scarred face. The only real complaint about the game is that it can sometimes strive to do too much: the framerate can lag pretty badly when platforming as Kong, particularly on the current-gen systems. Outside of that, though, everything looks great, and sometimes it's fun to just look around and wonder how much work really went into creating this miniature version of a huge and terrifying world.
The sound is likewise pretty great, in nearly every respect. For starters, all the sound effects fit nearly perfectly: guns sound appropriately powerful, the chittering sound that some of the insectoid enemies makes when they walk will fray your nerves like you wouldn't believe, the whole world is filled with ambient noises that sound perfectly appropriate for each situation, and Kong has what is easily the single most terrifying roar of any giant monkey to ever live. The music is equally fitting, tribal-sounding where it should be and utterly silent where music would be inappropriate. There's a level of restraint shown here when there needs to be, but the sheer level of bombast that this game is capable of should be enough to put a grin on your face.
The voice acting in the game is worth special note, if only because of the talent involved and the excellent performances given almost universally. Jack Black in particular is impressive, coming across almost comically but never quite slipping into the verbal equivalent of slapstick, so he manages to come across as somewhat demented rather than silly, which is oddly fitting. Of course Adrien Brody is excellent in his portrayal of Jack, properly reserved where it fits the character, and Naomi Watts has the single most piercing scream that's ever been emitted by a set of human lungs. You couldn't have asked for anything better.
The controls of the game are intuitive and functional, never over-complicated. Though I'm always slightly disturbed by the lack of an ability to jump - even so much as a quarter of an inch off the ground - while in first-person mode as Jack, one really can't claim that as any major fault. Playing as Kong feels much more natural and fluid, so that the controller feels like it's almost an extension of you, not so much a controller at all as it is an extension of your hands. That is a very good feeling.
The length of the game is more than a little troublesome: the average gamer will probably end up completing it in anywhere from six to eight hours, depending on how hard they're trying, and even though you're given special goodies for going back and getting better times and scores in levels you've already played through you still end up having completely finished the game in less than ten hours. Now, if you're the kind of gamer who can restart a game over and over again, that's not really a problem, but if you're the kind of guy who only plays through once and really likes to get the bang out of his buck, it's something you have to sit back and consider before making any purchasing decisions.
This is probably important, too, if you have neither seen the movie nor played the game at this point: seeing or experiencing one will not spoil the other for you. The makers behind the game were careful to craft it in such a way that it just barely skims over the story prior to coming to Skull Island, and there are several points during the course of the plot where deviations are made - so if you're shocked by the way a character dies in the game, don't think that that means you won't be surprised if you see the movie, or vice versa.
Bottom Line:
Despite one or two rather ugly shortcomings, Peter Jackson's King Kong is still probably the single most competent videogame adaptation of a movie I've played in many years. It's big, it's beautiful, it's loud and pretty sounding, it's exciting, and it makes you feel powerful and helpless in the breadth of minutes. The whole game is an experience that's very nearly cinematic, easily reaching for and pulling emotional strings that the cinema is so well-versed in manipulating. It's hard, sometimes, not to be overwhelmed.
That said, Kong did not get the perfect movie adaptation of a game: not only is the framerate blocky while platforming as the big ape, the thing is just way too short! It doesn't help that some of the "innovations" for conveying damage without the aid of a health bar can actually be rather annoying, either, but you have to appreciate the fact that they really did try.
All told? Very, very good. Almost great. Recommended, especially if you're the kind of person who likes either giant monkeys or dinosaurs, and who doesn't like that?
| Pros: | Cons: | Final Score: |
|---|---|---|
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| 7.8 |
Posted: 2006-03-09 20:48:51 PST