Graphics

• Like the rest of the game, King Kong has some strong points and some weak points with the graphics.
• First on the positive side, when playing as Kong, the giant creatures look amazing.
• Even the environments can look pretty good.
• Fire effects are fun, and definitely made me want to burn more stuff.
• As Jack, you interact with more of the game’s human characters.
• Unfortunately while the character models do look a lot like their movie star counter parts, they don’t look as detailed as they could have been, and certainly not up to the capabilities of the 360.
• Also, even though the island is supposed to be scary and dark, the black levels are way too dark, and hamper the gameplay as mentioned above.
• Overall, the graphics were decent, but the lack of much variety and detail on the island gives a rather repetitive look and feel to the game world.

Sound

• The sound is a bit annoying.
• The same music (which is movie quality), plays over and over and gets quite repetitive.
• Characters have their real life actors voicing the script, but the number of lines they can say are limited and in some situations don’t even make sense.
• You will repeatedly hear. “Jack! Where did you go” when looking to retrieve a lever to open the final door of a level.
• Impressive though, is the bass deafening roars that come from Kong and the T-Rex.
• Not impressive is hearing this for 5 minutes straight during a long fight sequence.
• The game does use sound to convey various aspects of the gameplay instead of using a visual HUD.
• For example, when you pick up ammo or reload your gun, Jack will tell you how many magazines you have left.
• Also while fighting enemies with friends around, they’ll often should something like “Watch out! On your left!” allowing you to locate enemies you can’t see.
• One poorly executed use of sound is the heavy breathing.
• If you move/run for just a few seconds you’ll start to breath heavy.
• It seems to have no effect on gameplay and you’ll hear it ALL THE TIME.
• 5.1 audio is apparently used, but it is only noticeable if you look around while other characters are talking.
• Once again the quality of the sound is there, but the variety and execution of its use is poor, making it likely to get on your nerves.

Captivation

• Though it can be frustrating to get lost in the dark, most levels are pretty easy once you learn where to go and what you have to do.
• Also, making the game easier is the fact that most chapters are pretty short.
• This leads to a good amount of “just one more chapter” type of thinking when you are getting ready to wrap up a session.
• Even though there are over 40 chapters to play through, you’ll still find that the game takes somewhere between 6-10 hours to complete.
• While this seems a little short, it’s could be considered a little long for the amount of gameplay variety that the game contains.
• It does get a little repetitive by the end.
• There are only so many times you can be chased by the same creatures.
• The game could have benefited from some more Kong levels though.
• The enemy AI is also not that impressive.
• Each type of creature tends to act the exact same way throughout the game, so once you devise one strategy against them, you never have to change it much.
• There are no collectables, but based on how well you beat each level, you can earn points which will unlock things like interviews, still pictures and movie clips.
• There is also an alternate ending that can be achieved.
• This adds some replay ability but most people who have seen the movie or own the DVD won’t care too much to unlock these.
• Overall it’s a good play but after about six hours, you’ll pretty much be ready for it to be over.

Final Thoughts

• Positives
• Two different playing styles and perspectives, keep things from getting too stale too soon.
• Short levels make it easy to pick up and play in quick spurts.
• Playing with Kong is the best, and shows off the strongest points of the graphics.
• The voice acting is well done by the actors from the movie.
• Negatives
• The game is too dark.
• The level design is linear and puzzle solving gets repetitive, though there are a few unique levels thrown in now and then.
• The weakest part of the graphics tends to be the human character models which are not very detailed.
• It’s not a very long game, with very little replay value.

Bottom Line

• A better than average movie based game, but not much better….than average.