From what I remember, people were somewhat mixed on the Peter Jackson-led reboot of King Kong. Despite the massive critical praise for the film, movie-goers couldn’t agree whether this was great or just another Jackson jerk-off. But in my mind, there was no better setting for a Peter Jackson film. Everything was already in place from the 1933 original. Giant structures to set scale? Check. Various monstrous flora and fauna? Check. Slightly heavy-handed dialogue that spells the entire movie out for popcorn-munchers? Check. Andy Serkis even got permission to stay in his cubbyhole underneath Jackson’s studio. Perfect. The film was such a massive success that they also decided to create a movie tie-in game. Now, movie tie-in games weren’t uncommon during this time. But it seemed as if Jackson wanted to make a statement with this game. He was confident enough to stick his name right there in the title. So how successful did it turn out?

For those of you unfamiliar with King Kong, please, go get help. But here’s the gist: an ambitious but struggling movie director is trying to get a group together to film on this mysterious, deadly island. In this case, the movie director is played by acclaimed actor Jack Black. He is detestable. If you find yourself unable to fully embrace your hatred for Jack Black, try to remember Shallow Hal. That should do it. Anyway, things go awry on the island and you find yourself stranded with a few crew members, a lot of angry, indigenous people, and a big monkey. Shenanigans ensue.

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And What A Wonder It Is

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Since this game is based on a movie, it seems appropriate that we should talk about the presentation first. King Kong released in the awkward period when the sixth-generation consoles were transitioning into the seventh. And in this awkward stage, King Kong wasn’t really ready to take full advantage of the next generation. It’s sort of like being scared to ask the upperclassman out to prom so they just settled for the safe fallback they’ve kept hanging on ever since 6th grade. So this game had the unique problem of being overly technically ambitious for the PS2 and Xbox while simultaneously barely tapping into the Xbox 360’s power. Framerates on the older consoles are choppy and fidelity on the 360 is nowhere near the console’s limit. There’s really no happy medium between the two and it can take a while to get used to the performance on older consoles.

But putting aside technical details, King Kong is impressively forward-thinking with its design choices. The team at Ubisoft put in a lot of effort to immerse you in the world. There’s dense foliage all over Skull Island and the creepy crawlies practically litter the place. Even smaller touches, like cinematic black boxes appearing whenever there’s a large set-piece happening, lend to a more impactful experience. What it lacks in power, King Kong more than makes up for in artistic direction. You feel lost in a land out of time, where the landscape around you is just as unwelcoming as the creatures thriving within it. And in that way, the world of King Kong absolutely knocks it out of the park.

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No Fury Like A Writer Scorned

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Thankfully, the gameplay was given as much care as the presentation. You play as Jack Denton, the scriptwriter for the movie who is surprisingly handy at punching baddies for someone who usually only punches keys. You’ll go through levels trying to survive against the wildlife and looking for a way off Skull Island. You arm yourself with whatever you can find lying around. And since guns are somewhat rare on the island, Jack will mostly be tossing spears around to fend off giant insects, dinosaurs and, of course, flying monkey-demons, that old stand-by. The thing that sets King Kong apart from many of its contemporaries lies within its use of the environment. You can light a spear on fire and throw it into the dry brush, watching it spread and kill any nasties lurking within it. You can stick a bug with a spear and throw it to distract any hungry monsters in the area. Hell, when you kill just about anything, there’s a good chance that other enemies will forget all about you and enjoy a quick meal, giving you a chance to breathe. The dynamic environment and the ecosystem really give King Kong its own unique identity.

Now, it’s important to remember that this is a movie tie-in. And for once, this actually works to the game’s benefit. King Kong was created with the intent of “playing” a movie. And not in that cheap David Cage way either. Immersion was a key goal for the team. There is no HUD. There aren’t any health pickups. Even what weapon and ammo pickups there are remain contextualized within the game as supply drops from the captain you’re trying to get in contact with. The team put a lot of effort forward to not take you out of the experience. There are hardly any “video-gamey” elements regarding the gameplay.

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There’s No Money In Theatre

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All of the action feels like it’s being more directed than played. Don’t get me wrong, there definitely are some more mundane parts. You oftentimes have to use light puzzle-solving to bring sources of fire from one place to another. But for the majority of this game’s runtime, grand scenarios explode on you one after another. Sometimes you’re trying to outrun the fiery spears of the hostile indigenous people. Or Jack Black needs rescuing from those aforementioned flying monkey-demons. And then sometimes you’re just on a raft, desperately fending off T-Rexes from either side. Even the smaller set pieces like crossing a bog full of mutant fish effectively heighten the tension. Your partners on this adventure really help to sell the action on-screen too. Your companions are so believable. It comes down to a few distinct reasons for that. Modeling them after real people didn’t hurt the cinematic tone. And having their real-person counterpart provide voice-acting as well was also a brilliant, if risky, move.

Peter Jackson really must have given his actors some nice Thanksgiving hams during the movie’s production because some of the big stars agreed to stay on for the game. Aside from the aforementioned Jack Black, Naomi Watts joins us as well and your player character is voiced by Adrian Brody. Really drew the short straw in that bunch, but what’re you gonna do? They and the rest of the game’s cast deliver starkly believable performances, with credit to the stellar acting direction. They seem just like other people, not just NPCs that you’re stuck with. You can trade weapons with your partners, sure, but you can also just ask them how they’re holding up. They’re always chattering away and it really does help build up the cinematic tone King Kong goes for.

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Slightly Larger Than The Abominable Snowman

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There’s another aspect to the game though. The 1400 ton issue that we have to deal with is Kong himself. You see, you do get to play as him on occasion. And if there was one thing that you could say about these sections it would be that it certainly is a section in a video game. And not much else. Kong kinda blows. His sections play out like a platformer/beat-em-up. Now I know what you’re thinking: big monkey? Climbing things? Punching? That sounds like Rampage! Yeah! Yeah, it does! Remember how their 3D game turned out?! Hopefully, you don’t! Thankfully, Kong comes out a little better than that but only just. Kong controls fairly simply with punching, grabbing, jumping, and a charge-up move. You sometimes get thrown into sections that play suspiciously like Assassin’s Creed-esque running and climbing romps. Mostly though, you’ll be punching dinosaur’s using both Kong’s brute might and the “O” button on your controller. You see, once you press “O” enough, you charge up and then practically every hit you dish out is an insta-kill, trivializing every encounter. The difficulty of each fight comes from finding enough of a gap in the action to pound your chest for a while and get mad. Beyond that, Kong’s sections are mostly simple popcorn-munching set-pieces. It’s a shame the simian wasn’t made more engaging but when the Denton levels are so engrossing, it’s hard to complain.

This is also a very short game. My playthrough for this run clocked in at around five hours and change. And arguably, that might be too long already. Although it does a lot to shake things up and throw new set-pieces at you, King Kong does drag in some areas. Obvious moments of padding plague the game, with no real story progress being made and no new concepts being introduced. Whenever you have to backtrack over maps that you’ve already completed, it’s kind of a bummer. There might be new baddies roaming around these old areas but oftentimes, the encounters will play out the same. The character drama keeps the adventure from feeling stale, but when that set dressing is ripped away, King Kong feels like a somewhat sparse adventure.

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Good Things Never Last, Mr. Denham

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Peter Jackson’s King Kong: The Official Game of the Movie is a lot like Peter Jackson’s King Kong. A lot of technology and care was thrown into both, after which both properties were somewhat forgotten. Though as a game, King Kong made a statement that resonated. King Kong truly innovated when it came to creating immersive environments and utilizing cinematic techniques into videogaming. It does stumble when it comes to gameplay variety and the Kong sections, but this is an overall solid package. King Kong may not be one of the lost wonders of the world, but it certainly has enough value to be called a hidden gem.

If you want to unlock the alternate ending and rewrite cinematic history, you can pick the game up for pretty much everything. I played on the PS2 version, but it looks like the best available version is the Xbox 360 port. Used to be able to play it on PC too but thanks to its absurdly-obtuse DRM, that’s a pipe-dream.