King Kong: The Official Game of the Movie

Peter Jackson is not only an Academy Award winning director but also an avid video game player. He worked closely with EA with the various Lord Of The Rings video games made; intertwining the gameplay with movie clips and having the actors like Ian McKellen and Elijah Wood do voice acting and filling the extras menus with plenty of interviews and making-of-features.

When he was getting his new version of King Kong readied, he once again wanted a video game version made, but this time he went to Ubi Soft to work with famed video game designer Michel Ancel. Ancel is world-renowned for being the father of the Rayman series and also the criminally overlooked Beyond Good And Evil. Ubi Soft released Peter Jackson's King Kong: The Official Game Of The Movie for all major consoles and the PC. I played and beat the game on the Xbox 360.

In the game, players control Jack Driscoll (Adrien Brody) through the nightmare that is Skull Island. The gamer must attack the various denizens of the Island that attack him or his friends such as Carl Denham (Jack Black), Ann Darrow (Naomi Watts), Jimmy (Jamie Bell), and others. There are also several puzzles to be solved. There will also be some levels where you control the King himself. King Kong re-enacts the fights against the T-Rexs and other huge inhabitants. You basically have one life; with a gameplay mechanic similar to The Getaway and Call Of Duty in which you regain your health if you avoid being attacked. You can also lose if one of your comrades is killed.

The gameplay is simple to learn and well-done. The graphics are excellent and you really feel you are battling for your life on Skull Island. The music is superb and the voice work is very well done. However, Brody brings very little of his Academy Award winning skills to the table; mostly uttering how much ammo is left or screaming ANNNN! Watts is very good but she says "Oh My God!" too many times. Jamie Bell, Evan Parke, and especially Jack Black are excellent as well.

Sadly, the game is very short. You can beat it six hours. However, you can play it again to unlock all the extras like featurettes, interviews, and art. It is a wild ride worth experiencing and Jackson and Ancel deliver one of the better movie-based games of 2005.