This review was originally published on Gaming Horizon, GameBump's predecessor. Its format does not match our own but we support its content. It was written by John Godfrey.
Video games based on movie franchises. Yeah, I know,
nobody really wants to hear about them because unfortunately, the majority of
games based on movies are cheap cash-ins designed to pocket even more money for
the movie studio based on whatever blockbuster is getting a lot of buzz from
the gaming demographic. However, things are changing, as movie directors are
realizing more and more that the interactive medium can be used to further the
experience from the films and be more involving, immersive and expressive as
technology continues to evolve. They’re just beginning to realize that this is
no longer the Pac-Man, Pong and Space Invader era. Peter Jackson had a big
hand in the Peter Jackson’s King Kong game, making sure that his vision was
adhered to the entire way, but does it make for a good game?
Director Carl Denham has happened across a secret map, to
a place never believed to be in existence - a place that time has
forgotten. What better place to shoot a
movie, right? The game kicks off with a few explanatory scenes - actual footage
from the 2005 Peter Jackson movie - of Carl discussing this; finding the
leading lady; boarding the ship; and then crashing at Skull
Island. The story is established in
mere minutes and then you take the reigns controlling Jack Driscoll, the writer
behind Denham’s film. You trek across Skull Island with a team comprised of
Denham, the leading lady Ann Darrow, and Hayes and Jimmy, at first finding
shooting locales and filming footage, until it’s discovered that a variety of
dinosaurs, huge creepy-crawlies like bats, millipedes, crabs and scorpions also
inhabit the island. There’s also an ancient tribe that’s not too happy about
your surprise visit and a giant gorilla named... Kong. The game then becomes
about gathering any crew you’ve become seperated from and leaving the island
alive.
It’s only a matter of minutes into the game when you’re
thrown into a situation of having to protect yourself from creatures and making
sure the rest of your team is also alright, a gameplay mechanic that you’ll see
carried across for the rest of the game. When the action starts you’re
introduced to the games superbly simplistic control scheme. It takes a second
to learn and it’s easy to use. A quick run-down is: L2 aims weapon, R3 zooms
weapon, R2 does a double act of the action button and firing the weapon, R1
reloads your weapon and X lets you talk to other characters and take their
weapon. It’s that simple, and it works like a charm. You can only carry one
weapon at a time (after all, this is Skull
Island, not San Andreas where you
can find a gun shop and liquor store on every corner), ammo is rare on the
island and whatever you find is courtesy of care packages dropped by the pilot
in your team circling the island. You can carry a spear, which there are plenty
of on the island thanks to the native tribe that inhabits it, or a bone which
can also be thrown like a spear, at the same time as you carry a firearm,
though the spear must be dropped before you can use the firearm again.
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