King Kong (2005 video game)
A film tie-in game with dual protagonist perspectives.
In this 2005 action-adventure game, you play as both screenwriter Jack Driscoll and the giant ape Kong. Jack must rescue Ann Darrow from Skull Island's natives, who have offered her to Kong. The game's director, Michel Ancel, worked with film director Peter Jackson, and the movie's actors voiced their roles. As Jack, you see through his eyes and use guns and spears; as Kong, you fight creatures from a third-person view with punches and thrown objects. The game hides its on-screen display to boost immersion.
Quick Facts
- Publisher
- Ubisoft
- Director
- Michel Ancel
- Producer
- Peter Jackson, Xavier Poix
- Designer
- Michel Ancel, Sébastien Morin
- Programmer
- Christophe Beaudet
- Artist
- Florent Sacré
- Writer
- Jacques Exertier, Philippa Boyens
- Composer
- Chance Thomas
Facts from the source article.
Gameplay
Players assume the roles of both Jack Driscoll and King Kong as they struggle to survive the threats of Skull Island in 1933. Human levels are controlled from a first-person perspective. The game de-emphasizes the HUD: it lacks a life bar, aiming reticle, and ammunition readout by default, though these can be turned on in settings. Interspersed with human adventure are levels where the player controls Kong from a third-person view, directing him to punch, grab, and use objects or corpses as weapons. Kong can also bite, climb, charge, hurl enemies, and pound his chest to enter fury mode, which tints the sky gold and makes him more powerful and less vulnerable. Many Kong sequences serve as boss fights against gigantic creatures that Jack's weapons cannot harm. An alternate ending where Kong survives the Empire State Building battle can be unlocked by earning 250,000 points across maps or by using cheat codes.
Plot
In 1933, film director Carl Denham acquires a map revealing the secret location of Skull Island. He hires playwright Jack Driscoll to write his script and plucks out-of-work actress Ann Darrow to play the leading lady, taking a tramp steamer called the Venture to the island. The ship, controlled by Captain Englehorn, arrives on October 12. Three lifeboats are dispatched; Jack, Carl, Ann, and Hayes survive a crash that kills sailor Briggs. Hayes shoots a distress signal, prompting Englehorn to drop ammo supplies. After fighting giant crabs, the group heads to a rocky outcrop where Carl asks Ann to scream, which is answered by a loud roar. They meet the second lifeboat with Preston, Jimmy, and Lumpy, but it cannot land. The team continues battling predators such as giant megapedes, scorpio-pedes, and Terapusmordax, eventually splitting up as they approach a massive wall. Jack and Ann are captured by island natives.
Release
The Xbox 360 version of the game has better graphics and sound than the versions for older consoles. A PC release called the Gamer's Edition also includes these upgrades. The Special Edition came with two standard game discs, plus a bonus disc with concept art and a screensaver, and a making-of disc with a Peter Jackson featurette, but the discs were printed with the wrong labels. The Signature Edition added a Topps King Kong trading card, a code for a downloadable ringtone, and a cover signed by Peter Jackson. Microsoft made the Xbox 360 version playable on Xbox One through backwards compatibility in 2019. The digital Xbox 360 version was removed from the Xbox Marketplace around June 14–15, 2015. That version was designed only for HDTVs, making it too dark to play on standard-definition sets; Ubisoft suggested buying the original Xbox version until a patch fixed this. The original Xbox game does not work on Xbox 360. The PC Signature Edition uses StarForce copy protection, which can cause problems on Windows XP, and no fix was released. The Gamer's Edition has no DRM and runs fine on Windows Vista and Windows 7. The Xbox 360 version's shaders were coded poorly, letting people run homebrew and unsigned code using modified game discs.
Reception
Peter Jackson's King Kong was a commercial success, selling over 4.5 million copies by March 2006. The PlayStation 2 version received a Platinum sales award from ELSPA for at least 300,000 copies sold in the UK. PC and console versions received positive reviews, with critics praising immersive environments, action sequences, and the ability to play as two protagonists. The Nintendo DS version was widely panned due to bugs, glitches, poor level design, and enemy AI, and was listed in GameSpot's Flat-Out Worst Game of 2005. The PSP version received mixed reception for its shorter length and cut-down features. Non-video game publications gave generally positive reviews: The New York Times praised the immersion from the first-person perspective and lack of on-screen clutter; The A.V. Club called it an instant classic; The Sydney Morning Herald gave three-and-a-half stars, noting an abrupt final sequence; Detroit Free Press gave the Xbox 360 version three stars, citing cinematic feel; Maxim gave the PSP version four out of ten, commending co-op but criticizing controls.
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