161. Peter Jackson's King Kong: The Official Game of the Movie (Ubisoft, Xbox 360, 2005)

In case the title didn't clue you in, Peter Jackson's King Kong: The Official Game of the Movie is the licensed video game adaptation of the 2005 King Kong Moive. Developed at Ubisoft and helmed by Rayman / Beyond Good & Evil designer Michel Ancel, PJKK:TOGotM is predominantly a first person shooter whose main calling card is a commitment to immersion. By default there is no heads-up-display, nor subtitles of any kind, and while both can be enabled, I chose to play without either, since it seemed like the designers' intent.

The game was designed in collaboration with Peter Jackson, and the cast also reprises their roles in voiceover. I thought I would get tired of being Adrien Brody and hanging out with Jack Black, but the star power actually kept it interesting. Jack Black is in particular a natural, and it's easy to see his progression the starring voice in Brutal Legend 4 years later. One way the game attempts immersion is that the dialogue of other characters will be quieter if they are farther away or you aren't looking at them, so the game kind of encourages you to direct it yourself, at least if you want to hear what's going on.

Mechanically, the game is not super interesting: you can only hold one gun at a time, and instead of an ammo counter, you can press B to have your character say how much ammo he has remaining (I never got tired of out-of-ammo Adrien Brody yelling "Agh, I'm dry!". Ammo is decently scarce, so your backup is the piles of spears and sharp bones that pepper the island. The spears are fun at first, especially when you can throw a spear at an enemy, then take it out and throw it again, but after a couple hours with the game, the combat started to feel pretty samey and lose its appeal. Gameplay kind of has a survival horror feel in that you are an under equipped guy fighting off a bunch of big (often unsettling) creatures.

I don't think menus or heads up displays are somehow the enemy of making a good game, but on the other hand I love seeing how far a studio can push that idea, and the workarounds that they have to implement. King Kong definitely feels like a 2005 game in a lot of ways: it is very linear and the puzzles the game presents you with feel very video-gamey. While it might not have been a revelation to how games were made, King Kong still feels like it has its own voice, and while I didn't love it, I'm glad I gave it a shot, if only because it doesn't quite feel like any other game I've played.

4/5, an pared-down story-driven first-person shooter that trades big fun for immersion