Peter Jackson`s King Kong - Ubisoft Spotlight Preview

At Ubisoft's recent Spotlight conference the build-up to a successful Autumn/Winter 2005 was on show in every one of the presentation rooms, and whilst the likes of Prince of Persia 3 and FarCry: Instincts will undoubtedly satisfy, there seemed to be one game in particular that Ubi seemed to have even higher expectations placed upon it: Michel Ancel's videogame adaptation of Peter Jackson's King Kong. During the course of the presentation and subsequent hands on taster of the game on both PlayStation2 and Xbox (the Xbox 360 and PSP versions will be revealed later in the summer), Ubisoft were very keen to stress that Kong would be â??the best adaptation of a movie everâ??.

Peter Jacksonâ??s King Kong looks set to dominate the cinema screens on its release in the middle of December; the first movie made by Jackson since his seven year project that brought Tolkienâ??s Lord of the Rings to the silver screen (and massive success at the Oscars), King Kong is very much the New Zealanderâ??s own re-telling of the story that first kindled his desire to make films as a child. Set in the 1930s, Peter Jacksonâ??s King Kong follows the story of a group of filmmakers led by director Carl Denham (Jack Black) as they travel to the mysterious Skull Island, where they discover a pre-historic land of dinosaurs, savages, and a certain 25-foot tall ape known as Kongâ?¦

The story of how Jackson hooked with Ubisoft and Ancel will probably end up as legend; after playing Beyond Good & Evil (which had been produced by Ancelâ??s team at Ubisoft Montpelier) Jackson specifically wanted the developer to create the adaptation of his movie, allowing him access to all aspects of the movie and close collaboration with WETA, Jacksonâ??s Visual Effects studio to ensure that the game could follow the visual feel of the film as much as possible. Work on the King Kong videogame has been split between Montpelier and Ubisoftâ??s renowned studios in Montreal with the final game expected to be released during November 2005.

During the course of the game players experience the story from two very different sides: the first-person perspective of Jack Driscoll (played by Adrien Brody), and the third-person view of Kong himself. Ubisoft demonstrated the game across several levels of the game at Spotlight on both PlayStation2 and Xbox with all of the action taking place on Skull Island â?“ Ubi are currently holding back on the New York set levels until later in the summer. Playing the game itâ??s obvious that Ancel has closely followed the art direction and the visual style of the movie, which had to be signed off by Jackson himself during the various stages of development, although for that reason and that the game is a movie adaptation, there could be concerns about the level of freedom allowed to the unique creative talents of Ancel and his team.

In the past few years the use of a movieâ??s cast in the subsequent videogame adaptation has become so common that most gamers probably take the feature for granted. From Lord of the Rings and Spiderman to the forthcoming Scarface and From Russia With Love, videogame adaptations almost always feature the voices from the major cast members and in an increasing amount cases their digital likenesses also make an appearance in the game. With that in mind the news that King Kongâ??s major stars such as Naomi Watts, Adrien Brody and Jack Black all feature both vocally and visually in the game wonâ??t come as any surprise, and itâ??s certainly not Blackâ??s tones or Wattsâ?? digital curves that look set to make Ancelâ??s adaptation the biggest videogame adaptation of a movie yet; instead itâ??s the rather striking sight of the game running with no HUD on show that may be the key to unlocking the success that Ubi expect the title to achieve.

After the presentation was completed we were able to finally get our hands on the game itself with both Xbox and PlayStation2 versions on show. Beginning with their capture at the hands of the savages on Skull Island and the kidnapping of Naomi Wattsâ?? Ann Darrow, the demo allowed gamers to experience the actions taken by Driscoll as he tries to get her back with the help of Blackâ??s Denham. Immediately the combat control system created for the FPS sections felt a lot different to the usual fare, especially when it came to targeting enemies. Rather than a reticule (which would have been considered a HUD) the game relies on players to zoom in before shooting at the nearest giant centipede or veloceraptor; the targeting has quite a wide window so precise accuracy is not required, a good thing when thereâ??s a race against the clock to save Ann from being eaten alive. It does open the possibility that some gamers will find the FPS sections dissatisfying, perhaps a watered down experience of the genre, but what it does do is allow the game to continue at a good pace without involving overly-frustrating sequences. Traversing suspended wood beams over gullies seemed to be a key gameplay element in the game, especially when they act as perches for what can only be described as pre-historic demon bats that rush to Driscoll and push him to his death with some easeâ?¦thankfully a few well aimed shots can take care of the creatures.

Weapons are scarce in the game and this is certainly not a title for trigger-happy players to go around wasting ammunition or run into an area and spray creatures with a hail of lead. This is a game of survival. As well as pistols and rifles, both very important commodities in Kong, Driscoll can also use spears that have been bunched together by the savages to both stab and throw at enemies leading to some neat touches such as impaling fish-like creatures to the bottom of a pool. As well as killing some of the smaller enemies players also have to face creatures on a much larger scale such as the Tyrannosauruses that roam the island; during the course of the demo Driscoll (and therefore the player) is faced with the task of distracting the T-Rex away from two members of the group using wildly inappropriate firepower. In this instance the game was all about making sure both Driscoll and his colleagues stay out of the jaws of the predator, ensuring variety and depth in King Kongâ??s gameplay.

Worrying about a lack of ammo is certainly not a problem faced by Kong in fact the only weapon that he needs to use is himself, and there are plenty of instances when the ape unleashes primal carnage on the nearest T-Rex. Punches, grapples and the most notable kill moves such as ripping apart the dinosaurâ??s jaw with a satisfying bone-shuddering crack. Although far superior, there is something very Ray â??One Million Years BCâ?? Harryhausen about the combat of Kong, which is all the more accentuated by the motion blur effects of the blows thrown by the giant ape. Kong can also use branches and other ledges to swing across the environment with an incredible level of fluid animation; Ubisoft has also programmed a button that if tapped repeatedly will make Kong beat his chest and roar for that total King Kong experience.

As previously mentioned the game does not feature any kind of HUD including an aiming reticule, something that critics of SCEE London Studioâ??s The Getaway franchise will gurn at the mere thought; so how is important information such as health and ammo levels communicated to players? In order to retain the all important cinematic qualities of the movie, Ancel and has team has developed two methods to help gamers; drastically low levels of health is displayed by the screen fading to red, whilst Jack is kept informed about ammo levels by one of the other group members. One element that wasnâ??t explained in the demo or the presentation was how health is re-gained; playing the levels it seemed that once a danger had passed then Driscollâ??s health would replenish over time. This wasnâ??t confirmed at the Spotlight presentation although health packs didnâ??t seem to appear visible during the test levels, whilst Ammunition and weapons can be picked up throughout the levels and topped up thanks to supply cratesâ?¦

Even though the PlayStation2 version is a nice looking game, the Xbox equivalent does look more impressive, and noticeably so. The animation is smooth on both formats but the extra power of Microsoftâ??s machine has meant that the graphics and the textures seem crisper â?“ we can only wait and see what the Xbox 360 version looks like when itâ??s finally unveiled in the coming weeks.