With Peter Jackson's re-imagining out in a months time, TVG goes to the jungle to seek out the giant ape for ourselves...

Think King Kong and most people will visualise a giant ape swatting at biplanes on top of the Empire State Building, but many will gloss over the events on Skull Island that lead to the beast arriving in the Big Apple. After Peter Jackson completed Lord of the Rings he wanted to continue to work on his own re-imagining of the 1933 classic, which began his love of film, with the results will be on cinema screens in December. In the meantime, we've been able to go in search of Kong for ourselves thanks to Ubisoft Montreal's adaptation of Jackson's movie. Headed by Beyond Good & Evil's Michel Ancel, the mouthful of a title "Peter Jackson's King Kong: Official Game of the Movie" is being released on the current generation platforms with Xbox 360, PSP and Nintendo DS versions launching at the beginning of December. Ancel was personally headhunted by Jackson after playing BG&E and a close collaboration between the production of the movie and the game has taken place.

For those of you who don't know the initial events of King Kong, here's a brief run through:

It's 1933 and film-maker Carl Denham leads an expedition to the lost Skull Island to shoot a picture about a giant ape once though to live there, but as is always the way, things don't quite work out as planned…oh, and a giant gorilla’s somehow involved too.

During the course of the game, players take control of both expedition member Jack Driscoll (in first person) and Kong (in third person) with all bar one or two short levels taking place on Skull Island. Both perspectives allow the player to experience the environment from two very different scales as well as allowing for a variety in the gameplay dynamic. Whilst Driscoll's levels have an emphasis on puzzle solving with tense action confrontations with some of the inhabitants on Skull, Kong’s levels deal more with defeating some of the larger animals on the island, as well as the expected swinging/climbing through the environments. Sticking closely to the plot of the game it rarely brings anything new to the table; this is a purely linear affair that leads to the inevitable end in New York. Don’t know how it ends? Let’s just say that the game doesn’t represent the start of a franchise…

A significant chunk of early gameplay is dedicated to playing as Driscoll, which actually builds up the anticipation of playing as Kong. They also help to gain an understanding of the major gameplay dynamics in the game, which breakdown into two critical elements: finding lost levers to open ruined doorways, and creating paths to escape into by burning down the thorny undergrowth. Such moments are heavily replicated throughout the game, which can seem quite tiresome, especially since most of the game takes place in a similar environment. Having said that there are several set pieces that help to rejuvenate the action from the addition of puzzle solving through to dino encounters including walking through a massive herd of brontosaurus. Throughout these sequences the giant ape is merely suggested in audio or in cutscenes, however when players finally get to control Kong, the game finally gets going. Perhaps the best description of King Kong is this: it's a slow-burner. Early levels playing as Driscoll are plain in terms of gameplay, and are exacerbated by the desire to take control of the giant silver-back. Stone ruins and giant centipedes take up most of the action in these stages, and perseverance is definitely required to get to the more tense stages as well as those where you become Kong.

As with BG&E, ecology plays a major part in the game; most of the animals on the island are carnivores and will feed on the carcasses if fallen opponents. Utilising the technique helps to distract some of the larger predators such as the Tyrannosaurus and whilst it may seem a tad gimmicky, strong use of this gameplay dynamic will make the passage through the island a bit more manageable. Not only that but this believable ecology increases the level of immersion for players, again raising the tension in certain sections.

Ancel and his team in Montreal have managed to create the dark jungles of Skull Island with great aplomb thanks to their close co-operation with WETA. The rolling mists, stone ruins and dense woods have an atmosphere of claustrophobia, helped also by the linearity of both the level design and the game, which altogether raises the tension of the player. Character models of the principle cast are reasonable enough though the gorilla inevitably steals the show with a level of animation so fluid and realistic, that when the tragic end finally comes there's a genuine sense of sympathy towards him. The lighting effects in the game are nothing short of magnificent with the animals breaking the sunlight, and the bump mapping skilfully used to make the dinosaur skin seem wrinkled in all the right places. It’s a very cinematic game, which can be highlighted by one set piece where Kong faces up to two T-Rex dinosaurs. Playing as the gorilla, we climb across some cliffs and see the world from the traditional rear camera view, until the game switches sides are we are left seeing the character of Ann in the foreground hiding from the two carnivores. In the background still clinging the cliff face is Kong, which was when we managed to jump from the rock onto one T-Rex and so the fight begins. Taking such a perspective really does accentuate the levels of cinema within the game itself and is just one example of how King Kong plays like movie.

One of the more visual aspects of the game is the distinct lack of HUD; there’s no health meter, ammo meter, radar, or any of the other aspects that you’d normally associated with an action title display. In a bid to further the sense of immersion and also to increase the cinematic feel of the game, Ancel’s team have integrated audio and visual hints to communicate ammo and health levels. Get hit and the screen will begin to turn red; continue with the mauling and it quickly becomes game over. Ammo levels are kept by updates from NPCs or by pressing a button that triggers Jack to states the number of bullets or magazines left. It does take a little time to get used to but the system actually works quite well – though it is frustrating that a bunch of thorns can kill Jack if his health is too low…

As with other movie adaptations the cast have also lent that voices to the game so that the likes of Jack Black, Naomi Watts, and Adrian Brody (though it’s worth noting that they don’t appear on the bill in that order) all feature in the game. Event triggered music occurs throughout the game and for the most part King Kong is actually reliant on ambient audio effects to build a sonic experience for gamers.

There’s no multiplayer options in the game and there’s little chance that repeat play will lead to an alternative experience; instead the developers have snuck in several unlockables including a Sepia option that allows players to experience the game with the look of an old movie. Other options are unlocked by accessing the official website of the movie though it has to be said that none of them really offer any significant dynamic that extends longevity. It’s very much a case of play it once.