King Kong (2005 video game)

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For other King Kong video games, see King Kong.
Peter Jackson's King Kong
Peter Jackson's King Kong box
Developer(s)Ubisoft
Publisher(s)Ubisoft
Designer(s)Michel Ancel
Platform(s)PlayStation 2, Xbox, GameCube, PC, Xbox 360, PSP, Nintendo DS, PlayStation 3, Game Boy Advance
ReleaseNovember 17, 2005 (NA)
Genre(s)Action-adventure
Mode(s)Single player, First-person, Third-Person

Peter Jackson's King Kong: The Official Game of the Movie is a multiplatform videogame based on the movie King Kong. It is a collaboration between the film's director Peter Jackson and famed videogame designer Michel Ancel (Rayman, Beyond Good & Evil), remarkable in that such true cross-medium creative partnerships are rare in the realm of game development.

In the U.S., the GBA version is called Kong: The 8th Wonder of the World.

King Kong was originally announced for all major game systems, but it is not official yet that the game will come to Nintendo's Wii.

Plot

Template:Spoiler Carl Denham is fixated on making a movie on Skull Island, the never before seen island. He hires Captain Engelhorn to take him to the location with his ship, The Venture. Along with him are Ann Darrow, the actress, Jack Driscoll, the screenwriter, Mr. Hayes, the first mate on The Venture, Jimmy, a stowaway on the ship who is now Hayes' assistant, Lumpy, the cook, Choy, Lumpy's assistant, Briggs, a sailor, and a few more unnamed people.

When they get to the island, Jack, Carl, Ann, Hayes, and Briggs get on a lifeboat and head to shore (The storm is too fierce for The Venture to land), while Jimmy, Lumpy, Preston and Choy take the other one. The boat containing Jack crashes up against the rocks surrounding the island, resulting the instant death of Briggs. The second boat can't reach the shore, due to strong currents. They land farther down on the island. Once crashing on the island, Hayes fires a signal flare, trying to contact Engelhorn. After heading into the cave, they find it inhabited by giant crabs. Hayes and Jack kill them all by use of pistols. After exiting the cave, they come upon a narrow stretch of rocky shore, surrounded by shear cliff faces. A tall, sturdy door is found between two cliffs. Hayes and Jack start to open it, by means of posts sticking out of the ground. By turning these by means of bars of wood sticking out of the posts, the door slowly opens. Meanwhile, Carl asks Ann to do some test shots. When he gets Ann to scream, a loud roar is heard in the distance. No one has any idea what it is. A few seconds later, giant crabs come pouring out of the sea. Hayes and Jack abandon turning the posts, and Hayes start firing at them, while Carl films away. Another huge roar is heard, and a crab, bigger than all the others, emerges. Hayes returns to open the door, telling Jack to hold it off. By shooting under its tough shell, Jack is eventually able to vanquish the beast. After killing the giant crab, and going through the door, Jack finds a shotgun dropped from Engelhorn’s seaplane. After ramming through a wooden barrier, several more crabs attack Jack and the others. Jack blows these apart by means of his gun. They open another wooden door, and head into another cave.

After emerging from it, they find a massive graveyard built by the natives. They find a mysterious fire, lit by an unknown source. Jack burns through bunches of dry bushes, clearing the way into another tunnel. After entering this, they drop down a step ledge into another tomb. Seeing that it is a dead end, Hayes starts to head back. But an ominous hissing sound is heard, and several Megapedes come crawling out of the concave tombs in the walls. Jack, Ann, Hayes, and Carl desperately fight them off, by means of guns and bones that they use as spears. After finishing off the arthropods, more Megapedes break through a statue, and attack. This leaves a path for them to get out. After finishing them off, the group heads down the tunnel, and out into the open. Jack heads to the edge of a deep ravine. He crosses a narrow catwalk, which collapses after he crosses, cutting him off from the rest of the group. Ann starts climbing up the Cliff side, attempting to rejoin jack. She is attacked by a few Megapedes, which jack shoots down with his pistol. Ann reaches a ledge on the cliff, and Jack heads up a few more catwalks, rejoining her. Together, they head into another cave.

Upon exiting, they come upon many building built by the Skull Islanders. Situated upon one is an urn with fire in it. Ann climbs up the building, and clears away some dry bushes blocking the path. Jack continues through, and heads into a moat. Ann follows him on the bank. Swamp crawlers attack Jack, but Ann is able to kill them by throwing spears at them. Upon reaching the end of the moat, Ann pulls Jack up just as a swamp crawler is about to attack him. They head under a stone arch, and come upon a large field, filled with dry bushes and scattered with ruins. Scorpiopedes start attacking them, but Jack is able to kill them by means of spears. They see that the door way out is blocked by dry bushes. Scorpiopedes start walking through the bushes, intending to have Ann and Jack as their meal. Jack burns the bushes, frying the vile beasts. They continue through the doorway, and come upon a large trench. On the other side of it, Carl and Hayes are waiting for them. Hayes tosses Jack the sniper rifle, as two megapedes attack them. Jack swiftly kills these off, as Carl opens a wooden door for them. Ann and Jack walk through this.

On the other side, the door unexpectedly shuts behind them. They come upon another field, covered in dry bushes and teeming with scorpiopedes. By tossing a baited spear into the dry bushes, and then lighting the bushes on fire, he is able to burn the scorpiopedes alive. Continuing through the burned bushes, Jack picks up some sniper ammunition. They head through a stone arch, and come upon a series of catwalks. They hear strange noises, and see glimpses of people running on top of the building, watching them. They go into another field, similarly covered by the same bushes, and inhabited by scorpiopedes By use of spears, Jack and Ann are able to kill them. They come upon a large wooden door, which Ann climbs up a ledge to open. Jack goes through it on the ground, and they come upon another door. Ann goes behind it, and disappears. Jack asks her how shes doing, but there is no reply, Suddenly, the door opens, and behind it are a whole mess of skull islanders. They hit Jack with a spear, knocking him unconscious.

When Jack wakes up, he is at the huge wall, stripped of his weapons, tied up. Ann is nowhere in sight, until he sees her tied down being moved towards the other side of the wall. When she is set down, King kong emerges form the jungle, and all the natives fall silent. Kong roars, and takes ann. All of the natives howl in delight. Carl shows up, having escaped, and cuts Jack loose. They escape into the jungle, with the angered natives tossing flaming spears at them. Soon, they come upon a door with a missing lever. as Jack and Carl search for it, they here a roar, and a venatosaurus attacks them, along with a megapede. But the two start fighting eachother, and Jack is able to kill them both with spears. They find the missing lever, and continue through the door, were they take a break at a small temple.

When there ready to continue, Carl tells Jack that he heard Ann scream. they wade through a sea of grass, and see Kong fighting against some venatosaurus on the other side of a trench. They walk around it, just in time to see Kong taking Ann over another trench, and going up a large stone stairway. Carl looks around, seeing many dead venatosaurus. He starts filming, and is then attacked by a queen bat, which takes him to her "castle". Jack quickly runs after him, confronting baby venatosaurus and many bats on his way to save him. After crossing a catwalk, he comes in view of the queen's castle, which is actually a large cliff jutting up from the rainforest, adorned with wooden spikes and strewn with carcasses. Jack knocks down a crate containing a shotgun, which he loads and head to the queens castle. There, he and Carl are attacked by several bats, as the Queen circles in the air around them. When Jack and Carl kill all the bats, the Queen dives at Jack, intending to kill him. But Jack shoots her at close range with the shot gun, making the queen fly back into the air. She dives again and again, but each time is filled full of lead by Jack. Eventually, she collapses on the ground, dead. Jack and Carl head back, and open a large wooden door.

They head through it, and come upon two venatosaurus eating a carcass. They sneak past, and into a ruin. By luring the venatosauruss into deep grass with some bait, Jack is able to kill them by swiftly tossing a flaming spear into the grass. They head through another door, and into a dark pass way. They drop down a steep ledge, and land in water. Megapedes attack them, but Jack and Carl are able to kill these. They head up a tunnel and meet up with Hayes, who is blocked behind the dry bushes. The only fire is on top of a ledge, opposite of Hayes. While Jack goes around to get the fire, he is attacked by Venatosaurus. By hiding in ruins, he is able to lose them. Jack eventually comes upon the urn full of fire, just as a venatosaurus attempts to kill hayes. By shooting at it, both of them are able to vanquish the beast. Jack burns away the dry bushes, and Hayes is able to meet up with them. Together, they kill the Venatosaurus Jack had to evade earlier. They open a large wooden door, and head into a partially sunken passage way. As they swim through it, they here giant footsteps over head, and the screams of the people from boat two. After they exit the water filled passage way, they take a quick break at a series of ruins.

When they are fully rested, they head out of the ruins and into a tunnel. When they exit the tunnel, they drop down a small ledge and see the people from boat two on a high catwalk. One of them explains that there is a huge unknown creature lurking about. Just then, a V-rex Comes out of Nowhere, and eats lumpy. Jack, Carl, and Hayes make a break for it, and end up being pursued by the V-rex. They head into a a large meadow, where they are blocked by a wooden door. Hayes and Carl start to open this, while Jack distracts the V-rex. After the door is open, they quickly run through it. They run into a tunnel, which turns out to be a dead end. They hold perfectly still, and the V-rex over looks them. When it leaves, they head through a wooden door where the catwalk used to be. After going through it, they come upon a much more tattered catwalk. When Jack heads over it, it collapses. But he falls onto a ledge, and heads into a tunnel, alone.

Ann has escaped from Kong and she runs into Jack. She is then attacked by dinosaurs and bats and ends up being taken by a queen bat, like the one that took Carl. Kong jumps in and starts chasing after her. After a long chase, Kong finds them and starts fighting with the giant bat. He emerges victorious and takes her away. They begin to feel affection for each other.

Jack is left to fend for himself as he treks across the island. He comes across a herd of Brontosaurus and a Megapede infested cave, and finds Hayes and Denham across the herd. They get attacked by bugs. Carl opens the door, and Hayes and Jack protect him. They continue with Jack watching from above on a bridge when Hayes and Denham are attacked by more bugs. Jack and Hayes defend as Carl opens the door. They are truly reunited inside a cave, where they are attacked yet again. After killing the threat, they continue outside, straight into the Bronto herd. When they get stuck behind some tall weeds, Jack decides to follow the dinosaurs to a fire pot. When he returns, Hayes and Denham are under attack by a V-Rex and Jack quickly saves them.

Soon, they go into a ravine, and are ambushed by the Natives with a bunch of dinosaurs. Soon, they find Jimmy trying to fight off a bunch of Venatosaurus dinosaurs. Jack and Hayes help him and find out that Jimmy is the only survivor from Boat #2. They get on rafts and are ambushed by Natives attacking from bridges. Jack has to burn the grass next to the bridges. While still on the raft, two V-Rexes find them and attempt to snack on them, but at the end, Kong shows up and fights the two V-Rexes, killing them, but after the fight, when he grabs Ann, Hayes shoots at him, causing him to go to the log they are standing on and throw it into the trench. Jack wakes up and finds Hayes and Carl, but Carl gives up and leaves when he finds out his camera is broken. After awhile they just consider Carl dead.

After that, Jack finds Ann, who escaped from Kong, and brings her to Hayes and Jimmy. Englehorn finally finds a place to land on the water, but a V-Rex attacks it and it barely escapes. Ann, Jack, Hayes and Jimmy retreat and Ann has no choice but to call Kong. When Kong shows up, Hayes attempts to shoot him, but is stepped on by the V-Rex. Kong kills the V-Rex and takes Ann to his lair. When Englehorn finds another place to land, Jimmy gets on but Jack stays to rescue Ann.

Jack climbs to the top of the mountain where Kong resides and grabs her. Kong is awoken by a bunch of giant congo eels and is too busy fighting them to grab Ann. Jack and Ann jump down a cliff and escape from Kong on a raft.

When they get back to the wall, Ann attempts to cross the bridge first and it raises. The natives have captured Ann again and offer her as a sacrifice again. Kong destroys the village looking for her and grabs her. He takes her away and ends up fighting more V-Rexes. When he is done, he takes her past the wall to the beach, where Carl is waiting along with a bunch of crew members with Chloroform. Kong is captured and brought back to New York.

In New York, Kong breaks out of his chains and goes on a rampage looking for Ann. The army sets up a blockade at the Empire State Building but before they can kill him, Ann bursts through the army group, telling them to stop. Kong grabs her and climbs to the top of the Empire State Building. Up there, a bunch of Helldiver planes attack him and he is eventually killed.

In the alternate ending, Kong holds off the planes for awhile and Jack shows up in Englehorn's seaplane along with Captain Englehorn himself. He shoots down a couple of the planes and the spotlights illuminating Kong. When they can't see him, he climbs down and is brought back to Skull Island. We get one last scene with Jack and Ann in the plane visiting Kong on the island.

Naming differences

The name of the game, differs from that of the film, in that it is prefixed with Peter Jackson's, and sufixed with Official Game of the Movie (the really long title "won" the Dubious Honor of "Most Long-Winded Game Title of 2005" in GameSpot[1]).

Gameplay

In Peter Jackson's King Kong, the player assumes the roles of both adventurer Jack Driscoll and the giant ape King Kong as they struggle to survive on Skull Island.

This game is exhibitive of an industry trend to de-emphasize the role of Head-Up Displays: it lacks a life bar and ammunition readout (the ammo readout could be enabled). The player must rely on subtle onscreen cues instead. During the majority of the game the player is tasked with controlling Jack Driscoll in a first person view, a character given a realistic amount of health and equipped with largely ineffectual weaponry, further adding to the challenge and encouraging the player to find alternate weapons and techniques. Weapons include a 9mm Luger pistol, a Winchester M1897 shotgun, a Springfield sniper rifle and a Thompson submachine gun. The Luger is good for repelling enemies but is not a very powerful weapon and has a magazine capacity of eight 9mm rounds. The M1897 is only effective at close range and fires slowly, and has a magazine capacity of only five 12 gauge shells. The Springfield is powerful at long range, is good for killing just about anything, and its can hold five .30-06 bullets. The Tommy Gun holds fifty rounds of .45 ACP in a drum. The submachine gun also has an average range and can fire on full automatic.

File:Kong Fight.jpg
Kong fighting a V-Rex

Interspersed with Driscoll's adventure are levels in which the player controls King Kong himself, battling various giant monsters in defense of Ann. The Kong levels take place in a third person view, as the player directs Kong to punch, grab, charge, climb, and even pound his chest. Many of the Kong sequences fulfill the role of boss fights, as the giant ape is able to effectively battle the gigantic V-Rexes that Jack's weapons cannot harm. Upon defeating a V-rex, or a Queen Bat, Kong is able to deliver a "finisher", similar to the fatalities of Mortal Kombat fame (the most notable being a re-enactment of Kong breaking a V-rex's jaw).

There are two versions of the game for the PC platform. The standard version that can be bought from most game stockests and a special "Gamers Edition." It features higher resolution textures that make it around the same level of detail as the Xbox 360 version. [2]. At the moment one can only get it by buying and downloading it online at certain e-shops. Also, due to its high detail level it has a quite high minimum specifications: Processor: Pentium 4 3.0 GHZ /AMD 3000+ or better RAM: 2 GB. Video Card: 3D 256 MB, supporting Pixel shader 3.0 and Vertex shader 3.0.

Main Differences From The Movie

  • There are a lot more characters, including Bruce Baxter, Herb and Mike.
  • One of the boats is destroyed.
  • The film crew stumbles upon the Natives, it isn't a trap.
  • They aren't stranded on Skull Island, they stay to save Ann.
  • The people aren't captured by the Natives. Ann is caught and they all go to save her.
  • Their weapons are brought with them, not dropped by Englehorn.
  • The only person to encounter a V-Rex is Ann.
  • Hayes is killed in the log scene by Kong, not by a V-Rex.
  • Lumpy is killed in the bug scene, not by a V-Rex.
  • Preston survives.
  • Ann never escapes from Kong until Jack comes to save her.
  • Kong fights terapusmordax (giant bats) in his lair, not giant caecilians.
  • In New York, the stage is inside a building, not outside.
  • Kong isn't forced to climb the Empire State Building, he decides to.
  • It is morning when Kong dies, not late night.
  • The character of Briggs, who is a reference to a character from the original King Kong, is absent from the movie.
  • In the game version Englehorn posses a waterplane while in the movie he doesn't.

Main Characters

Here is a list of main characters and their uses in the game:

  • Jack Driscoll: You can play as Jack in the game. His main objective is to save Ann from the hands of Kong. He can use different weapons to kill enemies. He is a screenwriter in New York.
  • Ann Darrow: Both Kong and Jack care about Ann. She can climb up walls to complete objectives for Kong and Jack. She uses spears to defend herself and the others. She also has medical knowledge which she uses to heal other members of the group.
  • Carl Denham: All Carl cares about is his film. While sometimes he can be useful for killing enemies. He is mostly filming the wonders of Skull Island.
  • Hayes: Hayes is the gunner in the game. He sometimes gives you useful weapons such as a Sniper Rifle or Thompson and is the most helpful for fighting the creatures of Skull Island. He sustains mortal injuries when a V-Rex steps on him whilst Hayes tried to save Ann from Kong.
  • King Kong: You can play as Kong in the game. He protects Ann and kills different creatures in her defense. He can climb walls, swing on branches, and unblock paths.
  • Captain Englehorn: He is the person in the seaplane who drops you weapons in crates.
  • Jimmy: Jimmy is the young boy. He can use spears and is an easy target for most creatures.
  • Preston: Carl's assistant who goes ashore with Lumpy and Jimmy in another boat. He is killed by a V-Rex in the middle of the game.
  • Lumpy the Cook: The cook on the Venture, Lumpy went with Preston and Jimmy in another boat. He sacrifices himself to save Jimmy and is ripped apart by a V-Rex.
  • Choy: A Chinese sailor and a good friend of Lumpy, Choy takes care of the animals carried on the Venture. He dies in the game when the V-Rex breaks the bridge he is on, plunging him and Jimmy down into an abyss.
  • Briggs: Briggs is a sailor on the Venture who goes ashore with the others. He is killed while landing when the boat crashes and dies instantly, becoming the first casualty on Skull Island.

In addition to Kong and the many dinosaurs and creatures featured in the movie, the game features several new species:

  • Megapedes: Large, carnivorous centipedes that are slightly different to the species seen in the film. Whereas the ones in the film were portrayed as relatively harmless creatures, the ones in the game are vicious predators, rearing up like cobras before leaping at their prey and wrapping around it like a snake. There are two varieties of Megapede featured in the game: one of them is a 10 feet long bug of a greenish-brown colour, and the other much rarer - but more aggressive - species is dark brown, reaching lengths of approximately 6 feet. These sub-species are known to cannibalize each other. They usually inhabit rocky areas, as well as caves. They can also swim across bodies of water in a spiraling motion, similar to that of the whirligig beetle.
  • Scorpio-Pedes: 6 foot long scorpion-like 'neopedes' with a large, poisonous, parasol-shaped tail. They are usually found in dry scrubland, but also live in the rainforest undergrowth. They are hard to dispatch with bullets, but a spear will kill one easily.
  • Swampscrawlers: Crocodile-like reptiles found in swamps and waterways. Adults are dangerous predators, but babies can be used as bait. Unlike crocodiles, adults don't attack prey on the shore, instead waiting for them to dwell into the water. The babies have a habit of leaping from the water like dolphins.
  • Spiders: Relatively small spiders about 40cm long. They block areas in large swarms, leaping at anything wandering near enough, but can be distracted easily by carrion. The swarms always work together as a team, bringing down animals far larger than individual spiders ever could. They are also scared of fire.
  • Venatosaurus: A large green Velociraptor-like dinosaur. They run at great speeds, can leap over gaps and onto ledges, and are rather tough to kill. They usually attack in groups of two or three.
  • Baby venatosaurus: A smaller (and much easier to kill) Venatosaurus. They are a bluish color and hunt in large numbers.
  • Giant Crabs: Always found near water, attacking prey with their four massive pincers. These 2 foot predators are generally quite easy to kill. Biut there is a giangantic crab, which can only be killed by aiming under its shell.
  • Giant Congo Eel: A giant, snake like amphibian featured in a fight scene that takes place in Kong's lair. Kong must kill three of these huge creatures. A smaller version is also fought, possibly juveniles.
  • Terapusmordax: A flying bat-like rodent commonly seen around the island. While they are no more than an annoyance to Kong, they can be dangerous to Jack when they group up in huge swarms. They are distracted easily by carrion.
  • Queen Bat: A huge, ferocious female Terapusmordax. She is very tricky to kill as both Jack and Kong, and is big enough to carry off humans. Her kind reside in "castles" which are actually large towers or ruins adorned with wooden spikes and littered with corpses. She is always surrounded by her many Terapusmordax minions, including two or three babies that usually follow her closely.
  • Brontosaurus: Although these gigantic sauropod dinosaurs are rather peaceful herbivores, being in the middle of a herd can be dangerous. Their huge feet can squash Jack easily, and one Brontosaurus being shot or attacked causes a stampede.
  • V-rex: A gigantic, 50 ft long therapod dinosaur that makes several appearances around the island. They are invincible while playing as Jack (hitting them and shooting them will only make them angry), and only Kong can hurt and kill them. A V-rex can be distracted as Jack by shooting down Terapusmordax for it to eat. Sometimes V-rexes attack in groups of two or three.
  • Baby V-rex: A much smaller version of the adult. They are twice as big as Venatosaurus and also prey on these creatures. They aren't very hard to kill as Jack. Only a few spears and a few shots from a gun are all that's needed to kill these creatures. They can also smash through stone shelters.
  • Mountain Bats: Tailless flying Terapusmordax that live in large numbers outside Kong's layer. Females are aggressive and deliberately attack Jack, but males are more interested in carrion or sleeping. However, if Jack harms them, they will chase and attack him.
  • Many small species of arthropod are also featured in the game, such as dragonflies that inhabit clusters of plants, and large larvae that are found on the floor, usually near corpses. These harmless species do not play an important role in the game, except to be used as bait for larger, more dangerous animals. They are always found in small groups. One harmful species of arthropods are mosquitos inhabiting swamp plants; if Jack walks into these bushes the mosquitos will swarm out and hurt him. Terrestrial thorn bushes (which sometimes block paths) also hurt Jack when he walks into them, although these do not contain mosquitos or any other insects.

Levels

Here are all the levels in order.

  • The Venture
  • Skull Island
  • Necropolis
  • Scorpions
  • The Wall
  • Sacrifice
  • On Kong's Tracks
  • Hayes
  • V-Rex
  • Ann
  • Kong
  • The Canyon
  • Millipedes
  • Brontosaurus
  • Jimmy
  • On The Raft
  • Rapids
  • Fight
  • Swamps
  • Chased by V-Rex
  • The Log
  • The Skull Islanders
  • To Save Ann
  • The Cave
  • Venatosaurus
  • In The Mud
  • Call Kong
  • Kong To The Rescue
  • To The Plane
  • To The Lair
  • Kong's Lair
  • Fight In The Lair
  • Free!
  • Chased By Kong
  • Heading Back
  • Back To The Village
  • Kong's Capture
  • Kong Struck Down
  • In The Streets Of New York
  • The Empire State Building
  • Kong's Death
  • Credits
  • Alternative Ending

Technical issues

The version for the Xbox 360 was set up only for use on HDTV, and as a result, use on standard TVs led to a very dark image unsatisfactory for effective gameplay. As a result, Ubisoft recommended fans buy the standard Xbox version until a fix for the problem is produced [3].

The PC version is also known to install the rootkit StarForce.

The Nintendo DS version is widely bashed[4] because of bugs and glitches, poor level design and enemy AI[5]. It was nominated for 'Flat-Out Worst Game' in GameSpot's Best & Worst of 2005 (the 'award' eventually went to Land of the Dead: Road to Fiddler's Green.[6])

File:Vrex.jpeg
A V-Rex from the Xbox 360 version of Peter Jackson's King Kong.

Sequel?

Peter Jackson has hinted that there may be a sequel game although he did not directly confirm one. If a sequel is made it may more than likely focus on Carl Denham going back to Skull Island to escape the lawsuits from Kong's rampage as he did in the 1933 sequel movie The Son of Kong.

Reaction

Game reviews

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