68
Thank god I trade games instead of giving 50 bucks for them.
I beat this game with less than 2 hours of gameplay, and I don't think I'm ever going to play it again. A little hard and fustrating at first but you get used to it soon. There are about 16 levels, each with different difficulty. You get to play as Kong through 40% percent of the game, the rest is with Jack. Jack is in first person and Kong in 3rd. When playing with Jack, you will occasionally hear him panting and breathing heavily as giant dinosaurs and bugs await you behind the corner, feels as though you really are there.
There is no health index, when you get hurt, the screen starts flashing red and dramatic music starts playing, you wait a few seconds and your health is back to normal. Not a large variety of weapons, several types of gun, each having not more than 10 bullets for the whole level, and spears which you can find everywhere. There are alot of sound glitches that can get annoying. The controls are square, O, X and triangle for turning around, analog for movement and are and L for attacks.
The whole game follows the story line of the movie, so the last couple of levels you will play as kong smashing cars and climbing the chrysler building in New York. I do not advise you on getting this game, rather rent it for 2 days.
49
I don't know why so many people are praising this game, its probably one for the worst buys for the PSP.
Graphics - 50
The graphics are decent, but nothing outstanding. The main problem is the environments, which are very bland. The only exceptions are in a few of the Kong levels, such as the final bit on the top of the Empire State Building. However even the first part of New York seems rather dull.
Gameplay - 60
The gameplay in the game is very simplistic. You can move around, butt (or jab) with your weapon, and shoot/throw your weapon. You can only carry one gun at a time, with no indicator of ammo other then Jack's ramblings which don't help at all. The spears are a neat idea, but after awhile the novelty wears off.
The battles are very short and easy, with very little variation in enemys. You also have no health indication, you simply die after being hit two or three times. There are a few boss encounters, but again they are rather easy. The puzzles in the game, if you can even call them that, are one of two things. Either find a lever for a gate, or light your spear on fire to burn some thorns blocking your path.
While playing as King Kong, the game is quite a lot of fun. He has two basic attacks, a grab, he can jump (at certain locations), and climb walls. There are two types of main enemies with King Kong (on the island), the T-rex and the giant centipede. These boss battles are very fun, but there are few of them. One of the funnest things with King Kong is picking things up and either throwing or hitting enemies with them.
The last bit in New York is very short, but it is a nice change from the island. Its pretty fun to run around as Kong and grab cars and smash humans, if only for a short while. Also fighting planes on the Empire State Building is sweet. While the King Kong bits are fun, there is still camera and control issues.
The load times are pretty good, thought since the levels are short its very annoying how often you have to load.
Sound - 70
This is the only part of the game I found to be above average. The game sounds fantastic, and the voice overs are great. Unfortunately there just isn't that much music here.
Lasting Appeal - 20
This is where it completely sucks. I beat the game in about two hours. TWO HOURS! There is no incentive to play again, and there is no kind of harder gameplay modes or anything. This is the main reason I would say don't buy the game, simply because you could borrow it or rent it and have it done the same day.
84
I don't like first person shooters. In fact, I despise them. Luckily for me, someone aggressively ignored my prejudice, and bought me King Kong for Christmas. Let me tell you that this really opened my eyes to what kind of world I was missing. So, FPS haters and lovers alike, pay attention!
I popped open the game and read the instructions as slowly as I could, to avoid what I believed to be the horrors of the FPS world. I then forced myself to put the UMD in the slot – without “accidentally” snapping it in half. (I couldn’t be rude and not play it, right?). I was greeted by a brief cinematic sequence, which led into a main menu. “Nice background effects”, I unwillingly thought at the sight of rolling waves. I couldn’t help but be intrigued by this game.
I finally played the actual game. What struck me as odd was the control scheme. For the First Person part, the symbol buttons change the directions that Jack faces, and shooting and “repelling” actions are performed with the shoulder buttons. Maybe this is normal but I was a little weirded out. I got used to it fast though, and actually found myself enjoying it. I never found that there was a task that was difficult to execute with so few buttons.
Next, you often coincidentally find yourself in the path of blood-thirsty, flesh ripping dinosaurs. What I found interesting was that getting trigger hap-hap-happy wasn’t always the best course of action. In this game, the better alternative would almost always be to throw a spear. I personally found the whole spear system to be fun and a tad addicting. Spears, in this game, practically litter the ground. You can pick them up through the use of the are shoulder button (“repel”). You can then throw them for more damage than a gun generally causes, or stab the adorable little critters that squirm around all over the place. If you chose the latter, then you can throw it to use as bait for the bigger, more violent dinos. In this method, you can set traps.
In addition, you can set the spears on fire, and burn your way through the level. Spears are reusable, but they break after four or five uses. As nice as the novelty of spears was, however, I didn’t appreciate (although you may) the lack of concrete numbers. Jack will just say “Three magazines, on backup!” or whatever and you sort of have to remember the rest. Also, there is no health bar. Flashing tinted red=bad, while grey=good! It’s as simple as that. Your health seems to regenerate into perfectly okay after the flashing goes away.
You do get to play as Kong (a.k.a. The big, doomed monkey). That’s certainly a nice break from all the first person lead pumping action. You can pull off short little attack combos, and although in print the controls seem complex, you will find them easy as soon as you start playing. Kong levels seem disappointingly linear, though, probably because it would be difficult to contain the big gorilla in a more open level design. They don’t seem “tacked on” in any way, though.
Almost every PSP game has made good use of the little machine’s raw graphic potential. I wouldn’t go as far as to say that the graphics bring things up to a whole new level, but they are nothing to complain about, and have a fair amount of detail. I found most of the environments to be grey, and somewhat devoid of color, though. Of course I wasn’t expecting any “Let’s paint with Barbie!”, but you’re supposed to be in a jungle for some parts, so green that didn’t look like it had been painted over with grey could have been nice. The scenery had some nice variety, from bizarrely shaped rocks to grass and moss, though. I’ve yet to experience any slow downs or choppiness, even with multiple enemies on screen.
The sound was as vibrant and colorful as the scenery wasn’t. Though the same songs played over, I always felt like I was feeling them in a new way, based on the situation (this sounds a little bit corny, but its true). When you’re about to die, this weird vocal thing plays. It’s slightly opera-esque, but it’s okay. You can hear dinosaurs realistically screeching, and in that was you are alerted of their approach. All in all, the sound is very good.
Whoa! $50? I’m glad I got this as a Christmas present. I still think that it’s worth a try, due to good graphics and interesting game play mechanics. I thoroughly enjoyed this game, and I didn’t even think I would. In terms of replayability, you can replay the levels for a score, and if you get a high enough score for all of them, than *I won’t tell you, it’s a surprise*. It’s judged on how many bullets and spears you use and how many animals you killed (as Jack) or how much time, how many attacks you attempted and how many animals you killed (as Kong, obviously). Also, in order to understand what’s going on, you kind of need to have seen the movie. Overall this is a very good game, which brings some interesting concepts into play. Watch out kiddies, this one’s rated T.
Pros
• Immersive, somewhat strategic game play involving several types of weapons.
• Fun Kong levels, a third person break from the tense FPS norm.
• Good graphics.
Cons
• Drab scenery.
• No numbers or data of any sort (could be good, too).
• Story isn’t carried very well.
88
I do no not like FPS games but this is fantastic. 15 levels of non stop action, a must buy.
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