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.
Gameplay
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.
Technology
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.
Value
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.
garren said: "i like FPS's a lot (who doesn't like Halo???), but this game rattled me. I don't like how there is no cross hairs, no health meter, no spear aiming thing, and you have to hold L to keep your weapon out. But the sound effects are great, 'specially when you're playing it at night alone and a weird centipede noise is heard (but you have no idea it is a centipede) and BAM! its in your face...that's the only thing i like about it...other than that blah!"
Yeah, that's another thing I negelected to mention. It has this really tense feel, and these scary high pitch violins, then dinosuars pop out and try to tear you apart. The first time I played it, I was so nervous that I ripped off my headphones (a must have for this one) practically threw the thing across the bed. It really isn't that scary, becasue I'm a bit of a wimp, but still...
This game is definately not worth the money! There are only 15 levels, which although are great to play, they are also quite easy to get through. I was given this game as a Christmas present, and I had completed it (and re-played it) before the New Year. Compared to GTA: Liberty City Sories (which I also received for Christmas) which has gameplay so vast it's unbelievable, Kong was a big disapointment. There is no interaction with other characters from the movie (unlike the PS2 version of the game) and I believe that other platforms has much more game content available. I would advise anyone to rent it - don't buy it.
I just want to thank overachiever for her review. This is a good peice of work and it shows that you paid a lot of attention to every aspect of the game! GREAT JOB!!
I will rent this game and check it out upon your review!
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