Games based on movies are a hard sell to the hardcore gamer. While casual gamers tend to snap them up because of their recognizable licenses, experienced gamers have been burned so many times by these turkeys that they are now extremely gun shy. But now core and casual gamers can both get excited about Peter Jackson’s December 2005 remake of King Kong with Peter Jackson’s King Kong: The Official Game of the Movie. (I promise that is one of only two times I will actually put that entire tome of a title in this review.) Designed by acclaimed video game maker Michel Ancel (Beyond Good and Evil, Rayman), King Kong offers solid gameplay and production values that will appeal to almost every gamer.

Of course Peter Jackson’s King Kong is based on the movie that became a worldwide sensation when it was released in March of 1933. (There was a 1976 remake that introduced the talented Jessica Lange to movie goers, but otherwise it was in every way inferior to the then-43-year-old original.) The story is kind of a retelling of the classic Beauty and the Beast story: beast falls for a beauty and it becomes his downfall. (SPOILERS AHEAD – of course only if you’ve been living on Jupiter until day before yesterday and know nothing of King Kong.) In this case the beast is a huge gorilla named Kong that has been living happily on Skull Island and worshiped as a god by the local natives. A movie director, Carl Denham (Jack Black), comes to the island to make a movie with a blond-haired leading lady, Ann Darrow (Naomi Watts). The natives think this fair-haired maiden will make a nice sacrifice to their hairy god and snatch her for the festivities. Kong is indeed pleased and falls madly in love with the beauty, taking her into the jungle. The script writer, Jack Driscoll (Adrien Brody), goes after the fleeing Kong. Dinosaurs ensue with much large-animal fighting and roaring. Ann is rescued. Kong is captured and brought back to New York City where he is billed in a Broadway stage show as “The Eighth Wonder of the World.” Kong escapes on opening night, runs amuck and is eventually killed … at least until there is a sequel.

In the game King Kong, gamers will spend the majority of the game as Jack Driscoll in a first-person shooter style of gameplay. In its default setting one thing becomes immediately apparent about the game – there is nothing on the screen but the action being played out. No heads-up display to tell you how badly you are hurt or how much ammunition you have on hand. Not even a targeting reticule to help you aim. The view is like that of an actual character in the movie with no artificial elements to break you out of the world the game establishes. The screen turns red as you take injuries and Jack’s voice will keep you apprised of your ammunition status and objective. It makes for a very interesting visual presentation. If you must, it is possible to turn on an inventory readout and targeting reticule. The game made targeting rather forgiving, so the reticule is really not that important. The ammo inventory is a little more important as it seems you are almost always short of ammo and have to use the fortuitously-placed sharp bones or native spears to supplement your arsenal and save your ammo for when you really need it.

As Jack Driscoll, your main goal is to survive on Skull Island long enough to rescue Ann Darrow. The island does not make that easy on you since everything living on it is super-sized and always hungry. Sometimes a well-placed spear or bullet will move you forward. Other times a little puzzle solving is called for. The puzzles are pretty simple for the most part. Examples include setting fires to clear brush, luring animals out of your path by throwing bait, and finding special posts that are used as levers to rotate gate locks.

In all too brief sections of the game, the player will play as the mighty Kong himself in third-person-perspective action mode. These sections have Kong racing after things that have taken Ann and want to eat her (It is Naomi Watts, who could blame them?) or fighting giant monsters in hand-to-hand combat. Racing through the island canyons as you swing from outcroppings and climb vine-covered walls is outstanding. Using the simple and effective fighting system to beat down tyrannosaurs … priceless. The feeling of power fighting as Kong is incredible. You are the king of the island. Sadly, there is just not enough of playing as Kong in the game.

Graphically the game is nothing short of beautiful. The lush-jungle-growing-through-a-decaying-civilization environment that makes up the majority of the game is amazing to see. Creatures are well detailed, frighteningly well animated, and of sufficient variety to make each encounter thrilling. In one sequence I was moving over a wooden catwalk as a herd of brontosaurus thundered through the valley below. The sheer spectacle of it made me stop and watch for a couple of minutes. At the time I did not know that soon I would literally be among the feet of these beautiful giants. The Xbox 360’s graphical power is shown off to good effect here. Even so, I did notice some graphical anomalies. They were just small glitches, but amongst the great detail they were jarringly noticeable.

Audio was every bit the equal of the visuals. The film’s cast is here and doing their thing with the voice acting. Chance Thomas’ score nicely accompanies the action. The sound effects are full-bodied and will punch you in the gut with their realism.

With all it has going for it, the game does represents a bit of a dilemma in the value department. It is one of the full-priced games for the Xbox 360 at $60. When you divide that cost by the length of the game, perhaps seven hours, if you don’t gaze on brontosauruses, the results is probably about what the cost of the movie is per hour. One reason I’ve liked games is because, on a per-hour basis, they represent good entertainment value. And while this game is definitely going in my permanent game collection (It’s a game based on events in a movie that does not suck. That deserves a special place.), I’m not sure I’ll ever play it again now that I’ve completed it.

The other problem the game has is in the balance between events on the island and events in Manhattan. I’d been at the game a while when Kong was captured and the action left Skull Island. I saved and went to have dinner. The game at that point said I was 92 percent finished. I came back to complete the game and it seemed like it took me about 15 minutes to get from the show site to the Empire State Building and bite the big banana. (All of the New York level is played as Kong.) While I was not expecting a Godzilla-in-Tokyo style city destruction, this was a bit of a letdown.

Game length and story balance aside, Michel Ancel and the other folks at Ubisoft have done the almost unheard of and made a very good game based on the events of a movie in Peter Jackson’s King Kong: The Official Game of the Movie. Considering the last time the iconic character of King Kong came to consoles in the USA was in 1982 on the Atari 2600 in a game by Tigervision, it was way overdue. And when you further consider the quality percentages between the crapfests that have been the majority of the numerous Godzilla games and the two Kong games, the giant hairy ape beats the giant scaly reptile hands down in the game department.