Late to the Party: King Kong

Platform: Xbox 360
Publisher: Ubisoft
Review Type: Touchy
Version: Retail

King Kong is an interesting failure. I played through the game this weekend, finding it alternately engrossing and infuriating. Engrossing because it aims for immersion. And there are moments, like the time I found myself running between the legs of brontosauri with raptors in hot pursuit, that it suceeds. But the game tries too hard to shrug off the fact that it's a game and almost every time it does so it suffers.

Yeah, it's one of those games with no HUD, no health bar and no aiming reticle -- making every flubbed shot and death feel more unnessesary than waranted. And then there's the game's look, which yo-yos between gorgeous and butt-ass-ugly. The fleeting slices of beauty are far outnumbered by huge slabs of mediocre. Spend some time with your face shoved into an dimly lit cave texture while a giant centipede gnaws on your ass-cheek and your disposition won't be so rosy either.

I can't hate King Kong. It's a game that tried to soar above movie liscence mediocrity, but like all overachievers wound up taking a nosedive engulfed in flames. At the very least the game is an easy 1000 achievement points and a great cautionary tale for those who would take the "thinking man's shooter" premise too far.