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Review: 'Kong' successfully swings from movie to video gameBy Marc Saltzman  King Kong gets to show dinosaurs who's the boss. RELATEDYOUR E-MAIL ALERTSPair an Academy Award-winning filmmaker with one of the most talented video game designers and you'll end up with "Peter Jackson's King Kong: The Official Game of the Movie," an interactive version of the feature film, designed by Ubisoft's Michel Ancel. While on the short side, the end result is a cinematic thriller that is difficult to put down. Jackson, director of "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy and a fan of Ancel's 2003 video game "Beyond Good & Evil," tapped the Paris-based designer to make "Kong" into a game. In this single-player adventure, you start off on the mysterious Skull Island as Jack Driscoll, a New York screenwriter who tags along to oversee a movie shoot with director Carl Denham and leading lady Ann Darrow. A couple of sailors, Hayes and Jimmy, round out your expedition team. As Driscoll, you must stay alive by fighting off deadly indigenous creatures such as dinosaurs, giant bats and 10-foot-long millipedes. This part of the game is played from a first-person perspective and relies on cooperation with others, such as two people turning levers at the same time to open a wooden gate. Later in the game you can also control the massive 25-foot-tall King Kong from a third-person perspective. The hairy beast must battle dinosaurs and irate natives, swing throughout the island and protect the lovely Darrow. If you're familiar with the movie storyline, it won't be a surprise to end up in New York City, but the game ends shortly thereafter. To give the movie and game a uniform look and feel, Ubisoft collaborated with Jackson's visual-effects company Weta Ltd. by integrating parts of the movie into the game engine. Players will find the jungle levels very atmospheric with lush environments and realistic weather effects. The audio is equally as extraordinary with competent voice talent (including Denham voiced by Jack Black, who also stars in the film) and a two-hour orchestrated soundtrack beautifully composed by Chance Thomas and performed by the Northwest Sinfonia Orchestra. Evident by a credits screen that takes more than 10 minutes to scroll by, Peter Jackson's "King Kong" is one massive video game production. Gamers can also unlock many goodies such as movie footage, hand-drawn artwork, interviews and a classic video filter that makes the game look like a grainy black-and-white movie. While it may only take seven or so hours to complete, which is on the short side for a $50 video game, "Peter Jackson's King Kong: The Official Game of the Movie" is undoubtedly a "must-play" title regardless of your preferred platform. 
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