Peter Jackson's King Kong: The Official Game of the Movie (often shortened to Peter Jackson's King Kong) is a First-Person Shooter/Action-Adventure game developed by Ubisoft, based on Peter Jackson's 2005 remake of King Kong. Released across several platforms during The Sixth Generation of Console Video Games, the developers worked closely with the film's production crew and most of the cast reprised their roles for the game.
The player primarily takes control of screenwriter Jack Driscoll, as he traverses the deadly Skull Island in search of Ann Darrow, who has been captured by the giant ape King Kong. These sections of the game are in first-person, and focus on Jack fending off the various predators on Skull Island with the help of the surviving crew mates of the Venture. The game features no HUD display and relies on in-game prompts to keep track of the players health and ammo count, helping with the game's immersion.
There are sporadic moments during the game where the player takes control of Kong himself, as he protects Ann from the various threats on the island. Kong's gameplay shifts the focus away to a third-person brawler, as he takes on his foes in hand-to-hand combat. Kong's immense strength also allows him take on enemies that Jack is unable to kill on his own.
Tropes in Peter Jackson's King Kong include:
- Action Girl: Ann. More so than her movie counterpart. Here, she assist both Jack and Kong throughout the journey, fighting predators, and healing the crew (except Jack). At one point, she joins Jack in entering the caves full of enemies when searching for a lever and a fire, while the others wait at the door.
- Adaptational Badass: In the movie and the tie-in book, the moonspiders prey on small vertebrates and flee from anything larger than they are. This game portrays them as very dangerous swarming enemies that can kill the player character in one hit.
- Adapted Out: Choy, Lumpy's friend, is nowhere to be found in the game though he is mentioned by Jimmy as one of the deceased crew members. Herb, Denham's cameraman, is also nowhere to be found.
- Adaptational Alternate Ending: While the game's normal ending is much like the film's, it also has an alternate ending where Jack helps Kong fight off the airplanes so he can climb down from the Empire State Building, and safely returns to Skull Island.
- Adaptation Distillation: While the game is a tie-in for the movie, the plot is very different. Rather than involving a large rescue team of Red Shirts marching into the island to save Ann, she along with Jack, Carl, Hayes, and Jimmy get split off from the Venture's crew and spend the bulk of the story running around periodically separating and reuniting with one another as they try to survive the hazards and escape with their lives. This allows the story to be told with a smaller cast and makes room for unique set pieces that wouldn't work for a movie, but add unique challenges for a player to face in a video game.
- Adaptation Expansion: Hayes survives the log scene and accompanies Jack through much of the game until he is trampled by a V. Rex and dies of his injuries.
- Advancing Boss of Doom: The adult Vastatosaurus are utterly unkillable when playing as Jack. Some missions involve having to keep a V. rex away from Jack's companions and the only thing he can do is distract them either by shooting down a nearby Terapusmordax or throw spears and bones at them to drive their attention to him. If they get too close to Jack then they eat him in one bite, which is a One-Hit Kill.
- All Your Powers Combined: The young V. rex in the video game are fast just like the Venatosaurus, but have the strength of their adult forms.
- Artificial Brilliance: In the level "Rapids", the second V. rex will walk over a patch of tall grass which can usually be set on fire to kill any enemies hiding there. If you try to get rid of the theropod this way, it will quickly take a detour and walk away from the fire just as it starts. In the "V-Rex" level, if you keep going through the open doorway a few times to avoid the V.Rex, this will cause it to destroy it.
- Badass Normal: Jack is the biggest example of the cast, being only just a writer who's shown to be a very capable survivor while on Skull Island.
- to a lesser extent Hayes as well, being the only one in the crew who can use firearms besides Jack.
- The Big Guy: Hayes he gets to live longer to help Jack more and upgrades to The Lancer after Denham's Despair Event Horizon.
- Boss in Mook's Clothing:
- The game does have a handful of bosses, but the V. rex are obviously the most recurrent. In Jack's segments, they can't be killed, and the objective is just to survive against them long enough to escape. As Kong, they are still very dangerous and he will die if the player simply trades blows with the V. rex.
- Their younger counterparts can be killed by Jack, but are faster than the adults and will take a lot of punishment before going down thanks to their armoured skin. They are also just as strong as the adults and can destroy any stone structures on which you attempt to hide, making them similar to a Mini-Boss.
- Creepy Camel Spider: While the movie and tie-in book depict the Moonspiders as fairly realistic creatures that prey chiefly on small vertebrates and flee from anything bigger than themselves, game portrays them as invincible, swarming enemies that will kill the player in one hit.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: While to a much lesser extent than his film counterpart, the game features a V.Rex tearing Lumpy apart.
- Death by Adaptation:
- Sadly, Preston was killed offscreen as mentioned by Jimmy.
- Bruce Baxter's mauled corpse is found next to a sniper rifle with Terapusmordax nearby...
- Delicious Distraction: Jack can kill smaller, harmless creatures and use them as bait to drive the hungry monsters away, which is particularly useful if the player is low on ammo or needs to lure them into a trap. Killing other hostile creatures works as well, as the beasts will immediately swarm on the recent kill to feast on it.
- Dies Differently in Adaptation:
- In the film, Hayes dies trying to fight Kong during the rescue party's first close encounter with him during the log-scene. In the game, Hayes survives this encounter and survives until near the end of the Skull Island voyage, when he's trampled by a V. rex.
- Lumpy is killed by a V.Rex not long after Ann is captured, as opposed to getting knocked off the log and eaten by the Carnictis.
- Doomed by Canon: Averted in a bonus level, where the player saves Kong from being shot down and he's transported back to his habitat.
- Everything Trying to Kill You: Exactly. Be it The natives, the bugs, the predators, and even the ape himself.
- Giant Equals Invincible: The adult Vastatosaurus rex. Jack's weapons can slow them down, but can't kill them. They can only be killed by Kong.
- Giant Flyer: The Terapusmordax queens. While the book The World of Kong: A Natural History of Skull Island states the largest the species can get is to a wingspan of ten feet, the queens have a wingspan of at least twenty and are big enough to carry off a person.
- Guns Are Worthless: Zigzagged for the most part. While it can take a while to kill some enemies, most of them can be taken down by Jack's weapons. However, it's played horrifyingly straight when Jack faces the V. rexes, as their armoured hides make them invulnerable to gunfire.
- The Hero: Jack, as the player plays as both him and Kong.
- Hopeless Boss Fight: The final level turns into this once Kong reaches the top of the Empire State Building and has to face the biplanes. There is no end to them and their machine guns can hit Kong before they got close enough for the player to him them. The only way to survive is to play the alternate ending, where the fight ends once Kong destroys enough planes before the player takes control of Jack as he comes to the rescue.
- Immune to Bullets: Shooting the Vastatosaurus just makes them angry. The young ones are killable by Jack, but are still pretty strong.
- The Juggernaut: The adult Vastatosaurus. In Jack's levels, an adult is Advancing Boss of Doom with the goal being to run away from them to avoid getting eaten.
- Lightning Bruiser: Kong is a giant but is nonetheless much faster than Jack, and can kill an adult Vastatosaurus rex, something Jack can't do.
- The adult Vastatosaurus rex themselves. They aren't as fast as Kong, but they are by no means slow either. While playing as Jack they are invincible, with the most he can do being to slow them down. While they can be killed when playing as Kong, they still do considerable damage and simply trading blows with one will end with Kong losing.
- Mini Mook: The smaller venatosaurs in the game are this to the larger species.
- Mighty Roar: Kong. Especially after killing the V-rexes.
- The V-rexes as well. Considering that their roar can cause the whole screen to be blurred.
- Mythology Gag: In the opening of the game some falling debris causes the ship to crash and a sailor named Briggs is killed. Briggs was the second mate in the original 1933 film. He’s also the only character to not appear in the movie, but only in the video game.
- One-Man Army: Jack Driscoll. Especially if you play him when he's alone, hell, even when he's with his companions he still kills most of the enemies.
- Kong, is an ape variant of this trope. He will crush everything from small predators, to V-rexes and even the whole manhattan to save Ann. As expected from the King of Skull Island.
- Post-Mortem One-Liner : JackCarl: I thought this things were supposed to be extinct!Jack: Well, they are now.
- Recurring Boss: The Vastatosaurus rex. Being the main apex predators of Skull Island and the bigger threat to Kong and the humans alike, you encounter 15 of them in the game.
- Shout-Out: The centipedes, like the popular arcade game of the same name, will shed injured segments of their bodies and keep coming after you.
- Super-Persistent Predator: The V-Rexes. (Or at least, the one you encountered in the "Brontosaurs" level).
- Carl: The Dinosaur!.. he, he found us!, It's a blessing in disguise (ROOOOOAAAARRRRR).
- Say My Name: Whooo boy.
- JAAAAAACK!!
- AAANNNN!
- JIMMYYY!
- Ladies and Gentlemen!.. JAAAACK DRISCOLLL!!.. hehe whoo!
- Spared by the Adaptation: The unlockable bonus ending, in which Kong survives, due to Jack and Captain Englehorn swooping in to save him in a biplane
- Stock Scream: Ann's screams in this game are recycled from the movie. For example, the first scream take in the game is the same scream that you hear when Ann witnesses the death of Mike.
- Tail Slap: One of the ways the Vastatosaurus rex will attack Kong, the other being to ram him with their head.
- Title: The Adaptation: The title helpfully lets you know that this is "The Official Game of the Movie".
- Too Dumb to Live: Hayes..oh Hayes. if only he'd pay more attention to his surroundings and actually listen to Ann, he probably would have been Spared by the Adaptation.
- Truer to the Text: When it comes to Kong's capture, at least. King Kong was subdued and captured alive with the use of smoke bombs, much like the 1933 original, unlike the 2005 film which uses chloroform instead.
- Wham Episode : Well, Wham levels actually, but still.
- "The Wall" : Your first encounter with the natives, before they knocked and captured both Jack and Ann.
- "Sacrifice" : The first appearance of Kong. Also your first encounter with your dinosaurs enemies.. the Venatosaurs.
- "V Rex" : Jack and his crew faced the Top Predator of the Island.
- "The Canyon" : The Brontosaurs' whole herd appears.
