Peter Jackson's King Kong (GameCube) Preview

Jurassic Park, eat your heart out. The new movie of King Kong is looking like it could be raising the acceptable bar of amount of dinosaurs to shove in a film by a lot, and the game is no different. A movie licence may frighten some, ourselves included at times, but this time it seems like it could be very dissimilar indeed. Michael Ancel and his team, of Beyond Good & Evil fame, are behind this one - if that doesn't make your ears prick up about the prospect of the game, then it's possible that little will. Peter Jackson himself handpicked the team, after enjoying the abovementioned game, to create the ultimate King Kong gaming experience.

Taking place on Skull Island, an island full of prehistoric beasts and tribesmen ('the land that time forgot' as it were), there are two entirely different styles of play. The first is a first person adventure where you play as Driscoll, part of a film crew who have come to this island to try and get footage of (and possibly capture) the legendary ape. Driscoll's mission is to try and get back Ann, an archaeologist who comes along on the trip with them and is promptly captured and offered as a sacrifice to the game's namesakes

Driscoll's journey looks very exciting, and extremely dangerous. Since you're playing as a puny human those dinosaurs are a bit more of a threat, them being walking killing machines and all. Thankfully, you get some limited weaponry

What's striking is the lack of a display showing your details (health and ammunition in the case of Driscoll, the former only in the case of Kong), and it's bound to confuse a lot of people at first. In an effort to create a more cinematic experience, Ancel and his team have decided to omit them entirely from view, forcing players to examine their surroundings and listen out for any clues about their current health. When you're hit, flashes of red appear in first person mode, while blood spills off in third person, and members of your crew shout out how much ammunition you have left. This looks like it'll create a more engaging experience than many of us are used to, and could make the game far better for it. The superb graphics look to help with the immersion as well, pushing the Gamecube close to its ever-expanding limits

The intelligence of everything could be another aspect that separates this wheat from the chaff, too. When playing as Driscoll your crew members act like they really are your companions, with them helping you out of sticky situations and passing you useful items