King Kong is a curious blend of first-person action adventure and third-person ape brawler that more or less works.
Once past this initial setup the game begins with you taking the shoes of Jack (played by Adrien Brody in the movie and voiced in the game by the same actor) as your crew arrives on Skull Island. What unfolds are a sequence of events that more or less follow the plot of Jackson's flick with some additional scenes added to extend the playing time. For those who've seen the movie, many of the sequences that take place on Skull Island feel like excerpts from a video game anyway so the translation works quite well here.
Most of the gameplay while controlling Jack involves using a series of low-ammo weapons such as shotguns, pistols and tommy guns which are found in crates dropped from the circling plane above in various locations and, between ammunition sources, tracking down bone fragments or spears left behind by the natives to fight off a variety of gnarly, overgrown bugs and dinosaurs. There are some semi-frequent puzzle elements as well which mostly involve pathfinding via a system of locating fire sources and burning through impassable brambles. Both bones and spears can be ignited but sometimes the fire source itself is either blocked by carnivorous creatures or takes some searching to locate. Often you will need to track down a lever hidden somewhere in a region to activate turnstile door handles as well, again while fending off or avoiding big nasties.
Occasionally as the story progresses you will have the opportunity to play as Kong, and during these sequences the perspective shifts to third person. Kong's segments are less adventure/searching and more beat-em-up as Kong battles against the gigantic V-Rexes that are impervious to Jack's attack methods. But Kong also has several instances where he needs to do some pathfinding of his own. Instead of having the giant ape try to handle fire, these sections are usually overcome by setting down the heroine, Ann Darrow, whom Kong frequently carries around in his fist, so she can activate the fire appropriately.
A lot of the Kong segments have chase elements between fights, most of which involve pounding on the sprint button and occasionally hitting jump. It might sound kind of platform-esque, but the margin for error is ridiculously high and there is hardly any real challenge involved.
In fact, for the most part the challenge level of the game is pretty light in all aspects. None of the enemies are particularly tough and though you'll face increasing numbers of them at a time, usually you have at least one other non-playable character fighting with you. The computer-controlled allies aren't the brightest, but they connect with their attacks often enough to be of some assistance and in almost all cases, that's sufficient.
But in this case the relative ease of the game really works in its favor. The depth of gameplay is limited enough that just about the time you start to feel you can't stomach looking for another lever or spearing another giant millipede, the game will throw a Kong section at you to break up the action and about the time that the Kong parts start growing stale the game ends. For a game that is essentially a capable action adventure but little more, that's about right. You wouldn't want this game to be much more epic than it is because even with the various wrinkles and general ease of accomplishment, it already feels a touch padded for time.
None of which is to suggest that the game isn't worth playing. For what it is (a big commercial for the film), King Kong delivers an enjoyable six-to-eight hour experience. Some of the action set pieces are memorable and the excellent graphics offer plenty of eye candy. Plus, playing as Kong is just cool and mercifully rare enough to not get overexposed. The only real downer is the end sequence in New York which is abrupt and nowhere near the fitting climax it should be after all the build up from the rest of the game. Considering that much of the New York stuff in the film involved the weird love story between Kong and Ann, that might be a blessing, but the fact that the inevitable fight against the fighter planes atop the Empire State Building lasts all of about two minutes is likely to disappoint. The whole thing feels really tacked on like it was rushed to meet a deadline; even the graphics suffer from a noticeable dip in quality once you escape the jungle.
Even if the movie or the story or the idea of ripping dinosaur jawbones apart don't entice you, the 360 version offers a fairly compelling reason for admission which is the dead simple acquisition of 1,000 Achievement points. All the Achievements are unlocked just by working through the game (they are worded as if they required special attention, but each requirement is also a requirement to advance the story) so just getting to the end will result in the points. If the game were crummy, it might feel cheap, but fortunately King Kong is at least worth the eight or so hours it takes to play through, Achievements or no.