Let's begin with a little history lesson. A couple of years back, Ubi Soft released a wonderful game by the name of Beyond Good & Evil. Featuring a lovely blend of simple combat, puzzle solving, engaging platform sections and a big world to explore, both on foot and in vehicles, it was great fun to play and had a superb storyline with likeable characters. Sadly, it didn't sell very well, and a sequel was not forthcoming. Although not many people played it, there was one person of note that very much enjoyed it - a guy by the name of Peter Jackson. I assume you've heard of him? After helming the groundbreaking Lord of the Rings trilogy, which is to my mind an unparalleled cinematic triumph, Peter Jackson picked a remake of King Kong as his next project. Now with serious Hollywood oomph behind his name, he also hand picked the developers of Beyond Good & Evil for the game tie-in of the movie, giving them unprecedented access to concept art, sets and other vital behind the scenes materials. The result? Arguably the most exciting, successful and atmospheric game of a movie to date.

It's the 1930s and film director Carl Denham has happened upon a map showing the way to the fabled Skull Island, which he thinks will be a great location to shoot his next movie. Denham sets sale for Skull Island, bringing newcomer Ann Darrow as his leading lady and actor/writer Jack Driscoll, along with a whole production crew. They reach the island in the middle of a raging storm and just about make it to shore amongst the chaos. However, everyone soon realises that there is far more here than they bargained for - with giant predators of every kind, including several species of dinosaur, the movie shoot turns into a fight for survival, as the hapless cast and crew now find themselves at the bottom of a very brutal food chain. And did I mention the rather large ape?

The presentation of Peter Jackson's King Kong is absolutely outstanding and the ingenious design of both the game mechanics and the levels gives way to one of the most realistic and immersing games I've ever played. The first thing you'll notice is that the entire game is viewed in widescreen, already giving a real movie quality to the proceedings. However, the best part about the presentation is that there are no on-screen displays of any description - no health indicator, no ammo indicator and no crosshairs for lining up your shots. Without these distractions, or indeed any kind of text flashing up on screen to give you objectives, the whole game plays like an interactive movie experience - it's like watching a film where you're in control of the camera. Taking a leaf out of the book of Half-Life 2, rather than presenting you with static cut scenes, the action for set pieces like a T-Rex charging onto the scene, or a herd of Brontosauruses rumbling past majestically, is all viewed from your own first person perspective while you play, further immersing you into the action.

You might be a bit worried about this lack of on screen information, but don't be, because the way the game has been designed means that you'll never be without critical information. Your health status is very simple - if you get attacked, the screen goes red and blurry, dramatic music plays, the sound of the surroundings goes fuzzy and you can hear your heart pounding. Get attacked again while you're in this weakened state and you'll die, otherwise within a few seconds you'll be back to normal, so there's no worrying about collecting medikits, which is definitely a good thing. As for ammo, Jack (the character you play) keeps you informed, as he tells you when a reload is needed, as well as letting you know how many ammo magazines are on back-up at the press of a button. Very clever. And while you might miss having a target to line up shots at first, within half an hour of playing you'll be impaling giant centipedes with spears and shooting flying reptiles out of the sky using your weapon, with intuitive accuracy.

The island itself looks gorgeous, and although the graphics aren't a huge leap from the Xbox version (which looked magnificent anyway) they're impressive enough for a next generation game. Everything looks sharper and more realistic, while there are some fantastic lighting effects with fire, sunlight streaming through the clouds and some lovely storm effects too. The island is always dark and foreboding and the scenery actually varies surprisingly well, considering the sparse nature of the setting. You'll work your way up rocky cliff paths, through the ruins of ancient civilisations, across murky swamps, deep into dank caves, over grassy cliffs and high up into the mountains as you journey around Skull Island, which is massive. As far as the atmosphere goes, it feels like you're really there on this desolate island full of vicious and merciless predators. There are no levels as such - the game is divided into segments, but they mostly continue where the previous one left off.

The whole game takes an approach of complete realism and this plays an integral part of the gameplay. It's fair to say that if you don't use your surroundings to survive, you won't get very far. There are spears stuck in the ground all over the place, as well as dinosaur skeletons from which you can grab javelin-like bones to use as a weapon. You can stab with your spear to keep a creature at bay, or throw it to impale your foe. You can only carry one spear at a time, so you'll soon be running around like a pro, lobbing a spear or bone, then grabbing the next one and lobbing that, or even ripping the spear you just threw from the nearby creature and using it on them again, before they can recover from the first strike. Ammo conservation is definitely an issue - you soon realise that ammo is not freely available, and while you do get to use your fair share of guns for taking out the hostile predators that attack you, you'll get into the habit of using spears wherever possible and keeping your gun in reserve.

As for guns, you start off with a pistol, which isn't that powerful but will take down most enemies with enough shots. You can only carry one weapon at a time but periodically you'll come across supply crates, air dropped by one of the crew flying around over Skull Island, hanging from a tree, complete with their parachute. Smash the crate to get another weapon, such as the shotgun, which is brilliant for head shots at close range, or the machine gun, which spews bullets at a tremendous rate. Best of all is the sniper rifle, great for taking out pesky flying enemies from a distance while they're sleeping, hanging bat-like from a tree branch or cliff. The weapons look great and feel convincing too, keeping with the theme of weaponry from the historical era, as well as sounding lovely.

The environment also presents you with puzzles to solve and obstacles to navigate, as well as options as to how to get through a predator-infested area. You see, the predators on Skull Island are always hungry and they're happy to feast on other fallen beasts. So, when being chased by a T-Rex (which you're incapable of killing) if you shoot down a flying creature, the Rex will stop for a few seconds to munch on it, before turning its attention back to you. Or you can kill a giant centipede and when the flying reptiles land to eat it, you can kill them while they're feeding, or just rush on by and leave them to it. Smaller prey, such as giant dragonflies and insect larvae can often be found, and you can impale these on your spear, then throw the spear into a certain area. Watch as the bigger predators rush over to eat it, then make your escape.

Fire plays a big part in the game too - there are many stone basins that are either aflame or can be lit, and you often need to get hold of some fire to burn the tough and thorny weeds that block your route through a certain area. You can light spears with fire, then either poke the weeds, or lob the spear in - fire kills enemies too, so it's always satisfying to kill a creature in the weeds, watch as the others rush in for the feast, then set the whole lot on fire and burn them all. Another aspect of the gameplay that's very enjoyable is looking out for your friends - Ann, Carl, Hayes and Jimmy. Quite often you'll have to cover them, while they wade through deep swamp water, shooting at aquatic beasts with your sniper rifle, or as they use levers to open gates built by the primitive islanders. Some of the most exciting sections see you keeping the attention of a T-Rex, which will chase you around, smashing into the stone ruins that you hide in and knocking them to the ground. You have to keep shooting or spearing it to keep its attention, and it's fast and deadly too, so make sure you shoot it as it tries to eat you, or you won't last long!

One of the best parts of the game comes when you're stuck on a raft, with islanders throwing flaming spears at you, and two T-Rexes chasing along the banks of the river as you speed down some rapids - the climax to this scene is particularly thrilling! Also you'll find yourself dodging in between the massive feet of brontosauruses, fending off raptors as you make your way towards a source of fire. Many exciting sections take place at key points and the blend of combat and puzzle solving as you progress across the island is very well balanced, so it doesn't wear thin. The game is very linear, with only one path to find, but again like Half-Life 2, you feel like you're exploring your way around a huge, living landscape, so the fact that there's only one path really doesn't matter at all.

The creatures come in all shapes, but they're always super-sized! Even the smaller enemies, like the giant centipedes, are pretty lethal if you're not very careful, and the enemy AI is spot on; they're intelligent, vicious and always behave how you'd expect, whether stopping to eat a downed creature or circling around you before moving in for the kill. And while fending off these monsters can leave you breathless at times, every so often a game section comes into play where you get to really show these things who's boss - as you step into the giant, hairy feet of Kong himself.

As I'm sure you're already aware, in certain parts of the game you take control of the apeonymous Kong (and that's a pun, not a spelling mistake!) so you can really let loose, bashing raptors and flying reptiles away with a single swipe, or grabbing them and throwing them off cliffs. These sections are brilliantly designed and really show the graphics off - Kong himself looks amazing and is beautifully animated. They also really give an impression of Kong's massive size, as he lumbers (surprisingly gracefully) around the landscape. Kong's sections are split between combat and travel, the latter of which sees him clinging to vine-covered cliffs and leaping onto huge branches, swinging his way across the landscape, usually to catch up with the fleeing Ann, who keeps getting herself into trouble. The controls for Kong are spot on and it's very hard to fall to your death; while the gameplay of these sections is pretty simplistic, it all looks so spectacular and feels so natural that it's immensely satisfying to do. Kong has a couple of moves in his repertoire - grab, punch and some lovely finishing moves for the T-Rexes and larger flying creatures. He can also pound his chest for a few seconds to go into rage mode, and really get destructive!

Everything sounds as great as it looks - the rumble feature is used well throughout the game, all the ambient sounds of the island like the howling rain, chatter of crickets and screeches of nearby predators are spot on, while each creature sounds distinctive and when the T-Rex roars it's so ear-shattering that the whole screen shakes and your vision blurs a little! The music is superb, bringing dramatic orchestral themes into full play during the big action sequences and really building on the atmosphere. I assumed that the music was taken directly from the film soundtrack (having not yet seen the film), but the rousing orchestrations are in fact 100% original, created specifically for the game by talented composer Chance Thomas. The voice acting is also top notch, with an intelligent script and all the characters sounding convincingly frightened and stressed, except for Denham, who couldn't care less whether anyone lives or dies, as long as he can get it all on film.

There's only one real drawback for this game - and that's its length. You're looking at somewhere in the realm of six hours, maybe a little more if you really take your time to stop and look at the often spectacular views. There are a few extras to unlock, which you do by racking up a score by replaying levels you've already completed, but even so, it's a very short-lived game by the standards of the Xbox 360. However, with the scale and scope of most titles released for the 360 thus far, it is in some ways quite refreshing to find a game that's a bit shorter and this is certainly one I'll be playing through again in a few months' time when my memory of it has faded a little.

Peter Jackson's King Kong is the first in a new generation of movie tie-in games that's raised the bar a good couple of notches for everything that follows. This fantastic license could have been squandered on a cheap cash in, but instead Jackson and Ubi Soft have pulled out all the stops to create one of the most classy, authentic, atmospheric, faithful and exciting games of a movie ever to be released. It's an engaging masterpiece from start to finish, and while it will be over a lot sooner than you might like, you'll love every minute while it lasts. This game really is a must play - whether you buy it or just rent it, though, is up to you.

Reviewed by Geoff Holland for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).