New King Kong game announced and it doesn’t look great

King Kong is one of my favourite movie properties of all time and when a video game is announced based on my favourite giant ape, I should be excited, right?

In truth, we’ve not been blessed with great King Kong games and in all honesty, I’ve given up on that ever happening and that’s fine. Though to be fair, from what I remember the Peter Jackson King Kong game that was a tie-in to the 2005 movie was quite decent at least.

Yet, when Skull Island: Rise of Kong was announced just this week for PC and consoles, a small part of me was still excited, a part of me had at least a glimmer of hope, but then I watched the trailer. Perhaps I’ve just been scarred by the recent release of The Lord of the Rings: Gollum?

Developed by IguanaBee Studios and published by GameMill Entertainment, this new action-adventure game inspired by King Kong looks quite underwhelming, at least from the debut trailer. In fact, if someone had told me that this was a mobile game, I wouldn’t think twice about it. However, Skull Island: Rise of Kong is not only coming to last-gen consoles but also PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X|S.

Every trailer has a purpose to impress the masses to stump up the cash. So I would assume that the build showcased in this trailer would be from the best version of the game. In other words, I’d like to think that we’re not seeing the PS4, Xbox One or Nintendo Switch version. Yet, I doubt that is the case. Despite being unimpressed, I still believe that what we’re seeing is the best version of the game and if so, I am concerned. After all, first impressions count for a lot and you only get to make a first impression once.

Look, I hate being negative towards a video game and I often always look to see the positive in most things, so my harsh words do not come lightly. So when something combines my love for video games and one of my favourite stories of all time, I want it to be great.

Granted, this Kong game is inspired by the Merian C. Cooper novels, but that’s not to say that this video game can’t take some inspiration from other iterations of Kong. I hope that all my cynicism is misplaced and despite all that I’ve just said, I’ll be rooting for Skull Island: Rise of Kong. It’s also perhaps worth keeping in mind that this is not a full-price AAA game, as it will only command an RRP of £34.99 for the basic version of the game at launch.

To counterbalance my concerns, while a debut trailer can only make a first impression once, when the game releases, it should also have the opportunity to make a first impression on us in that respect. So if I’m able to, I will be giving this game the benefit of the doubt and I hope that my concerns are misplaced. I’ll be keeping my fingers crossed.

Skull Island: Rise of Kong will be released later this year for PC, PlayStation, Xbox and Nintendo Switch.

Featured Image Credit: IguanaBee Studios/GameMill Entertainment