I just received a two-level demo of King Kong for the 360. The official game won't be available for review until next week.

The demo included one level of you playing as Jack and another level of you as King Kong.

I realize Japan Brian got a chance to play through the demoed game at the Osaka Games Festa. But I thought it was worth posting my impressions since it was more of the in-home experience.

I've played around with the game on the Gamecube, back when Nintendo came by my house, and have always been impressed with the amazingly detailed graphics and intuitive control.

I still am. I'd have to see the two side-by-side, but if my memory serves I'd say the 360 version isn't a huge step forward, graphically from the Gamecube version. That isn't to say it's a bad looking game, more than the Gamecube version was unbelievably amazing for current generation consoles.

The Jack level has me trying to keep the attention of a T-Rex away from two buddies as they try to open a gate so we can escape. The lush jungle environment and detailed ambient sounds really helped set the mode for the level.

My first two attempts ended with me as snack food for the Rex, then I found a pointy stick lying around and tried using that to occupy the Rex. At one point I was running circles around this mammoth rock with the Rex chasing me and I had no frigging clue where he was because the entire game is very first-person. I ended up having to side-step and take a peek over my shoulder. Bad mistake, he ate me.

In my final attempt, I tried winging spears at Rex until he chased me to some ruins and then I ducked through an arch. Every time Rex tried to go back to the guys at the gate, I'd toss another spear. They finally got it open and I high-tailed it to through with the Rex on my heels. The whole level wraps up with you cowering in a cave with the two other guys hoping to God the dinosaur can't reach you with his enormous head.

The fact that I was exhilarated by just watching this mostly out of my control scene says something about the power of this game.
In the King Kong level the shoe's on the other foot. Finally, you get to smack the T-Rex around. The fight controls are a bit difficult to master, but that's mostly a product of the realism of the game. A gorilla, no matter how huge, isn't going to be delivering concise jabs and uppercuts.

I found that if I tried to button mash too much it would result in King Kong smacking his chest and roaring into the sky, sort of the animal equivalent of senseless button mashing, so I had to be a bit more careful with my attacks. Once I defeated the initial Rex I got to take King Kong for a spin, sending him zipping through the jungle as he swung from rock outcrop to fallen tree to vine-covered wall. It's amazing that this game can look and behave so smoothly, there were no load times in game and everything just seemed to have a fluid feel to it.

I can't wait to get the final build of this game, I'm certain it's going to be a blast, though I'm still not quite sure what improvements it brings to the next-gen console.

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