A love letter to Peter Jackson's King Kong video game, the first great achievement hunter pick-up

Later this week marks 20 years since the release of the Xbox 360, and with it comes a slew of related gaming anniversaries of varying importance.

The cumbersomely-named Peter Jackson's King Kong: The Official Game of the Movie isn't exactly one of the most prestigious Xbox 360 launch titles. Not even the fact that it really is Peter Jackson's King Kong (for the legendary filmmaker actually acted as producer on this title) can elevate it beyond what it is: a pretty much fine film tie-in. But there's a beauty to that, isn't there?

A phenomenon we have seen in games in the 20 years since Peter Jackson's King Kong first launched is a shrinking of that middle ground. It feels like today, games are either smaller affairs or absolutely massive bets, and with that shift has come a loss of a certain category of game. I don't know what we'd call them, exactly, because all the terms are nonsense. B-tier? That's probably a bit harsh. Single A? Whatever they were called, quite a lot of these games were branded tie-ins, leveraging a licensed IP in order to try to maximize sales potential.

Peter Jackson's King Kong: The Official Game of the Movie (yes, I will keep using its full title, thank you) is something of a poster child for that sort of game. While these tie-in games existed on the previous generation and this title was itself cross-generation, this was the first of its kind on the 360, there on launch.

Directed by Michel Ancel of Rayman and Beyond Good and Evil fame, this is no cheap money-grab. Ubisoft clearly spent eagerly on the game, for one. It's also full of interesting choices starting right at the top, with the decision to allow players to experience the narrative and gameplay from both the perspective of the human characters and Peter Jackson's King Kong himself. The human levels take place from a first-person perspective, while adventuring as Kong pushes back to third-person.

Many of the Kong levels turn this into basically a secret Kaiju game, with the titular beast doing battle against other gigantic creatures. Meanwhile, the human sections are most characterised by the game's filmic decision to remove pretty much all HUD elements. This might be the hand of Jackson, of course, as the result is certainly something that more closely resembles a movie. This is a game where you handle guns that by default eschews an on-screen ammo counter or even an aiming reticule - and there is something of a textural richness leant by that.

It's no greatest-of-all-time candidate, but it is memorable enough. It perhaps then is unsurprising that this has become a banner-bearer in my mind for the 360-era licensed tie-in - even if it isn't quite the banner bearer. That honour will always and forever belong to the unassailable 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand. But that's one to save for another time.

Why, then, am I writing about adventuring across Skull Island while Jack Black and Naomi Watts natter away instead of Tony Yayo and Lloyd Banks cussing up a storm as they tear through the Middle East? Well, it's because I overwhelmingly associate this 360 launch title with one of the generation's defining features.

I'm pretty sure that Peter Jackson's King Kong: The Official Game of the Movie is the original achievement hunter's game. With a grand total of just nine achievements - basically one for each major milestone in the game - it's that rare game that hails from an era when the more esoteric side of the achievements system was yet to be fully established. If you wanted an 'Easy 1000 Gamerscore', Peter Jackson was your man. I personally rented the game for just this purpose - a quick jaunt to Blockbuster, which oh god, still existed, and then rattle through the game in a day to boost that precious, precious gamerscore.

I touched on this in my recent write-up on Xbox's ROG Ally X handheld, where I reflected that one of the sadder things that's happened in my relationship with the Xbox ecosystem is how I no longer care about my achievements or gamerscore, something which I carefully cultivated and maximized for many years. Part of that is just getting older, fatter, more boring, and having a young family who haven't got the time to wait for you to finish grinding out achievements. Another part of it is about Xbox's crumbling market share and how when I do boot my Xbox I'm not seeing a packed friend list playing, though. Which is perhaps why I don't consider it on Xbox but do still occasionally chase achievements on other platforms - in turn speaking to how my affinity for Xbox has slipped across the board.

Over the years of the 360's lifespan, I remember a lot of strong easy 1000G games. There was that famous Avatar game - five minutes for full gamerscore in that one. I rented that one from Netflix, back when they used to send a disc to you in the post. God help me. My back hurts. I remember Need For Speed Most Wanted being straightforward. There was a standalone Forza Horizon crossover with Fast & Furious which was free and coughed up full score easily. Fight Night Round 3 was a breeze, too.

But the thing is - of all these games, it's fair to say that this humble movie tie-in is one of the most interesting experiences you could have achievement hunting. In fact, it was one of the better launch games, in many ways. And it has left an indelible mark - on my gamerscore. Even if I'm no longer that fussed, I'll fondly remember my achievement chasing days - and this game as part of it.

The Xbox 360 turns 20 years old on 22nd November, so we've put together a week of coverage that looks back on Microsoft's most successful games console.