Ubisoft plans to release the PC demo of Peter Jackson's King Kong on Friday morning, but we got our hands on it a day early to check out the exciting combat that's in store for you. As you probably know, this is the game adaptation of the upcoming blockbuster remake of King Kong, starring Naomi Watts as Ann Darrow, Jack Black as Carl Denhem, and one very big ape.

　　This is actually a two-part demo. In the first part, you play as Jack Driscoll (played by Adrien Brody in the movie). You accompany Carl and his film crew to the inner part of the mysterious island where Carl is shooting his movie. The demo picks up with the crew as they encounter a hungry and ferocious Tyrannosaurus rex, and suddenly, the name of the game is to run like hell. Since you're the only one armed with a Tommy gun, it's up to you to buy time for the rest of the crew so that they can escape.

　　The game lacks onscreen interface, so there's no cursor to show you where you're aiming at, or even a health bar showing your condition. In fact, unlike most shooters where your gun is out and pointed at all times, in King Kong, your gun is slung over your shoulder when you're not using it. To fire it, you must hold down the space bar to get the gun in your hands, and then aim as best as you can with the weapon's sights. Right clicking on the mouse will let you zoom in closer on the iron sights, letting you aim a bit better. Unfortunately, you'll quickly discover that bullets from a submachine gun aren't much use against the thick hide of a gigantic T-rex. So the best you can do is to get the T-rex's attention and then lead it away from the others.

　　Should the T-rex manage to wound you, the screen will glow red, indicating that you're bleeding out. (And if the T-rex gets you in its jaws, you'll get an excellent view of the inside of the dinosaur's throat before you die, after which you'll restart at the last checkpoint.) It can be pretty harrowing being chased by this giant dinosaur. Once you've run out of bullets (and there are no spare bullets in the jungle), you're pretty much unarmed. However, there are spears left behind by the natives, which you can use to distract the big guy. The sequence ends with you and the surviving members of the crew hiding in a cave, with the T-rex waiting outside.

　　The second part of the demo actually puts you in the role of King Kong himself. You start with Ann in your hands, and you're staring down yet another hungry T-rex. Unlike the first part of the demo, which plays like a first-person shooter, the Kong sequence is played from the third-person perspective, so you see Kong onscreen the entire time while you control him. After you put Ann down, it's time for you to kick some T-rex ass. Kong is a ferocious fighter, and you can use the keyboard and mouse to get him to execute some pretty vicious fight moves. You can punch and beat down the T-rex, as well as pick up objects and use them like clubs. Or, if you're really mean, you can get a grip on the T-rex's jaws and literally pry them apart, or lift the T-rex off the ground, raise it over your head, and slam it down. As a fighting game, King Kong is pretty brutal, but in a great way.

　　After the T-rex is taken care of, you have to chase after Ann, who has run farther into the jungle, where you'll encounter even more T-rexes. Good thing Kong is an ape, because the next sequence involves some Prince of Persia-like gameplay, as you climb up cliffs, jump from branch to branch, and battle your way past smaller dinosaurs to get to Ann. One of the really cool camera tricks in the demo is the way the camera switches for a very cinematic view of the action. This is best seen when you finally reach Ann. The camera switches to an angle that shows Ann in the foreground with the two T-rexes approaching her. In the background, you see Kong swinging his way toward her. He launches into the air, and then lands in between the two dinosaurs. After that, the fight is on. If you manage to defeat them, you get to pick up Ann and, well, the demo is over. We'll have to wait until November to see what's next. For now, you can download the PC demo of King Kong at 8am Pacific on Friday, October 7.