There are many myths in modern life that our society takes for fact. For example, some people believe Elvis Presley is still alive – when we all know it's just his rock n' roll spirit that lives on today. It's often said that an apple a day keeps the doctor away, but we all know that eating a piece of delicious fruit every morning will not protect you from many diseases or infections – especially if said apple is rotten. And whoever said that the lion was king of the jungle? Because (unlike Elvis), the King is back. Donkey's going to have to budge over, because everybody's other favourite Kong has returned to the wild – and bongo drums are no match for dinosaur wrestling in our book.

Yes, Peter Jackson's King Kong features not only the legendary ape, but plenty of prehistoric reptiles to battle with. The section we played saw the mighty simian scrapping with a pair of T-Rex in order to protect his attractive young lady friend from harm. Combat was fairly simple but satisfying, with each blow resulting in a gratifying thud as your fist sank into scaly flesh. You can grab, grapple, batter and beat your foes into submission with the kind of raw power gamers are rarely allowed to experience. Whether the combat will grow tiresome after extensive play, however, remains to be seen.

Traversing the jungle landscape as Kong reveals that there's more royal blood running through his veins than the name suggests. His acrobatic skills eerily reflect those of the Prince of Persia – and though King Kong doesn't quite share the Prince's dashing good looks, he is beautifully rendered and looks tremendous. The game's presentation is top-notch, and is accompanied by a rousing score and superb sound effects. Provided the environments are more varied in the final game, we can expect to see some rather stunning set pieces.

The section where you play as human protagonist Jack Driscoll is done through the first person view-point and opens with you trying to escape a huge Tyrannosaurus armed only with a few clips of ammo in your gun and a couple of spears. It's a tense, gripping start to the demo that throws you into the action almost straight away – expect to see this paralleled in the forthcoming movie. When you're asked to distract the monster as your companions try to find a way to escape, it takes a few attempts to figure out how to keep it at bay and make sure you save your own skin as well as that of your friends. Even so, this surprisingly tricky opening section does not frustrate: the game places you right where you left off, so it feels more like a challenge than a chore.

It would be very easy to dismiss this as just another “game of the film” – and equally easy for Ubi Soft to market it as such – but early impressions suggest that these worries are unfounded. The cinematic feel and diverse, gripping gameplay of this demo hint at even greater things to come in the final version. If you don't give a monkey's about this game, we recommend you keep a close eye on it – provided Ubisoft haven't spent the last few months flinging dung at each other, Peter Jackson's King Kong could well be a must-have game this Christmas. And if not – well, we'll be flinging the dung at them.