Ape Escape is a unique, awesome and engaging game
- Lots of monkeys
- 8 unique gadgets
- Superb level design, many interesting levels
- Nice music
Negative
- The game doesn't let you catch all the monkeys in one go
This impressive, awesome game, makes Playstation games sometimes better than PS2 games, mostly in gameplay. Graphically maybe some. Ape Escape is a unique, fun and very addictive game.
Ape Escape is a 3D game in which the main character Spike has to catch monkeys. Sounds dumb, but it's really fun. All the monkeys wear a helmet and they are sort of controlled by Specter which once was the most loved monkey in the park but he turned evil after wearing a helmet. Monkeys are caught in a special net which once they are captured they disappear. Monkeys are not all the same though. Monkeys of different kinds can be identified by their pants. The first ones will be yellow, those are normal. There are blue and those are really fast. Light blue, peaceful once, take it easy on them. White ones, they are kinda smart and almost never attack alone. Red ones, they are aggressive and the black ones which are very aggressive ones too. Some monkeys carry weapons like bombs and guns which can deal damage. There are 8 great gadgets. The Stun Club is the first weapon you will have along with the net. Net is used to catch monkeys and the stun club can be used to stun them. When you pass the first few levels you will obtain a new gadget, the radar. Each time you get a new weapon you will be transported to a training room. To get out of the training room you will have to complete the training. Anyway the radar is very useful to locate monkeys. When your controller is vibrating that means that the radar sound wave is looking bright. That means that you have located a monkey. The radar lets you see monkeys from far away. There are other gadgets but the most useful are the net and radar. At the beginning Spike is be able to swim. You obviously won't use the usual net to catch monkeys under water. You will have to use the water net. It's just a bit difficult to use, not lock on or anything. Also when under water there is a breath limit which doesn't allow you so much time under water.
There are about 30 levels in the game. To pass to the next level you will have catch an amount of monkeys in a level. The only bad thing about this is that the game doesn't let you catch all the monkeys in a single go. You have to go in the level again. This is a big waste of time. Level design is impressive and looks very good for a Playstation game. Usually there are 3 levels within the same type. Like 3 level of ice age and 3 levels another thing. The music is the game is quite good too. Voice acting is good too but characters in cutscenes could have been better. The game uses analog controls.
Ape Escape is a truly impressive game which contains almost no frustration. There is more to say but the written above is enough. If this game hit the PS2, the score will be same as great. This game is a great example of how a 3D platformer game should be. Not only on the Playstation but only all next-gen platforms.