Ape Escape for Sony PlayStation
Developed by Sony Computer Entertainment
Published by Sony Computer Entertainment

My first exposure to Ape Escape came from a cardboard standee at the local video game den, and the mere sight of it made me lose control of my bowels. The picture showed a bunch of monkeys with metallic police siren helmets on their heads being chased by what appeared to be the main character from Chrono Trigger.

I had no idea what kind of game was being advertised, but I knew it clearly had potential for greatness. As soon as I saw it on store shelves, I snatched it up. Of course, when I opened it, I realized it requires a Dual Shock analog controller to even play, so I went and laid down $30 for one (almost the price of the game itself) and began playing.

The tone of this 3-D platformer is set from the opening movie, where you see violent monkeys breaking out of an amusement park. You really need to see it to fully appreciate the enjoyment this gives. The premise is that one particular monkey, Specter, has gotten a hold of the professor's Peak Point Helmet, and has become superintelligent. This, naturally, makes him create an army of keen-minded simians that he sends back through time to rewrite history with apes as the dominant species. It is up to you, the Crono-looking guy named Spike, to go back and stop them.

You start out in prehistoric times, armed only with a stun club (which for all intents and purposes is a lightsaber) and a net with which to nab the renegade monkeys. You get a quota of monkeys to capture, as well as an amount of secret coins to discover. At first, doing this is a little difficult, because the game relies entirely on both analog sticks. With the left stick, you move Spike around, and with the right stick, you control whatever gadget you have selected from your inventory.

Getting the two to work in conjunction takes some time, but once you're used to it, it is very effective. Pushing the sticks in gives you an even greater diversity of moves, such as crawling, and lying in a fetal position.

After beating a few levels, the professor and your friend Natalie send new gadgets to you. The game doesn't just let you figure out how to use the gadget, however, but instead puts you through a whole tutorial level that you must complete in order to progress. All of the gadgets are necessary to fully complete the game; for instance, you cannot capture the last monkey on the first level until much later, after you get the sky flyer, which lets you soar to high heights.

Other gadgets include the slingshot (which is controlled exactly the same way as in N64's Zelda), the monkey radar, the hula hoop that protects you and makes you run fast, the water net, and the RC car that can get into tight spaces. At certain points in the game you ride an inflatable raft as well as a tank, both controlled superbly with the analog sticks.

The game is divided into about six areas each consisting of three levels. They are supposed to span all eras in time, but they are almost all devoted to prehistory. I suppose this was done for a reason to have woolly mammoths, giant turtles, and other such whimsical creatures running around. I don't mind. It just would have been nice to play levels from important historical events, like having to snatch monkeys from the poop deck of the Santa Maria, or evacuating monkeys from the Miracle at Dunkirk.

Graphically, Ape Escape doesn't stand out (it's typical PlayStation style with some pretty awful pop-up), but it does make good use of colors. The monkeys, though, are hilarious to watch in their animations, whether they be running, piloting UFOs, or firing machine guns at you. The music complements the game perfectly, coming from the genre I can only refer to as "bizarre Japanese video game music." The sound effects from the monkeys are fantastic; it really sounds like you're in a zoo when they scream at you.

The little things, I think, are what make this game exceptionally fun to play. In order to capture monkeys, you generally need to crawl up to them. As they begin to take notice of you, though, the lights on their helmets change color, from blue (all clear) to red (monkey is going ape *%#@ and attacking you). To find the monkeys, you need the monkey radar, which shows you the monkey's name and statistics, including a short sentence describing it, like "had trouble sleeping last night" or "lamenting his lost love."

One thing they didn't add, though, which I would have appreciated, would be having you shout when a monkey attacks you, "Get your stinking paws off me, you damn dirty ape!"

Three mini-games become available when you collect enough secret coins. The first is a skiing game with Parappa-style characters, the next is a fun boxing game, and the third is a space shooter in the vein of Asteroids. These games are completely playable in themselves, and add a whole new dimension if you tire of the normal game.

In short, Ape Escape could quite possibly be the best game on PlayStation. If not, it is at least worth playing. Well, just about any game involving monkeys is worth playing.

Review by Eggle