Ape Escape

Any sign of any more psychotic fake pokemon?

That's good, this is Ape Escape for the PS1.

                                      

Ape Escape was originally released back in 1999 and was the very first game to utilise the two joysticks we all use today with the modern playstation, the game used both sticks to the control the character, one to move him and one to move his weapons and gadgets. This was revolutionary at the time, but this game has sadly fallen into obscurity and I’m still questioning why, at one point this platform style game was compared to Mario 64. 

Story

Ape Escape is centered around the adventures of 10 year olds Spike and Buzz who one day arriving at an elderly professor’s lab as usual finds the professor and his granddaughter Katie, later renamed Natalie tied up by hoards of monkeys in helmets led by an albino monkey and they take over the professor’s time machine and scatter throughout history. Yeah I know what you’re thinking old man hanging around with 10 year old boys, yeah but I can assure you it’s not like that… Oh the helmet thing, right, the professor had designed a helmet that increases a persons intelligence and of course the albino monkey gets a hold of it and the intelligence makes him evil, sort of like a simian Lawnmower man. Anyway the monkey takes on the name of Spectre and creates hundreds of other helmets for the other monkeys and creates a more advanced version for himself giving him the ability to speak and thus begins an adventure as Spike running around time catching all 204 monkeys to prevent Spectre from rewritting time so that monkeys become the dominant species. Gotta love time travel, cause as history has taught us anytime a time machine is built it always leads to death and destruction. 

Main Character

Spike the main character is rather well, basic, Spike is displayed as a kind and honest lad but not much more than that, he's not a very developed character but what do you expect from a game aimed at the younger market.

Artwork

The Game's Art design is aimed more towards the anime market, it's not brilliant, but it is on the Playstation 1, so you have to cut it some slack,you really do.

GAMEPLAY

To catch the fuzzy monkeys you get through the story 9 items to catch the little guys. You start off with the main two items, the stun rod which does want it says on the tin, that and kill robots and monsters and the time net which is used to catch the monkeys and transport them back to the lab. 3rd is the water net which automatically is usable in water which catches and monkeys and allows you to speed through the water. 4th is the moneky radar, which finds monkeys, 5th is the slingshot, which fires seeds which are infinite as well as seeker rockets and exploding shots which are limited. Other items include a rotor blade which allows you to jump higher and glide across gaps, a remote control car to reach areas too small for Spike, a hula hoop that allows you to dash at high speeds and lastly the Magic Punch, an item that allows you to smash items the stun rod can’t, which is only available at the end of the game after you beat the last boss and go hunting for the monkeys you missed. Did I forget to mention, there are monkeys in every level unreachable until certain gadgets are found. For example the first level has 4 monkeys and only 3 are required to continue as one of them is atop a platform to high to reach until you get a hold of the rotor blade which allows you to reach it. Of course all items bar the first 2 have a training level to work out how to use them before continuing the game allowing you to learn the exact uses in a safe environment. Of course as I said before there are monsters that can take from one to three hits and some require the slingshot while others the stun rod or the magic punch, though while the magic punch is more powerful than the stun rod, it’s defenses are not as good as it’s slow and can only attack in a straight punch unlike the stun rod which can be spun around you like a certain green hatted elf from a certain nintendo series. Course you are handed hints throughout the game via mailboxes in levels, course why send mailboxes back in time to distort history, I’ll never know, I mean are these removed later on or just left for archeologoists to find.

                            

Of course catching them all this isn’t such an easy task as each monkey has it’s own stats and weapons. Some just run away or stand in terror, while others punch you, throw rocks, drop banana skins, use machine guns and even seeking rockets, no kidding, hell some are even mini bosses such as one in a submarine that fires a gun turret at you or one that rides on a t-rex’s back and you get the dumb dino to ram at you and hit some rocks to hurt it, every level has it’s own style and the monkeys are all mostly different. Of course each monkey has it’s own name and personal description, a lot of which are gags, here’s a few:

Plonker: Erased all the data

Pertwee: A very good Doctor

Goggles: Wears Contacts

                             

Of course also hidden on every level are golden coins called Spectre coins which there are grand total of 60 on the game, which unlock mini games. Now these aren’t brilliant I have to admit, Ski Kids is a skiing based racing game with cardboard cutout characters and it controls terribly, it’s like a shopping trolley on ice, while Spectre Boxing is punch-out but with monkeys so it’s okay and Galaxy Monkey is an old fashioned blaster like Galaga which is the best of the mini games but even then, I mean there’s a reason why the minor Ape Escape games failed, they’re all mini games and they suck completely.

                          

There are other flaws in the game as well such as the boat and the tank which have their own controls and yes it was the first to use two sticks but they steer terribly, fortunately you rarely have to use them, but they are a major pain, though the Magic Punch completely makes the tank pointless once you’ve got it and the boat can be avoided if you’ve mastered the water net except for one little area.

                               

All around the levels are golden triangles, these much like the coins from Mario once collected 100 become an extra life which is measured in T-Shirts and did I mention the health is measured in cookies. The levels are grouped into three stage areas, starting with the prehistoric and other ages like the ice age, the modern past and even into modern day though that has 4 levels instead of 3. Buzz is a key player in the story as well as Spectre has brainwashed him and you’re forced to race him and fight against him throughout the story beating him which not only advances the story but gets you a small bundle of spectre coins as well. The voice acting on the game, well, this game is weird for that, you know how a game is dubbed in America and that language is used for all english speaking countries, well not with this game. The American voice acting was SO dreadful that when it came to england for dubbing, a whole new and improved voice cast was used and that was a wise idea, a very wise idea, while the english Spectre has a brilliant villianous voice, the american sounds pathetic, he sounds more like a whining child than a villian and Spike sounds like an teenager in the american dub, once again TEN YEARS OLD! Another negative is that the final boss has the exact same music as the galaxy monkey mini game, I mean really was one more soundtrack really gonna break the bank. Though those voices, here's the english:

And here's the American:

Sometimes I love being British. TEA AND CRUMPETS! TALLY HO! Oh sorry that slips out sometimes.                                

Once all the monkeys are caught on the game, the game’s real final boss fight with Spectre is unlocked and all levels become replayable with all monkeys returned for a time trial mode, see if you can catch them all in the quickest time.

                                

So what can I say about this game, yes it has it’s flaws, vehicles and mini games and the american dub is horseshit, but I live in england and I have the good dub, so neh! I know I’ve played better games than this, but this game I guess tugged on my heart strings and I fell in love with it, not in the kiss kiss, poke poke way but you know what I mean. Hey Minchy it's scoring time!