Playstation 2 - Ape Escape 3

Format
Playstation 2
Publisher
Sony Computer Entertainment
Developer
Sony Computer Entertainment
Country of origin
Japan
Genre
Platform

Ape Escape 3

By David Rasmussen
26th Feb 06

It’s a good year to go catch some apes.
What with Sony taking another shot at both a PS2 Ape Escape and another PSP Ape Escape? We may be looking at the return of the franchise to being worth playing.
It has, as of recently, fallen on abit of hard times. What with the failed party game for the PS2 (whose only saving grace was the live action monkey cut scenes) and the underwhelming PSP version (which didn’t do anything to make the controls suit the one analog stick setup of the PSP) you’d think that Ape Escape was on the road to ruin… until now. But now with Ape Escape Academy (PSP) which HOPEFULLY fixes the control issues of the first PSP game, as well as Ape Escape 3? We have ourselves a returning franchise to pick up on!

If you’ve played Ape Escape 2 you know how good this game is, but if this is your first time playing it you’ll have no problem jumping into the escapades! The game is easy to learn, and if you played Ape Escape 2 then you’ll have only a few things that you need to go to the Training Room for, the rest is old school Ape Escape and you’ll have no problem to pick this game up and run with it.

The story is simple. It looks like your old nemesis Spectre (from Ape Escape 2) is back, and this time he’s teamed up with a “Wacko” human who dresses funny, and has funny notions of things… also he seems to have the hots for your character’s mom (can’t blame him since she’s got it going for her)!
Apparently this time the way you get to travel the world is through the power of TV. Spectre has set up a mind controlling thing called Spectre TV, where apes rule by entertaining the masses with mind controlling ape TV… ape TV you have to shut down by channel jumping from station to station, taking each and every program off the air once and for all. From a expose on Japanese hot springs, to a horror parody in Monday the 16th : Nightmare on Monkey Street, and many more. You have 20 channels of programming to shut down, along with several channels of boss battles with the Freaky Monkey Five (who return from AE2).

Most of the game is familiar ground, dressed in a fine new package of fun… but don’t expect the game to be boring just from that! First off there are brand new levels with mind bending new challenges! From an aerial ballet of death defying monkey snagging amongst the aerial “platforms”, to a height challenging climb up a Japanese castle, you’ll find the challenge is tastier this time out.
The big gimmick, however, is the transformation option. Now that you have taken to the airwaves (as either a boy or girl character -- I always play the girl character who happens to be an idol singer) you have the ability to transform! This ability is perfect because the transformation isn’t just mere window dressing for “change” because the very way you go monkey catching changes with each and every transformation!
You only have 30 seconds per transformation, but you can nab energy while transformed to quickly keep your meter filled during transformation so it’ll last longer… that or, if you fall out of transformation, quickly drop to “crawling” mode and stay still… your meter will quickly recharge.

As for the transformations? They are only a few but they’re a good few.
You can change into a knight with a longer stun club, and a magical shield to deflect fire attacks.
You can change into a Prince of Persia like magical ninja who can pull off rope balancing and wall runs like the Prince himself, completing the ensemble with a quicker stun club attack allowing you to attack in several directions in quick order (which works if you are surrounded by enemies) and a easier capture mode (which is best for quick monkeys or hovering monkeys since it can snag them out of the air as long as they’re within range of your capture gear).
As the Genie Dancer (which should have been Prince of Persia since it’s an Arabic transformation) you can make your genie dance, which in turn makes your enemies dance which buys you time to take them out. This, by the way, is best for your battle with Pink since it’ll make it a battle of the dancers (and it keeps her minions busy so you can quickly mop them up and get to Pink).
As the Wild West Kid you unleash your rage against the monkey machine with your twin guns, sniper rifle (which is actually a fuss to use so I really didn’t use it) and your gun net which snags distant monkeys.
There are more, but these are some of my favorites.

The large vending machine is gone. This time you get extras in a shopping district area with a few stores where you can either buy the extras outright, or take your chances with a lottery draw (which is also the only chance for earning secret stuff). There is also the Simian Cinema where you can watch movies you caught… oh, right.
One thing to keep you from running wild throughout the game is the cameras. You’ll find one empty camera set up in every channel, with the ability to set up and film. As long as you don’t disturb the monkeys the camera is filming you can film one scene per level, building up enough scenes to make a “film” you can edit after you beat the game… I think. Anyway this means sometimes you’ll have to play certain levels over again (because you won’t run into the camera until after you ran into the apes “on screen”) but it will take you no time to gather all the scenes.

The game is abit short… maybe less than 20 hours… but it’s still damn fun.
Ok. Breakdown time.

Ape Escape Breakdown of Communications the 3rd
What’s Hot?
After two bad dismounts we finally get back to the way Ape Escape should be. With fast paced exciting ape snagging and all out platforming fun, not to mention the transformation power which really kicks up the gameplay abit, we have ourselves a good Ape Escape that makes you forget that somebody made a bad Mario Party clone game for Ape Escape.

What’s Not?
Some people just don’t like Ape Escape, and that’s OK by me. Still as platformers go this is fun. Something I would play more than once. This, the Sly Cooper franchise and Psychonauts are my favorite platformers for the PS2 right now (and recommended from me to you).

Moments to Remember?
Quite abit. More than I can mention here… really.

What to Ignore?
I kind of miss the vending machine from last game, with one extra per “hit” instead of the hit or miss proposition of the lottery tickets of Ape Escape 3 (I use up a lot of gotcha coins that way).

Overall?
The way Ape Escape should be, Ape Escape 3 brings the franchise back to where it belongs (a fun fast paced ape catching splendor) with new levels and new powers to play with. If you played Ape Escape 2 be warned that this game is even better, and worth checking out. If you haven’t played the game yet now is as good a time as any to jump into the franchise and play it! And if you played the bad party game… you’ll love this better than that, trust me… no live action people in monkey suits though, but the rest is good.

-- David Rasmussen 26th Feb 06

Playstation 2 Ape Escape 3 Images