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After a run in with Ubisoft, Sony’s lovable monkeys have returned to the company proper. Ape Escape 3 doesn’t venture too far from the formula established by earlier games in the series but it does add new minigames, and new abilities making it enough to warrant a purchase from fans.
Even the game’s story is oddly familiar. Specter, with the help of Doctor Tomoki, will once again use his monkeys to host TV shows that are deteriorating the minds of people who watch them. Previous Ape Escape stars Jimmy and Spike have fallen victim, forcing a new pair – Kei and Yumi – to overcome Specter. The story is funny and light, exactly what you want from an Ape Escape game.
The gameplay, as I mentioned above, doesn’t differ too much from what you would expect. The game gives you a club to stun monkeys and beat robots throughout the many levels. On top of that, you’ll have a monkey net to catch one of the 400 monkeys the game includes. You’ll later get access to new gadgets which can be easily accessed as they are mapped to the Dual Shock’s face buttons. The gadgets range from a handheld helicopter to an RC Car. Aside from the gadgets, both characters can transform into other characters like a knight or ninja, giving you some unique abilities.
The different levels include locations like a beach resort, Arabian Desert and the Old West. All in all, you’ll play in a few dozen levels. The monkeys follow these themes though they all have their quirks. Some are more aggressive, others are slower and they are armed with different weapons ranging from Uzis to fire. Back to the levels though, you’ll have to go back to them to get all of the monkeys since you’ll never have to find all of the monkeys in the level to move on. Each level also has a number of coins which you can collect to buy music, cutscenes, and minigames including a Metal Gear Solid parody.
The cute nature of Ape Escape continues in the visuals. Every level and character you’ll find is very colorful, quite bright and just plain audacious. The game doesn’t include anything that won’t catch your attention which is saying something considering the vast number of stages and monkeys that it includes. The boss monkeys, in particular, are jiust crazy. The humans are pretty typical anime fair though. Technically, Ape Escape 3 doesn’t appear to be pushing the PS2 to the limits, which is weird since there are some frame rate drops here and there.
The audio tries to be just as cute as the visuals but falls a bit short. The monkeys are funny sounding and fit the game well. The background music and sound effects are cheery and also fit the game well. The human voice acting is a bit annoying since some of the comments suffer from poor translation and the voices themselves a bit annoying. The rest of it is pretty good, and even catchy.
Ape Escape 3 won’t change your mind on the series if it hasn’t captivated you yet. But if it has, you’ll find a lot to like in the latest monkey expedition. -- Jose Liz, PGNx Media
---- Feb 26, 2006
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