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Sony capitalizes on the monkeys’ appeal. Ape Escape Academy for PSP is a compilation of minigames from the Ape Escape series, which capitalizes on the abundance of monkeys, arguably the most popular aspect of the series.
Unfortunately, without a proper single player mode backing it up, the game falls a bit flat.
Ape Escape Academy ties in the different games. You’ll still hear about Specter, the evil leader of the monkeys in the main Ape Escape games, and even see all of the boss monkeys from Ape Escape 2. The game puts you in the shoes of a monkey who is training to work for Specter. The training is basically a bunch of minigames, split up into numerous sections, each led by a boss monkey from Ape Escape 2.
The grades contain nine minigames a piece though the order is random. The nine minigames are set out like a tic tac toe board. Successfully completing a minigame nets you an O on the board, while losing gives you an X. Your goal, as in tic tac toe is to make straight or diagonal lines. The early grades simply require you to get one line, though the latter ones require more. While the relevancy of this method to the Ape Escape universe is questionably, it’s at least novel and works well.
The minigames are about what you expect from the series. You’ll participate in everything from soccer, bowling, and wrestling to being tested in flags. The different minigames test your memory, logic and memory and they get pretty difficult as you’re about to finish the game. That said, the single player mode isn’t particularly exciting because some of the minigames are a little annoying and there isn’t much motivation to go back and play once you master a minigame unless you want to collect all of the monkey statues.
Ape Escape Academy, like many first-party Sony titles, includes wireless multiplayer play. If you can’t find friends that also have the game, you’re all welcome to play on the same PSP. Unfortunately, the multiplayer mode doesn’t have quite as many minigames as the single player which is a bit disappointing.
The cute nature of Ape Escape continues in the visuals. The environments you’ll find are 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 humans are pretty typical anime fair though. The Ape Escape monkeys are definitely a big draw for some people and they’re in fine form in Academy. Unfortunately, the load times in the game are horrible. The game loads for nearly a minute and then you’re only playing for about a minute. It’s a shame but something that reduces the fun factor substantially.
The audio is 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 rest of it is pretty good, and even catchy.
Ape Escape Academy is a solid game that takes the best things from the Ape Escape series and packages them in a nice minigame setting. Unfortunately, some of the annoyances (like not being able to restart a grade if you know you’re not going to be able to beat it) mar the experience from being able to wholeheartedly recommend it. The load times, too, are annoying. If you can live with this, though, there is a lot of fun to be had. -- Jake Wilson, PGNx Media
---- Feb 26, 2006
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