just one of the most Aesthetically Complete pieces i can think of in any medium...hotline miami is an easy point of comparison but i think i honestly the way this manages to be so much looser and more freeflowing while still maintaining a very intentional and artful Experiential Melody....the kinda thing u could only make if u rly, RLY understand jazz, and perhaps the best translation of jazz ive ever seen to a non-music medium. and that ENDING !!!! the industrial revolution and its consequences ect ect

An overenthusiastic jazz drummer is sitting on your shoulder the entire time, accentuating every action you take with his kit like a pianist hired to spice up a battle of wits in a 1940s screwball comedy. I live for this shit.

It's a wild and delightful ride from start to finish, no question, but the best part is easily the bonus level, Break In. This level completely recontextualises the gameplay loop in such a genius way that I only wish there were more of it. There are very few games that could be improved with an extra hour of playtime, but a final disc would have made this a basically perfect experience.

How can you not be enraged? You’ve been trapped in a small box with barely enough room to move your limbs. They’ve kept torturing you, hurting you, pushing you to your limit. No attempt to communicate, no interest in harmony. Nothing but violence comes from your oppressors. You weren't born to be trapped. Nature can only be encased for so long before it bursts. Well, let’s answer in a language they understand.


Death.


The tension that has accumulated from all the bruises culminates in your first thrust. Continuous climax. It’s either you or them now, no time to think about consequences. There’s never enough time. Behind your motions, the weight of a 250kg beast. Thunderous percussion reverberates with every step. Legs are drums, arms are cymbals, your body is consolidated as an instrument of rage and power. A tool necessary, as it’s the entire world against your freedom. You’ve got to have freedom.


Power.


What are bullets to a being who denies death? The roles are flipped here, you become the unavoidable force. Quite literally, you turn their own guns against them. Behind your wake are pools of blood and flesh. Some of it yours, most of it theirs. The fight for freedom will never be a painless process. And yet, you power through your wounds. Your rage does not care about their weapons and structures. Their society is meaningless. You will force the rules of nature upon this hostile environment.


Freedom.


The drums, your heartbeat, have accompanied your tireless struggle. Continuously rising tension, building towards a climax but not quite reaching it. That is, until you break through the final enclosure. Like the resolution to an out-of-tune note in jazz, your release justifies every second of this fight. The incessant drums lead into a cathartic and desperate saxophone. Your rage and determination pay off. Nothing can contain you anymore. Freedom at last.




If only all humans had as much fury and willpower in their hearts. They would free themselves from their own captors.

A fantastic and strikingly stylish top-down beat 'em-up with an amazing jazz soundtrack. I have little to say, other than "It's great stuff."- the controls are simple to get the hang of and the enemies are easily discernible, the level designs are fun to bash through and support the frenetic and stressful [compliment] gameplay. Restarting after a death is quick and the levels are short enough that restarting doesn't feel entirely demoralizing. I cannot recommend this game enough if you like games like Hotline Miami.

Ape Out, como o nome bem indica, te coloca nas patas de um gorila em fuga; os soldados que te mantinham preso sendo o único obstáculo entre você e a liberdade. Não há texto além do nome dos estágios e dos créditos finais, e o jogo não tem muito interesse em te fornecer muito mais contexto do que isso. O que ele possui é uma direção artística inigualável, que, misturada com a intensidade da dificuldade imperdoável e da trilha sonora dinâmica, gera uma das experiências mais deliciosamente intensas que já tive em um jogo. A trilha sonora é uma faixa de bateria que se modifica reagindo às suas ações, os movimentos do seu gorila e o que ocorre ao redor dele sendo o acento que rege toda a música; a sensação provocada é de um ciclo que se alimenta: mesmo após a cinquentésima morte, a faixa de baterias induzia a mesma mistura de caos e transe que se precisa para concluir os níveis mais difíceis do jogo, e esta sensação de unicidade com o gorila e a faixa é transmitida de volta pela maneira que você joga, que por vez, rege a trilha sonora - a poética perfeita para o jogo de esmagar as coisas com um macaco. O jogo é curto, composto de quatro álbuns (estágios) que completei em cerca de três horas, e toda sua intensidade empilha até não conseguir se conter mais, e, chegando-se ao final, tudo estoura em uma sequência de pura catarse, sequência que não detalharei sobre porque nunca desejaria roubá-los da sensação que tive.

Posso ter usado linguagem emocionada demais, porém esta é a capacidade desse curto joguinho - uma façanha de pura explosão estética que leva todas as melhores emoções à flor da pele. Ele está 1 real no PC e Xbox através do Game Pass, e, se for da sua praia assim como foi da minha, te prende a partir do primeiro segundo de jogo.

Ape Out is hard.

After five minutes of play, my hands are slick with sweat, slipping off the controller, gripping it tightly, as my adrenaline increases with each death, each kill, each explosion rattling off more synapses.

Ape Out is exhilarating.

It's one of the most unabashedly stylistic games of the last few years, with its scratchy vinyl tri-tone palette, electric percussion, and gutsy action. Everything about it screams STYLE, from the snappy intertitles between levels, the adaptive jazz soundtrack with its percussive beats punctuating each kill, to the explosive energy contained within each level or subsection.

Ape Out is GREAT.

A real audio-visual treat - you play an ape who needs to escape a series of different buildings, based in different settings.

The mechanics are simple, push and grab people until they explode into gore; except... all of the action is part of the level you play. The level is also a jazz track - people exploding sound like snare drums, or bass depending on the enemy.

It's pretty unique, but the mechanics were too simple to capture my interest enough to complete all the way through.

Ape Out is really cool. The premise is that you are an ape trying to escape various situations. The game is very simple and very violent, you walk around, hit things, grab people, and throw them.

This game is visually stunning. It is very high contrast and flat shaded -- everything is easily identifiable and stands out -- the game wants you to make decisions and act on them quickly. There is also some great use of lighting changes to convey game mechanics like alarms and darkness.
The music and sound is incredibly stylish and well done. Simple jazz tracks underscore the action (sometimes just a drum beat) with cymbals and rimshots layering on top in place of most sound effects. Explosions, death, and damage to your ape are all replaced by cymbals and horns making the game one of the most convincing and impressive examples of adaptive audio I have played. Ape Out's audio is transformative. I don't even like jazz.

Controlling the ape is easy and feels good. There is exactly the right amount of tension between the time it takes for an enemy to get a shot off and the time it takes for you to approach and grab them. Stringing together a series of near misses and escapes feels great as you rampage through skyscrapers, labs, and military bases.

My only negative takeaways were that some of the levels overstay their welcome and the difficulty can be uneven. Ape Out does a good job of exploring new mechanics and themes over its levels, but some are definitely softer than others and take up more air time than they probably should. Most of the levels are pretty easy, some are extremely challenging. Occasionally I felt like I beat a level I was struggling with only because it generated with easier enemy spawns.

Ape Out is a really fun game that is a quick playthrough. It is worth checking out for the soundtrack alone and the gameplay is fun, satisfying, and frenetic.

You are a force of nature being contained against your will for reasons unknown. You will never learn why, only that the men who put you there will stop at nothing to put you down if you should attempt an escape. But you must. If you should hold back, slow down, or show mercy you will be put down within seconds. You act or you die, becoming a killing machine crashing your way past hoards of armed guards and tearing through a labyrinth of stone and steel, seeking salvation no matter what it takes. You've got to have freedom.