A very fun audio and visual experience.

As a big sound enjoyer, my favorite part of the game was when I would do something and then a loud sound would play, almost emphasizing the fact that I just did something. Not many games do this! Or maybe my favorite part was when the 30 seconds of sporadic dissonant instruments would suddenly turn into 5 seconds of almost cohesive music, often times brought upon me doing something :O.

I will admit that by the 3rd album the steam from the first two albums was starting to run low for me and the background brain chatter, that is almost standard for a human of the modern era, began to creep it's way back in. I was forgetting my Ape roots.

But the game was able to clutch it up by the end of the 4th album, where I escaped with other mistreated caged animals and was treated to probably the craziest credits song I've ever heard in a video game. I loved that part and listened to it for longer than I'd like to admit.

Overall, it's a real ape experience and you probably won't find a better ape experience out there. The Donkey Kong Country trilogy got nothing on Ape Out. You could play 4000 hours of Winston in Top 500 and that wouldn't even compare to the angry beast I became every time I heard a loud cymbal crash.

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.

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.