Monkey video game.
There are very few pieces of media in general that I've known about as long as Ape Escape without actually interacting with at all. When I was a kid I would get these books from the library that were mostly cheat codes and game guides, but sometimes they had these sort of "editorial" sections where the author would just write the exact kinds of essays you read on sites like this. Like, a review of the latest Gundam game would devolve into a diatribe on why Dragon Ball is objectively better than The Simpsons because the characters age (I'm exaggerating 20+ year old memories but you get the idea). I probably read all the names of these monkeys before I even really knew what a "PlayStation" was.
I really like the aesthetic. The low poly spiky haired super deformed anime scrimblo humans. The direct-to-VHS quality voice acting. The rainbow gradients. The sick breakbeats. A wonderful artifact of its time.
Unfortunately the gameplay is extremely hit or miss. The entire left side of the controller is dedicated to movement and camera controls, right shoulder and trigger are both jump, the face buttons are used to select items, the right stick uses the item. Most of the items offer unique, interesting, and tactile ways to use the right analogue stick; I'm genuinely disappointed that most games default to using the right stick for the camera (not just because of this game to be clear, in general). Aside from the items, the core platforming is too limited and just doesn't feel good. In the game's slower moments, focusing on using the items to solve puzzles or other environmental challenges, this feels a lot like the N64 Zelda games (right down to having a lot of the same types of setting, there's a level here that is just Jabu Jabu's Belly). When the game decides that it wants to be a platformer, you start to feel the limitations of only being able to use one item at a time. Combine those limitations with the weak core movement and constrained, Croc-esque level design, and you get moments that feel not unlike Balan Wonderworld.
I don't think I'll finish this game, I don't think I can. By the time you get to the snow levels the game is bullshit, and it knows it's bullshit because it starts putting endless health deposits at the beginning of the platforming challenges. I got knocked off that falling ice bridge by a spikeball 20 times, and I think that's enough.
It's cute, it has some neat ideas, it's fun when it wants to be, but it's not even close to a must play.
There are very few pieces of media in general that I've known about as long as Ape Escape without actually interacting with at all. When I was a kid I would get these books from the library that were mostly cheat codes and game guides, but sometimes they had these sort of "editorial" sections where the author would just write the exact kinds of essays you read on sites like this. Like, a review of the latest Gundam game would devolve into a diatribe on why Dragon Ball is objectively better than The Simpsons because the characters age (I'm exaggerating 20+ year old memories but you get the idea). I probably read all the names of these monkeys before I even really knew what a "PlayStation" was.
I really like the aesthetic. The low poly spiky haired super deformed anime scrimblo humans. The direct-to-VHS quality voice acting. The rainbow gradients. The sick breakbeats. A wonderful artifact of its time.
Unfortunately the gameplay is extremely hit or miss. The entire left side of the controller is dedicated to movement and camera controls, right shoulder and trigger are both jump, the face buttons are used to select items, the right stick uses the item. Most of the items offer unique, interesting, and tactile ways to use the right analogue stick; I'm genuinely disappointed that most games default to using the right stick for the camera (not just because of this game to be clear, in general). Aside from the items, the core platforming is too limited and just doesn't feel good. In the game's slower moments, focusing on using the items to solve puzzles or other environmental challenges, this feels a lot like the N64 Zelda games (right down to having a lot of the same types of setting, there's a level here that is just Jabu Jabu's Belly). When the game decides that it wants to be a platformer, you start to feel the limitations of only being able to use one item at a time. Combine those limitations with the weak core movement and constrained, Croc-esque level design, and you get moments that feel not unlike Balan Wonderworld.
I don't think I'll finish this game, I don't think I can. By the time you get to the snow levels the game is bullshit, and it knows it's bullshit because it starts putting endless health deposits at the beginning of the platforming challenges. I got knocked off that falling ice bridge by a spikeball 20 times, and I think that's enough.
It's cute, it has some neat ideas, it's fun when it wants to be, but it's not even close to a must play.