What's more fun than a barrel of opposable-thumbed simians? How about the silly--but challenging--Ape Escape? While not the first game to offer enhanced control with Sony's dual-stick analog controller, Ape Escape is the first game to require either an analog or dual shock controller to play. That requirement ensures that players will have full control of their hero, Spike. One stick moves Spike in any direction, while the other swings his monkey-catching devices. In Ape Escape, a circus monkey named Specter stumbles upon a scientist's prototype intelligence-enhancing helmet, turning him into an evil monkey genius. As Spike, the professor's young friend, you must travel through time to clean up all of the monkeys Specter has sent back in his attempt to repopulate the world. If that's not enough to make you laugh, then chasing his goofy monkey minions as they scurry from your clutches will certainly tickle your funny bone. You'll discover a variety of gadgets to help you in your quest, including monkey radar, a slingshot, and a propeller for flying. Spanning 25 huge levels, Ape Escape is approachable for novices, and offers added challenges for veteran gamers. One such challenge is to lure a dinosaur near a rocky cliff, and then jar the monkey off his back and into your net. Note: no monkeys were harmed in the creation of this game. --Jeff Young Pros: - Unique control scheme brings new challenge to the PlayStation
- Massive game has plenty of replay value
Cons: - Unique control scheme requires some ramp-up time
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35 of 35 found the following review helpful:
 1999's best platformer for the Playstation!Jan 12, 2000
While I regard the Crash Bandicoot series the premiere platformers for the Playstation, I was pleasantly surprised with Ape Escape. Hunting down monkeys is such a hilarious concept it makes we wonder why nobody thought of it before. Overall, I found the game to be very well-designed, fun, and addictive. The graphics, while not as pretty as Crash Bandicoot or Spyro, grow on you after a short amount of time. The developers made optimal use of the Dual Shock controller, more so than any other company. Control is perfect. I also found that, compared to many other 3D games, the in-game camera caused me very few problems. To make it easier for younger players, the game levels are littered with helpful hints. While not a huge game--it can be finished in about a week--the three mini-games that are eventually opened up are a ton of fun and add longevity to the title. What I found most amazing is that each of the game's 204 monkeys has a unique name and personality. A tremendous amount of creative energy went into this title. You want to complete 100% of the game just to see every square inch of each level. If I can find any fault with the game at all, it's that you must complete the levels in a linear fashion. Other than that, it's an unusual and highly enjoyable platformer. Highly recommended.
27 of 30 found the following review helpful:
Best game ever for the Playstation.Nov 17, 1999
I couldn't let that 3-star rating stand! This is a great fun game! I don't know what's wrong with the guy below. My whole family got hooked on this and lined up to play it, from my 5 year old to me (Dad)! Great control, great graphics- we've had our Playstation for 4 years and everybody at my house agrees this is the best game (out of about 25) we've ever gotten for the Playstation. What a blast!
14 of 14 found the following review helpful:
You'll go ape for this wild platformer!Aug 05, 2000
Ape Escape is the Mario 64 of the playstation. In this game, you play as Spike, a guy who is trying to catch monkeys and in my opinion, kinda looks like a monkey. This is the first game that takes full advantage of the Dual Shock controller. The controlls are tricky at first, especially for someone who isn't firmilar with a playstation controller, but they're easy to learn, about a 15-20 minute learning curve. Just to warn you, you NEED the dual shock to play this game, hear me? I find it somewhat easy, but I'm so far from beating the game I couldn't tell you. There are huge variety of weapons to use, plenty of mini games, and vass landscapes to explore, yep, I'd recommend it to anyone with a PSX. It's almost worth it to buy a PSX for this alone, but the key word is almost. Have fun :)
13 of 13 found the following review helpful:
Whoo Hoo!Oct 14, 2001
By APE Gamer
"apegamer"
Here's the premise - you're this little guy with a net and a light sabre running around trying to capture these monkeys. The monkeys wear different colored pants, and have little sirens on their heads. The pants tell you how tough they are to catch, and the sirens tell you if they've caught on to the fact that you're trying to capture them.In addition to the trusty tools I mentioned above, you get a whole slew of other gadgets you can use to capture the monkeys, including an r/c car, slingshot and monkey radar. Unfortunately, the monkeys are also armed with everything from grenades to machine guns to canons. In addition to being hilarious (the commercials for the game were great, if you got a chance to seem them on TV), the joy of the game is using the analog controllers to move and manipulate gadgets. The game was the perfect difficulty, not too hard as I had suspected it would be. I still haven't completely finished, and look forward to hours more fun netting those pesky little chimps!
12 of 12 found the following review helpful:
More fun than a barrel 'o' monkeysSep 13, 2000
I first saw this game, like most people in it's odd advertisements of apes hi-jacking a bannana truck. I thought how could this game be good? But when I actually got the game I could not believe how wrong I was. I am not a fan of funny, animated games, but this is an exception. The game smooth easy controls that can be mastered in seconds. Even throught out each level of the game, helpful hints are given to help you through tricky situations. There are even training courses that are easy, like learning how to use a certain gadget, and hard like the colloseum training courses. As expected the game does have weapons. Though they are very kid friendly. Hoola-hoops and comic- extendable punching gloves, are jut a few of the laughable weapons in the game. Now, some people may also worry about two things that my folks worried about. Those things are blood and cruelty to animals (the apes). 1. There is no actual blood in the game. All enemies will fall to the ground and turn into an item that can be picked up. 2. As fro animal cruelty, none of the apes die! A big aspect of the game is catching the apes. (You start the game with a net as one of your gadets) Also, this is the first game to use both of the joy sticks on a controller called a Duel-Shock Analog Controller. This makes the game allot easier if you think about using the same joystick to move, look around, and use your gadgets! You couldn't do it! All in all, this is a great game, and I highly reccomend this game to all. I do hope you found this useful. Goodbye!
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based on 89 reviews
