Ape Escape

by Sony

Product Details

• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S. and to APO/FPO addresses. For APO/FPO shipments, please check with the manufacturer regarding warranty and support issues.
• ASIN: B00000JNHJ
• Media: Video Game
• Release Date: June 23, 1999
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (88 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,775 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)

Product Description

Editorial Review

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

GameSpot Review

The 3D platformer has been established for some time now, but only recently has it begun to come of age. Like any game in a popular genre, it has been cloned many times with few successes. Ape Escape excels in precisely what so many 3D platformers lack: innovation and solid design. Don't let Ape Escape's title and story fool you - behind the lame rhyme and kiddy story lies an addictive, innovative action game that fans of the genre would be advised not to miss.

Specter was the cutest monkey at the amusement park until that fateful day - the day he found the P-Point helmet. Once donned by the curious simian, the helmet boosted Specter's intelligence to super-genius levels. Tired of living to amuse spiky-haired locals, Specter sends an army of monkeys into the past to rewrite history and dominate the humans that embarrassed him all his life. Caught in the villain's temporal wake, it's up to Spike to scour Earth's history to capture the primate hordes and, ultimately, Specter himself. While a little on the young side, Ape Escape's story is ultimately pretty clever.

Ape Escape consists of more than 20 huge 3D levels based on a variety of time zones. To clear a level, Spike must capture a set number of monkeys. After filling that quota, you must access the next level. Reaching the monkeys will require you to jump, swim, climb, and fly through a variety of locales and situations. In addition to dexterity, a job like this takes tools... or, in this case, toys. Heading up your arsenal are a time net and a lightsaber-esque stun club. The stun club simply incapacitates the victims long enough to get the net around them, while the netting itself unleashes a cascade of special effects that'll whisk the monkey back to the present. Throughout the course of the game, Spike will collect six additional gadgets. In addition to providing the means of completing future levels, returning to previous levels with new gadgets will allow Spike to capture any monkeys he left behind. The monkeys themselves vary in speed and strength and come equipped with weapons all their own to make their pursuit all the more interesting. In addition to monkeys, each level has specter tokens to collect. Collecting enough tokens will open minigames that exist simply to provide you with more entertainment. The resulting experience is simple to master but addicting nonetheless. "One more monkey" will quickly become "one more level."

While there are plenty of games with a solid concept, it's not every day that a game can actually pull it off in execution. Ape Escape is the only game on the PlayStation that requires a Dual Shock controller and takes full advantage of its buttons and both sticks. While it may sound daunting, Ape Escape's control is beautifully executed, easy to master, and, above all, intuitive, Ape Escape elegantly uses both analog sticks - the left controls your movement and the right controls the gadgets themselves. To make sure you get the hang of things, however, each tool comes with a mandatory training session to interactively instruct you on its uses through actual practice. You can select up to four items for instant use at any given time, greatly reducing annoying inventory selection. The digital directional pad controls camera movement, aided with the left-hand shoulder buttons. Although the camera controls are sometimes frustrating, they are easily among the best in the genre. The only other control issue is a general frustration when controlling Spike underwater. In the end, however, Ape Escape's control is top-notch.

As one might expect from a Sony-backed game, Ape Escape is a sight to behold. Each of the game's huge levels is rife with detail and color. In addition to the beautiful visuals, the game is backed by some strong, brilliant coding - the horizon line is surprisingly far out for a game of this type on the PlayStation while keeping an almost completely slowdown-free frame rate. The playful techno soundtrack is stage-appropriate and mildly interactive - for example, moving stealthily douses some of the music's instruments to give it a mellower flavor. While the game's sound effects are nice, the voice-acting in the game's real-time cinematics is uniformly atrocious.

Ape Escape is one of the PlayStation's finest development efforts, one that shouldn't be overlooked because of its silly storyline and title. Underneath these lies one of the best 3D platformers to date, brimming with innovation, originality and fun. --Peter Bartholow
--Copyright ©1999 GameSpot Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of GameSpot is prohibited. GameSpot and the GameSpot logo are trademarks of GameSpot Inc.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

35 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars 1999's best platformer for the Playstation!, January 12, 2000

By A Customer

= Durability:5.0 out of 5 stars  = Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars  = Educational:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Ape Escape (Video Game)

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 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best game ever for the Playstation., November 17, 1999

By A Customer

= Durability:5.0 out of 5 stars  = Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars  = Educational:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Ape Escape (Video Game)

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 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars You'll go ape for this wild platformer!, August 4, 2000

A Kid's Review

= Durability:5.0 out of 5 stars  = Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars  = Educational:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Ape Escape (Video Game)

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 :)