Ape Escape 2

"The true sequel to one of the best platformers ever!"

Let's get this out of the way first: I'm reviewing the PAL version here, which was dubbed in England, and the voice acting is possibly the most annoying thing I've ever heard.
Hopefully for most of the people reading this, the dub will be changed for the U.S. version.
Now on to the other stuff:

Gameplay: It's pretty much exactly the same as the first game, not that that's such a bad thing, but no great improvements have been made. Even most of the levels have similar themes: There's prehistoric, beach, volcano, a big castle, space etc. This is where the game loses marks for me...At times this game just feels like an upgraded version of Ape Escape. There are a few new gadgets this time around, some of which are pretty cool. There's the Electromagnet, primarily used to cling to moving metallic platforms, but also for removing metal armor form armored enemies. There's the water gun, used to put out fires, squirt enemies and turn waterwheels; and finally the Bananarang, which emits a Banana smell and can coax hungry monkeys out of hard to reach places. Also, Special monkeys
besides the standard White, Blue, Light Blue, Green, Red, Yellow and Black types have been added. These monkeys usually have some kind of special abilities and can be quite difficult to catch.

Sound: I don't see too many Ape Escape 2 OSTs being sold, but the soundtrack isn't particularly bad. It's definitely nothing special though, and probably has less memorable tunes than the original. The sound effects are decent, pretty much all the same ones as the last game. As I've mentioned, the voice acting is as annoying as can be, but that may be remedied by the time it sees release in North America.

Control: For those unfamiliar with the original, this game is all about the analog sticks. One controls the character's movements, the other controls his various gadgets. Each gadget is assigned to one of the face buttons, and the shoulder buttons are used to jump and change camera angles. A terrific system, which has remained in tact for the sequel.

Graphics: Graphics are terrific. Everything looks smooth as can be, basically. There are camera problems at times, but less so than most 3D platformers. Cutscenes are very nice as well.

As in the first game, there are several mini-games. The dance mini-game and Monkey Climber(reminiscent of the old Donkey Kong Game and Watches, but much harder) probably won't keep you distracted for too long, but Monkey Football(soccer to North Americans) has kept my friends and I in heated versus competition for quite a while now. Great fun.

Overall then, Ape Escape 2 is a really great game. Fans of the original will know what to expect. Like I said, it loses a mark or two for not significantly improving on the original(except in the obvious graphics department), but I guess if it ain't broke....

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 04/02/03, Updated 04/02/03