Ape Escape 2

"Follow That Monkey!"

What is it with monkeys and video games? From 'Donkey Kong' to 'Super Monkey Ball,' it seems like apes have been a dominant force in gaming for decades. Sometimes these simians are noble and brave, and sometimes they are wicked. But they're always fun, and no series exploits the inherent entertainment value of monkeys better than 'Ape Escape.' If the thought of chasing down rambunctious apes with a net doesn't make you smile, you must be some sort of robot.
'Ape Escape 2' follows the formula of the original very closely. The diabolical monkey Specter is masterminding an evil plot to shoot the Earth with a Lethargy Laser, rendering humans too lazy to combat his invading force of rowdy apes. You'll be playing as Jimmy, a spunky and rather annoying little boy who dedicates himself to capturing the monkeys and saving the human race from enslavement. You'll be assisted by the Professor and Some Chick (I'm sorry, I don't remember their names) back at the base. They'll make new gadgets for you to use, and offer some advice as well. Capture enough monkeys in one stage, and you'll move along to the next. Needless to say, there are plenty of extra monkeys to capture as well, so if you're the thorough type, you can replay old stages to catch them all.
This game will inevitably be filed as a 'platformer,' but it's not exactly a traditional Mario-esque game. While there is certainly a fair bit of jumping and item-collecting to be done, the game's main thrust is using a variety of gadgets to capture those slippery simians. The stun club is enough to stop the more basic monkeys, but down the road, you'll need to use more advanced tools like a radio-controlled car or a hand-held helicopter device to reach new areas and find all the apes. Finding the apes is often trickier than capturing them, although the Monkey Radar helps a lot in that department. Oh, and naturally, you'll fight some Obligatory Boss Battles now and then against the Freaky Monkey Five; they're not too difficult, but they definitely have personality to spare.
As always, the controls are based on the Dual Shock 2's two analog sticks. The face buttons are only used to switch between gadgets. While this can be a little disorienting at first (you might find yourself pounding on the triangle button to swing the stun club, rather than using the right analog stick), you quickly get used to it. This unique control scheme is well-implemented and is a nice change of pace.
There are 300 monkeys to catch in this game, and they're all a little different. A monkey's basic abilities are determined by the color of their pants (I'm not making this up, I swear!), but each ape as individual attributes that effect their behavior. And apes with special outfits (such as Monkey Claus, the Santa-ish simian) may have skills unique to themselves. Every monkey has their own name and quote, which helps give the little rascals a little more personality. I felt quite compelled to catch every one of the fun little monkeys, and the game is VERY addictive.
As you play the levels, you'll gain lots of gold coins. You can use them back at the base to buy prizes from the toy machine, at ten coins a turn. However, aside from the occasional extra life and new designs for your radio-controlled car, most of the prizes are silly and fairly pointless. You'll get pictures, concept art, and Monkey Fables that put an 'Ape Escape' spin on old fairy tales. A few of these prizes are sort of funny, but not worth the time required to pull them from the machine, one by one. Of course, all of your goodies are kept in your Entertainment Center, so completists will want to get every last picture and research note just to feel satisfied. But if you don't care about all that, you can ignore the prizes and just chase more monkeys in the main game.
Not surprisingly, 'Ape Escape 2' has far better graphics than the original. Everything is nice and clean, with tons of amusing monkey animations to enjoy. This game isn't giving the PlayStation 2 much of a workout, but it looks fine and represents the silly theme very well.
The game's music is also pretty good, featuring mostly peppy tunes. The nature of the game has you switching between stages a lot, which prevents the music from getting insanely repetitive. The sound effects are terrific, especially the deranged monkey shrieks and other ape-related noises. Voice acting is on par with a typical afternoon cartoon show; annoying and overly cute, but since there isn't a whole lot of dialogue in the game, it's forgiveable.
If you make it a point to catch every monkey and find every bauble in the toy machine, you'll probably get about 15 hours of very addictive fun out of the game. And should you beat it completely, you'll be offered a special (albeit minor) incentive to play it again. (I won't spoil the secret here.) At only $40, this game is definitely worth buying. I can see myself playing it two or three times before retiring it for good.
The bottom line? This game is silly, addictive, and just plain fun. Go ahead and spew that ''this game is kiddie!'' stuff; those of us with open minds will be catching monkeys and thoroughly enjoying ourselves.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 07/09/03, Updated 07/09/03