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| Catching monkeys never gets old. |
In the game, you smash monkeys in the face with a light saber and then capture them with your trusty net. It just doesn't get better than that. The story (as if you need one) explains that a brilliant professor created some gadget called the Peak Point Helmet. A monkey at the zoo, Specter, steals the helmet, puts it on, and subsequently becomes a genius. He then frees all the other monkeys at the zoo, and, using the professor's time machine, sends them to different eras to help him rewrite history and take over the world.
You play as a kid named Spike, and never a more accurate name have I seen. His hair is so spiky that the kid looks like a hedgehog. Spike works with the brilliant professor and his snotty granddaughter, Natalie, to recover all the monkeys that Specter released. Every so often, the professor gifts you with a new gadget to make catching monkeys easier.
One of my favorite gadgets is the RC car. I can't help running over monkeys with this toy car. Shooting them with exploding bullets from my slingshot is fun, too. Later in the game, you get the spring-loaded boxing glove, which knocks monkeys absolutely senseless. Mad at someone? Smack a monkey with a boxing glove. You'll feel better; I promise. Some of the monkeys dare to challenge me with their rocket launchers and grenades, but most of them either run away slowly or simply sit there, awaiting capture.
You get to travel across time to catch these chimps, which, of course, I've always wanted to do. Your monkey-catching adventure starts in the age of the dinosaurs. You then travel through the Ice Age, ancient China, and Medieval times. I didn't pay any attention in history class, so this game was just what I needed to catch up on geography and stuff that happened millions of years ago. I feel smarter just for playing this game.
The voice acting is so terrible in Ape Escape, but I love it. Spike's mouth keeps moving long after he stops talking. His facial expressions, as well as those of his friends, are always priceless. Spike smiles when he's talking to his mortal enemy, Specter. Natalie always looks like she wants to murder Spike. She's always complaining, "Wait for me!" or "Get me out of this cage, you useless heifer!" I've no idea what relation she is to him, sadly. She's either his sister or his girlfriend; I've guessed that much. The professor either has no mouth, or his round nose is so big that it blocks it from view. When he introduces a new gadget or era, he talks for at least 10 minutes. It sounds like an old dude reading a book aloud when the professor talks. I think I fell asleep once while listening to him talk about his latest gadget. He did invent the time machine, so I'll give the guy a break.
The graphics are pretty bad, but it just adds to the charm. You can really only see several feet in front of you, which sucks if you're trying to plan a surprise attack on a monkey. The monkeys basically consist of 10 polygons each, but you can tell that they're monkeys, so it's okay. The music rocks for such an old game. It always fits the historical era perfectly.
This is one of the first PlayStation games that required the DualShock analog controller. Yes, once upon a time, PlayStation controllers had no analog sticks. You moved your character with the directional buttons. It sucked, let me assure you. Ape Escape ushered in a PlayStation controller revolution. You use the left analog stick to move Spike, and the right one to use your selected gadget. The other buttons let you select the gadget you want to use. It's so intuitive, it almost makes me want to weep tears of joy.
I enjoyed Ape Escape, as you can tell, and I suggest you give it a try if you have the chance. It's a relic of the past, unfortunately. I got my copy at GameStop, but those idiots have since stopped selling PSone games. Your only source for monkey-catching awesomeness is probably eBay, but it's worth it.
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