Ape Escape

This game is yet another reason why I love a lot of games from this earlier time period before so many design conventions became a far more standardised affair. If someone tried to release a game with a control scheme like this in this day and age, they'd get laughed at and be told it was unplayable, and yeah, the first 20 minutes is a bit of a learning curve, but it ends up opening up the gates to a huge amount of possibilities that simply feel incredibly satisfying and fun to interact with because of the design decisions made to get to this point. That said I'm also not really entirely sure if a game like this would quite be made in the same way today regardless since it feels like such a huge amount of time was pooled into figuring out how to get the absolute most out of the capabilities of the 2nd analog stick, essentially being a tech showcase, but one that works so effectively as a regular gaming experience as well that I can't help but fall in love with what Ape Escape does. So many bits and pieces of this are what so many other game studios could only dream of, feeling as if they're reinventing the wheel for even the most simple of concepts and succeeding as well as they do here, it's honestly incredible.

So much about the core gameplay loop of Ape Escape oozes innovation without ever feeling as if it prioritises the idea of doing something new over doing something that contributes to the experience, making for a game that feels constantly fresh, yet never unfocused or cumbersome. While it initially seems like a bizarre choice to set R1 to be the jump button and to have camera control done through the D-pad and using L1 to snap the camera behind you, after a bit of time getting used to this it just feels 2nd nature and paves the way to some of the most fun interactions on the PS1 and platforming in general. The way that each tool in your inventory is utilised through moving the right analog stick in certain ways, whether it's flicking in a direction to instantly turn and attack, spinning around in a circle to set off propeller blades, or even driving around an RC car, everything's just given this additional layer of perfect control over your capabilities that make even simple actions have a considerable sense of weight to them. The variety of gadgets on top of the more nuanced ways in which each can be used also helps contribute to diversifying the level design due to how many tools you get at your disposal while keeping things very intuitive.

Even beyond this novel and fun method of controlling your character, I also think that the idea of a collectathon where the primary collectibles are also enemies is a clever way at shifting the dynamics at play and also adding further weight to each successful capture. Even the simplest instances of collecting a monkey here end up feeling like you accomplished something small just because you've either had to chase them down or sneak up on them, adding a more active element of gameplay to the equation and usually being a huge part of contributing to the bigger obstacles you face throughout. This works really well for a couple of different reasons, as it not only frames the monkeys as a group of antagonists that have very real, tangible effects on the world and the player's progression, but it makes replaying stages to pick up the remaining things you missed a far quicker, more convenient job since you've already removed so many speed bumps on your first run. Being able to mitigate this feeling of repetition is always something nice but comes especially in handy when taking into account how expansive so many of these stages end up being, spanning so many loading zones and cool setpieces that will often ask you to use the majority of your arsenal to get through.

This stage design is yet another huge draw of the game with the way it's able to so effectively jump between so many aesthetics and atmospheres while always remaining cohesive. Little, extra functionally pointless additions like giving each monkey a name and quick blurb about their personality is also really neat, especially when you consider that there are 204 of them to catch and some of them are pretty funny as well, my favourite of which being the existential philosopher ape that spends their day kinda blankly staring into space. Exploring the levels just to see what wacky antics the monkeys are getting up to is fun enough, but it's further complemented by the incredible drum n bass soundtrack that goes insanely hard while wholly contributing to the desired feelings that they're looking to evoke. Little touches like a lot of the chaotic percussion being stripped away while sneaking also add a ton of charm to what is already such a distinct and effective OST as well, which only serves to further bolster the impeccable presentation on display.

Despite doing so many things right however, I'd still say that the experience falters in a few key areas to a significant enough degree for me to not quite want to sell my soul to it. The biggest complaint I have on this front is how the boss fights are handled in such a consistently underwhelming way that kills a lot of climactic moments as a result. For a game that leans so heavily on the gadget mechanics for mobility and utility, stripping away all of this for the boss fights, instead making them entirely beatable with nothing at all, it just feels like a core aspect of the experience is entirely lost. It's made even more unfortunate that this is combined with the fights being really lame regardless, often being the same attack cycles 4 - 5 times over where you just hit once in between each overlong waiting period where you're largely just running in circles and occasionally jumping. The voice acting in the American version of the game which I played is also atrocious on a level that I can't even find something to even enjoy through the lens of going "haha, look at that". There's awkward, stilted acting, and then there's Ape Escape which feels as if it transcends classification with how painful a lot of the cutscenes end up becoming as a direct result of this, which is a shame when the cutscenes themselves are pretty nice to look at. A couple of other smaller things like time trials in this sort of game not quite fitting can be pushed aside a bit because there's not really any reward for doing them and it clearly feels like a bit of extra content for those who are interested in that stuff, fortunately, as the only thing you need to get to the true final boss is all the monkeys, which in this sort of game tends to be what people consider the baseline anyway.

On the whole, despite having a couple of glaring issues that stop me from wanting to just slap a 5 on this, Ape Escape is one of the freshest and most fun platformers I've played and all of the earnest goofiness that it revels in is something I want more of when it's done like this. It doesn't feel silly and funny for the sake of making others laugh as much as just naturally being a game that taps into those vibes strongly, it's pretty cool and not the sort of tone I can really think of too many other places where it's popped up. Really just proves that the seemingly endless list of conventions some say games need to follow to be "good" is way, way smaller than you'd think as long as you know what you're doing to some extent, because this really does feel like it wouldn't be anywhere near as successful with a more traditional approach both to collectibles and player control. Definitely give this one a shot, it's an awesome, charming time that's full of monkes, what's not to love?