Ape Escape 2 Review

The PS2 is well known for its diverse library of games, both for young and old gamers. One genre that has been left quite untouched recently is the platform genre. Games like Super Mario Sunshine have dominated the market for a year, without any competition. Of course, SMS is a GCN title, not a PS2 title, but it still shows how the genre lacks in quality titles. PS2 has had a few worth while platform titles, such as Jak and Daxter, Ratchet and Clank, and Sly Cooper. Ape Escape 2 brings something all new to the ball game. With its creative characters and wacky game play, Ape Escape 2 will please the majority of platform enthusiasts.

Game play is focused solely on capturing apes, which have (as the title shows) escaped. In order to do so, you will receive a variety of different weapons, including a light-saber type weapon, a banana boomerang, water engine (sort of like the one used in SMS), which allows you to swim in water and capture apes (monkeys) by shooting a torpedo-type weapon at them, along with many more weapons/tools.

Each level gives you a certain amount of apes to capture, whether it is 3 or 17. After so many levels, you will encounter a boss, which is a member of the “Freaky Monkey Five�. As the title of this group suggests, there are five total members, along with a final boss. Boss fights are simple to complete and take only one or two attempts in order to beat them. Each boss (like in nearly all platform games) has a specific weakness, which you must penetrate in order to defeat them.

Ape Escape 2 is simple to beat, mainly because you will rarely die. In order to keep your health up, you must have a certain amount of “cookies�. Once all of your cookies are gone, you can continue if you have a vest. Once you run out of vests (which is darn near impossible) the game is over. Vests and cookies can be found throughout levels and can be obtained in the prize area.

A part of Ape Escape 2 that adds much replay value is undeniably the mini-games. Though there are only three, other bonuses within the game (e.g. bonus pictures, music, stories, etc.) keep you entertained for a while. You definitely will be more entertained by the mini-games, in which my personal favorite is Monkey Soccer. You have a team of six monkeys go up against either a CPU team or a friend’s team. Each team member has specific statistics, which adds a lot of strategy to the soccer experience.

Graphics are one of the biggest draws to Ape Escape 2. Sure, the game is fun, but the vast environments (though still rather linear) are full of activity. Levels are supplied with a huge dose of enemies and monkeys/apes and yet there is no slow-down whatsoever. The graphics are admittedly childish, but resemble that of Super Mario Sunshine. After playing this title for ten or so hours, I must say that I am impressed and please with my rental. Although I would not personally buy it (since there are other games with more replay value), it was definitely worthy of a rental.