0 to Z of Playstation 1 Games - Ape Escape

       

Ape Escape is a single player third person platformer developed by SCE Japan Studio the games was published by Sony Computer Entertainment, the game released at the end of May of 1999 in North America, Late June for the Japanese release and a week later for Europe one of the games designer Kenji Kaido would go on to be producer for ICO in 2001 and Shadow of the Colossus in 2005, the game would also receive a worldwide PSP release in 2005/2006.

Ape Escape is a third person platformer with the player taking control of Spike for the majority of the game, traversing through several different environments across time, during the course of the game Spike is tasked with capturing the apes that have escaped from the present day, using a verity of gadgets to pursue and capture them.

Offensively Spike has the stun club and uses a time net to capture and send the apes back to the present, more gadgets are made available as the player progresses through the game including rubber raft which allows traversal over water and a water net for getting around underwater.

The game makes major use of the analogue sticks with the left stick used to make Spike around while the right stick is user for the various gadgets that Spike can use, the apes have helmets called Peak Point Helmet or Pipo Helmets for short these, have a flashing siren on top which signifies their alarm level blue means relaxed and are currently unaware of the players presence yellow is alarmed they have noticed something but not sure just yet and red where the ape will become hostile or try to escape.

The apes wear distinctive shorts as well which tell them player the personality of a particular ape with yellow being a standard personality, blue means timid while those wearing red shorts are the more aggressive apes, some of the apes are also equipped with weaponry or binoculars for more easily spotting the player character, during the course of a level the player is required to capture a certain number of apes to clear the level.

The game begins with Spector a white haired monkey who is well known at his home in a money themed amusement park, he puts on an experimental helmet created by a professor which increases his intelligence well beyond that of a normal monkey but also twists his mind turning him evil.

twisted by his new power he gives pipo helmets to all the other monkeys and sets them loose to cause havoc and take over the local laboratory where the professor and his assistant Natalie are building a time machine. Spike and his best friend Jake arrive at the laboratory upon which they find themselves and all the other monkeys transported to the far reaches of time, realising that allowing the monkey to stay free could result in history being rewritten the Professor tasks spike with recovering the monkey that have been scattered across time.

The game was a critical and commercial success selling over 1.5 Million copies, critics wise the game received plenty of 90+ review scores including a couple of full scores with Official US Playstation Magazine and The Next Level both awarding the game 100/100, with Official US Playstation Magazine having the following to say If you are at all-or ever have been-interested in a great platformer for any system, this game is for you. Ape Escape toasts Spyro, puts Crash back in the cage, and makes Croc look like a crock.

The Next Level called the game non stop fun while IGN praised the innovative controls and traditional platform aspects merged into the Playstations best platformer in their 95 rated review. PSX Extreme were full of praise as well saying in their opinion it is the most original title in the genre on any console.

 All Game Guide had the following to say in their 90 rated review Ape Escape is one of the most enjoyable 3D platform games to swing onto the PlayStation in quite some time. It's also one of the most innovative. While GamesAreFun.com praised the longevity of the game and its ability to keep the player entertained. Gamespot praised the game as being on the Playstations finest development efforts, Absolute Playstation praised the games use of the analogue controller calling it a breath of fresh air.

At the other end of the rating spectrum the game didn't review too many scored below a 70/100 with just one review scoring the game a 70 that was French publication Jeuxvideo.com who had the following to say Ape Escape is a small platform game that will delight fans but that, in my opinion, misses its target by being too difficult to play and only playing in analogue.

Game Critics gave the game just a 75/100 they did praise the game for being a nice start to the series however they also had the following to say Ape Escape was supposed to be a breath of fresh air during the down side of the PlayStation life cycle but Sony nearly ruins it. Ape Escape borrows too heavily from games on other systems and doesn't deliver enough to help it stand out beyond the Mario clones flooding the market. It takes a while for Ape Escape's own charm to shine through.

Cincinnati Enquirer called the game a solid 3D platformer and called it a fun and addictive game but one that has been seen before in their 75 rated review, Game Informer reviewed the game in 2007 so I am assuming this is for the PSP version, they had the following to say in their 80/100 review.

This game makes more creative use of the two analog sticks than most games do today. Then there are the monkeys, which provide a wealth of absurd comedy - though they may not have been fully mined in this installment. Nonetheless, Ape Escape is worth looking at again if for no other reason than nostalgia.

This is the part of 0 to Z where is visit four online retailers and see what the availability of the title is, and what price you would be looking at if you wanted to pick this title up, the sites that I will be using for this are Amazon.com, eStarland.com, retrogames.co.uk and Gamedude.com I know the last one is very location specific, but from a podcast I listen to, I’ve heard they have a huge stock of older games, Ebay has now been dropped unless the game is unavailable at other retailers.

So lets get down to business with Gamedude if you are looking to trade in your copy of Ape Escape then Gamedude will pay you $10 for your copy, if you are in the market for a copy though you will be looking at an outlay of around $19 for a copy.

Heading over to Retrogames.co.uk who stock both Ape Escape 2 and 3 however the original is not currently stocked by them so we quickly move on to eStarland.com who have a complete used copy available, with this copy priced up at $24.95, they also offer a trade in as well and will pay $12 for a copy of the game.

Finally we head over to Amazon.com where we find the cheapest copies are incomplete, either a disc only copy or missing the manual or covers, in order to get a complete copy from Amazon you are looking at a minimum spend of $20 once you add in the shipping costs, this is for a good condition copy of the game.

If you are looking for a better quality used copy of the game one can be picked up for not much more with the cheapest currently priced at around $21 once shipping is added in, if you are looking for a line new copy then the price will take a significant jump up with a minimum spend of around $45 once shipping has been added in.

A new copy of the game is where things get very pricey currently at the time of writing this there are only 4 new copies of the game on the market with prices starting at $119.97 which is fulfilled by Amazon so does at least come with free shipping.

Written by

P J Gibbon