Ape Escape (video game)

This article is about the first game in the Ape Escape series. For other titles and spin-offs in the series, see Ape Escape (series).

Ape Escape
A spikey red haired child, wearing a red top and blue trousers, is plaving a large blue net over a surprised monkey. The monkey has a white hat with a red light on top. The words "APE ESCAPE" appear at the top of the box in a wavy manner. The playstation logo is in the top left corner and the word "Playstation" is written at the bottom". Game cover for the PAL release.
Developer(s)	Japan Studio
Publisher(s)	Sony Computer Entertainment
Platform(s)	PlayStation, PlayStation Portable, PlayStation Network
Release	PSP PlayStation Network (PS3)
Genre(s)	Platform game
Mode(s)	Single-player

Ape Escape is a 3D platform game for the PlayStation, which launched a series of the same name. It was the first game to require an analogue controller rather than their use to be optional. The game's story follows a young boy who travels through time in an attempt to prevent monkeys from changing the future. The game was re-made in 2005 for the PlayStation Portable called Ape Escape On the Loose with improved graphics and new voice acting.

The game was first released in North America on June 18, 1999, and shortly after in Japan under the name Saru! Get You! (サルゲッチュ, Saru Getchu), on June 24, 1999. It was released in PlayStation Network Japan on August 30, 2007. The brainchild of Kenkichi Shimooko, Ape Escape's Pipo Monkeys went on to become unofficial mascots of Sony. Ape Escape was the first game on the PlayStation to require use of the DualShock controller.

Reviews of the game were mainly positive, focusing on the platforming aspect of it as well as the style.

Gameplay

Ape Escape is played in third-person perspective and makes use of 3D characters and environments. Spike, the main character, has the ability to run, jump and use a variety of gadgets that become available to him throughout the game. The controls are base heavily around the use of the two analogue sticks as an analogue controller was a requirement to play the game.

Ape Escape has several gadgets, which each have their own unique function. Spike's primary gadgets are the Stun Club and the Time Net, which are often used to subdue and catch apes, respectively. Throughout the game, Spike will acquire more gadgets that will be useful to him, and are often needed to get some of the monkeys in earlier levels. When a new gadget is obtained, players are required to complete a training level, where the basics of controlling the gadget are learned, and can be revisited at any time. The net is later upgraded to capture monkeys in the water while other items include a radar that can detect monkeys, a slingshot, a hula hoop-like item, an item that increase the players jump height, and an R.C. Car.

The main aim of each level is to catch all the monkeys within it. The first time a level is visited, a certain number of monkeys need to be captured. The rest can be captured once the right gadgets have been obtained (for example, a monkey in the first level requires the propellor to reach). Each monkey has a unique personality and name and after the monkey is caught, these facts can be read in a log book accessed from the main hub area of the game. These names often hold many jokes and pop culture references. Each monkey also has three fields of skill: Speed, Attack and Alert, all of which are ranked out of five. This combines to a level of difficulty, which is also denoted on the file. There are other items in the levels such as "Chips", which can be collected to gain extra lives and "Specter Coins", which unlock minigames. Each level is connected by a hub world called the "Time Station".

Plot

Setting

Ape Escape takes place in a world similar to Earth but over a number of different time periods such as the prehistoric age, where dinosaurs and early creatures can be found; a jungle area with temples; an ocean level, set mainly on the beach and in the water; an ice age period, where everything is frozen over; and a medieval age, which features castle environments. You character returns to a hub area after each time period to collect new items and gain information and to allow access to previous and subsequent levels.

Characters

The primary protagonist of the game is a 10 year old boy called Spike. He and his friend Jake go to see a new time machine the Professor has invented but get sucked into the time machine when they get there as it is been activated by Specter. From then on he travels through different times, catching monkeys and obtaining new gadgets to make his journey easier.

The Professor is an inventor who creates the Time Station, the device the characters use to travel through time and the Peak Point Helmet, the device that creates the antagonist. He tends to be a little careless due to his age and relies on his granddaughter Natalie to keep him out of trouble. Natalie is a computer expert and helps the professor work his inventions also maintaining the Time Station so it stays stable.

Specter is a white monkey who used to perform at the circus until he finds a device invented by the professor called the "Peak Point Helmet". It increases his intelligence and gives him the ability of speech but he decided to use the power he has for evil purposes. He is the main antagonist of the game. He replicates his helmet and uses the copies on other monkeys to create an army so he can rule the world.

Jake is Spike's friend and enjoys friendly competition with him. When the time machine is activated, he and Spike are split up and set to different periods of time. He becomes mind controlled by Specter, but after being defeated by Spike later in the story, Specter's control over him is broken and he returns to the Professor.

The monkeys are Specter's army and can be found throughout every area of the game. They all wear helmets and coloured pants. The helmet is similar in looks to the intelligence increasing one but don't increase it but instead, display their mood in the form of a flashing light on top. The colour of their pants denontes their personality which ranges from docile to aggressive.

Story

Ape Escape tells the story of a monkey by the name of Specter that comes into ownership of a Peak Point Helmet (Pipo Helmet), which greatly increases his intelligence but also gave him evil intentions. He obtains helmets for less intelligent monkeys (not identical to his own) to assist him in his plan for world domination by traveling through time, and it is up to a young boy named Spike (Kakeru), with the aid of the Professor - the inventor of the Peak Point Helmet - and his granddaughter, Natalie (US version name; Katie in the first game's British version, Natsumi in the Japanese version), to chase them through time and capture them all. He must also rescue his friend, Jake (US version name; Buzz in the first game's British version, Hiroki in the Japanese version), who has been brainwashed into being Specter's slave.

Spike travels through various places in time, from the Dinosaur Ages to the Age of the Celestial Empire, in order to catch Specter's legion of apes. He also runs into the hypnotized Jake during his adventures, and must defeat him in bonus levels that involve racing to complete an obstacle course.

Spike soon comes to the Present Day, where Specter and his monkey army have retreated due to their failed attempts to rewrite history. After defeating him at his factory, where he is trying to create more Peak Point Helmets, and the TV Tower, Specter creates a malevolent theme park, where he challenges Spike to find his imprisoned friends, the Professor and Natalie. Spike finds his old friend, brain-washed, blue-haired Jake, along the way, and defeats him in a final battle, then races to a large castle, which takes off into space. In a final effort, he traverses through the castle and Spike finds Specter, who before the fight, tries to persuade Spike into being his slave, now that Jake has been returned to normal. He shoots a blue ray at him, delivering the boy pain, and tells him that if he does not surrender, "the pain that you're feeling will only get worse". However, Spike disobliges, and destroys the barrier surrounding him, making Specter flip out of his chair. Spike then tells Specter that "power alone isn't the true strength", as he tries to regain himself, meaning that it takes more than power to win the fight. Specter, however, is furious with Spike, and then hops into a large robot to destroy him. (The robot would later be known as the Goliath Armor.) Spike destroys the robot, but Specter escapes. The castle floats back down to Earth, where Spike is reunited with his friends.

After rounding up all the remaining monkeys, Spike travels to the final area where he engages Specter in a one-on-one final showdown. Spike finishes the battle by catching the villain in the Time Net and removing the Peak Point Helmet, ending his evil crusade.

PSP version

A child with red spikey hair with a large net is running after two monkeys. There are two monkeys in the foreground in front of some large leaves. The monkey on the left has blue pants and is holding binoculars with a worried expression and the one on the right is in red pants and is wearing boxing gloves with an angry expression. The monkeys in the background have white pants and yellow pants. All the monkeys are wearing white helmets with red lights on top.

American version box art

A PlayStation Portable port was released as Ape Escape: On the Loose in North America, Saru Get You P! (サルゲッチュP!) in Japan and Ape Escape P in Europe. It was developed by SIMS and published by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was released in March 17, 2005 in Japan, March 22, 2005 in North America and May 5, 2006 in Europe. It features 2-player minigames that can be wirelessly played between 2 PSP systems. In North America, it was one of the system's launch titles and is one of the first titles for the PSP Greatest Hits collection.

One key difference between On the Loose and the original Ape Escape (apart from the new aspect ratio, 16:9) is that this game can only be played with one analog stick. Also, the R shoulder jump button was replaced with the crawl action, and the jump button is now the x button, meaning the amount of Gadgets the player was allowed to have at once was reduced from 4 to 3. The first unlockable minigame was also changed. The PS1 version was Rocket-ski racing, and you used both analog sticks to control the appropriate ski. In the PSP version, since there is no second analog stick, The Skis were changed to a Snowboard. The tracks were also changed to a Slalom over the original Circle circuit.

Reception

Reception

Aggregate scores

Aggregator	Score
	PS	PSP
GameRankings	90.4	66.8
Metacritic	90	66

Review scores

Publication	Score
	PS	PSP
Electronic Gaming Monthly	8.75/10
Game Informer		6.5/10
GameSpot	8.8/10	7.3/10
GameSpy		3.5/5
IGN	9.5/10	7/10
Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine	5/5	3/5
Play		7.5/10

Ape Escape was met with near-universal acclaim from critics upon its release. Official PlayStation Magazine praised the game's "creative" use of the Dual Shock, describing the game as an "awesome platformer". Doug Perry of IGN declared Ape Escape to be "the best 3D platform game on the PlayStation. Hands down." He went on to say that the game is "not only innovative, it digs deep into the analog control's inherent movements and brings out a breadth of fantastic gameplay elements that are unique to the game." Peter Bartholow of GameSpot also named it "one of the best 3D platformers to date, brimming with innovation, originality and fun." Electronic Gaming Monthly, in their January 2004 issue, referred to Ape Escape as "the amazing 3D action game that made capturing monkeys popular again."

Reviews for Ape Escape: On the Loose, the PlayStation Portable port of Ape Escape, were mixed. Play Magazine considered the game to be the most "basic visually" of the PlayStation Portable launch titles, but also found it to be the "most entertaining", and concluded with "Once a great game, always a great game." Jeff Gerstmann of GameSpot lamented the loss of the "finely tuned control that made the first game such a hit," but felt that the game "still has considerable charm." David Chapman of GameSpy said that "although it has a few noticeable flaws, there's nothing so bad that game stops being a lot of fun to play. At worst, it just gets a little frustrating at times." Juan Castro of IGN warned that "fans of the series will probably miss the second analog stick, but having gadgets mapped to the PSP's face buttons works well, just not as well as before, and definitely not as intuitive." Game Informer described the game as "merely a slightly annoying, if charming, run-of-the-mill platformer."

specter however is not as smart as he seems and can be beat

Soundtrack

An official soundtrack for the game will be released throughout 2010. It will be released in separate volumes and will be remastered by "DJ Jackson", who has also done works for Kesha and Britney Spears. The first Volume will be released at the end of August 2010. Volume's One to Three have been announced.

Untitled

Track listing - Volume One

• Digital Download

1. "Fossil Field'"
2. "Primordial Ooze'"
3. "Molten Lava (1)'"
4. "Molten Lava (2)'"
5. "Time Station'"

See also

• Ape Escape (series)
• Saru Get You -On Air-, an animated series

References

10. The monkeys from Ape Escape also appear in Metal Gear Solid 3 for PlayStation 2 in a mini game called "Snake Vs Monkey."

External links

• Ape Escape website (United States)
• Ape Escape website (United Kingdom)
• Ape Escape at MobyGames
• Escape Cartoons