Ape Escape 3 Review
Ape Capture 3 would be a more appropriate name for this game than Ape Escape 3, albeit not as poetic of one. After all, the goal of the game is to capture 400 trouble-causing monkeys with your butterfly, um, monkey net. So just why are you trying to capture these monkeys? Well the evil genius Specter has unleashed them upon the world to film bizarre parodies of movies and stereotypical movie genres for broadcast on the world’s TV stations. The shows are so bizarre and goofy that anyone who begins watching them falls into a mindless stupor and becomes a helpless couch potato. Luckily fourth graders Yumi and Kei are warned of the broadcasts and with the help of their mom set out to capture the monkeys and put an end to their careers in entertainment.
| Looks like an airplane adventure.. |
Such is the case with Sony's Ape Escape 3, the third full entry in its on-again-off-again, simian-snagging series. As always, your job is to take control of a curiously young child and capture 434.
You play as either Yumi or Kei and the game is the same no matter which one you choose, so your choice is really one of whether you want to play as a perky schoolgirl or a spunky schoolboy. You enter the game’s levels through a warp point in your mom’s patio lab and your goal is to capture a certain number of monkeys after which you are warped home and the next level is unlocked. You start the game with two tools for capturing monkeys, a net and a club, but as the game progresses you’ll amass quite a collection of gadgets. These gadgets include an RC car, monkey-finding radar, and handheld helicopter blades, and they’re all designed to enhance your monkey-catching skills or get you within reach of well-hidden monkeys. You can map four gadgets at a time to the four face buttons to allow you to quickly switch between them. The gadgets are actually used by moving the right stick which allows for a good degree of control. For example, you can swing the monkey net high over your head or sweep it to the side to capture a monkey trying to slip past you. The downside of this control scheme is that the right stick is not available to control the camera and instead the game uses the L1 button to swing the camera back behind you. This works alright when there’s a pause in the action, but when you’re madly chasing after a monkey or trying to avoid being attacked by one of their robot helpers it can sometimes be frustrating to try and maintain a good view of the action.Ape Escape 3 is a platform game, but there is a lot more strategy and puzzle-solving to the game than you’ll find in most games in the genre. Locating the escaped monkeys and getting to them is as much a part of the gameplay as is actually capturing them. There’s also a stealth element to the game in that sneaking up on monkeys and surprising them makes them a lot easier to catch than if they spot you and start running around like mad or worse, start attacking you. Each monkey in the game wears a little police siren on his or her head that will switch to yellow if they become suspicious that someone is near and will go red if you’re noticed. It’s a good visual aid when trying to sneak up on a monkey but it also adds to the feeling of pandemonium that ensues when several monkeys are running around with flashing red sirens going off full blast.
If you’ve played prior Ape Escape games then all this is pretty familiar to you. What will not be familiar is that Ape Escape 3 adds the ability to transform yourself into different types of characters. For example, you can transform into a cowboy and fire monkey nets with your guns or into a ninja and gain special moves. Personally I liked the genie master form’s power to unleash a dancing genie whose moves can mesmerize monkeys. Who’s the mindless drone now, monkey boy?
| Ape Escape 3 | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | SCE Japan Studio |
| Publisher(s) | Sony Computer Entertainment |
| Director(s) | Naoto Ohta Yuzo Sugano |
| Producer(s) | Naoto Ohta |
| Composer(s) | Soichi Terada |
| Series | Ape Escape |
| Platform(s) | PlayStation 2 |
| Release |
|
| Genre(s) | Platform |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
Ape Escape 3 (サルゲッチュ3, Saru Getchu 3) is a platformvideo game published and developed by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation 2video game console.
The game has been rated for release on PlayStation 4 but no announcement of its release has been made.[1]
Plot[edit]
Specter, the Pipo Monkeys' leader, finds a Monkey Helmet, and hires the human scientist Dr. Tomoki (Dr. トモウキ, Dokutā Tomouki) to aid him in his evil plans. They establish television stations protected by the Freaky Monkey Five where they plan to broadcast TV shows worldwide. The television shows that are broadcast on every television put every human except the twins, Kei and Yumi (Satoru and Sayaka outside of North America), their aunt Aki, and Natalie (Natsumi outside of North America) into a mindless trance. When Natsumi informs Kei and Yumi that Spike (Kakeru), Jimmy (Hikaru) and the Professor were all infected by the television show, Kei and Yumi go out to catch the monkeys and thwart Specter and Tomoki.
Their mission was to go to every movie set and capture all the monkeys there and destroy the satellite there. Kei and Yumi easily capture Monkey White, Monkey Blue, and Monkey Yellow. When they reach the TV Station where Monkey Pink is, Kei and Yumi's attempts to capture her fail and she escapes. They manage to capture Monkey Red afterwards.
When they reach Tomoki City, Tomoki challenges them to a battle in his giant Tomo-King robot. Tomoki, after being defeated by Kei and Yumi, and being humiliated by Specter, lets them take his rocket to space to defeat his former partner. Once they reach Specter's outer space base of operations: Space Station SARU-3, they capture all the monkeys and deactivate the movie sets on their way to Specter. When they reach Specter, he tells them his plan about how he will use his space station to cut the earth in half and keep half of it for the monkeys (leaving the other half, originally meant for Tomoki, to the humans). Afterwards he gets in his new Gorillac Mech and tries to activate his plan. He is defeated and the two escape from the satellite, leaving Tomoki to give his life to deactivate the Twin Heavens. He survives. After Specter is defeated, Monkey Pink releases him and the rest of the Freaky Monkey Five, leaving them to be caught again in extremely similar missions. To complete the game one hundred percent, all the four hundred and forty-two monkeys have to be caught, all the time trials have to be completed with a gold time, and all the items, CDs, Video Tapes (except 28), Car Skins, Genie Dance tracks, books, etc. have to be bought. The game holds a total of four hundred and thirty-four monkeys if the secret code monkeys are not caught.
Gameplay[edit]
Playing as either Satoru or Sayaka, gameplay follows that of the previous games in which the player must catch several monkeys by using various gadgets controlled with right analogue stick. While there are fewer gadgets in this game than previous entries, a new feature in this game is the ability to morph into different forms through a device built by Aki.[2] Some monkeys may also try to steal the player's Stun Club or Time Net and use it against them, and can even force them out of the level by catching them with their own net. Playing as Sayaka has an additional benefit; owing to her pop idol status, certain monkeys will go star-struck upon sight of Sayaka, allowing for an easy capture.
Mesal Gear Solid[edit]
A minigame featured in the game is Mesal Gear Solid: Snake Escape [jp], a spoof of Metal Gear Solid (the name is a pun on 'metal' (メタル, metaru) and 'monkey' (猿, saru).) In this game, players control Pipo Snake, a monkey loaded with Solid Snake's battle data, sent on a mission to rescue Snake and destroy a monkey-like Metal Gear. Gameplay is similar to Metal Gear Solid in which players have to use stealth and weapons to sneak around undetected and rescue prisoners. Players are equipped with a Banana Pistol for stunning enemies and Pineapple Grenades for breaking open flimsy walls. Similarly, the original PlayStation 2 editions of Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater include a Snake vs. Monkey mode in which Snake has to capture monkeys.
Stopping Prejudice: Required to remember Terezza's name and avoid taking 160 Shock damage. Alternative: Intellect 1 (only available when having My Little Vorator, by Terezza in your inventory). Intellect 4: Rune: Stopping Prejudice: Required for activating the levitation rune which takes you back to Thyr Ridges through the secret entrance of the cave. Otherwise you have to fight your way to the main entrance. Stopping Prejudice: Needed for descending the stairs more safely, thus reducing the unavoidable damage from 120 to 40. Alterative: Intellect 4. Intellect 4: Secret entrance to Cave of Echoes: Stopping Prejudice: Needed for descending the stairs more safely, thus reducing the unavoidable damage from 120 to 25. Alterative: Awareness 3. Exiled kingdoms crafting. Exiled Kingdoms Quest Walkthrough - Stopping Prejudice; Trait Checks. The following Trait checks are associated with this quest. Those marked with are mandatory for achieving certain outcomes or rewards which can not be accomplished otherwise.
Reception[edit]
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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Ape Escape 3 received 'generally positive' reviews, according to video game review aggregatorMetacritic.[3]
References[edit]
- ^'Ape Escape 3 - ESRB'. Retrieved 2020-01-24.
- ^'Ape Escape 3 :: PS2 Game Review'. Kidzworld. Archived from the original on 16 April 2009. Retrieved 2009-04-01.
- ^ ab'Ape Escape 3 for PlayStation 2 Reviews'. Metacritic. Retrieved January 4, 2019.
External links[edit]
