By: Mike Ponicki
July 30th, 1999

The idea that games get better on a given platform over time has never been so evident as it is in Ape Escape. Ok, so Sony develops this weird controller called the dual-shock controller. It's got Nintendo's "rumble pack" idea, and two analog sticks. But what would you need a second analog stick for? Apparently, no one knew the answer. Now, finally, Sony has figured out that their second analog stick idea actually CAN enrich gameplay to heightened levels, and they've proven it in their masterpiece, Ape Escape.

Where do I start? Let's talk about the plot first. It seems that a certain professor has developed a helmet that, when worn, increases the intelligence of the one wearing it. A monkey from the amusement park named Specter somehow stumbles upon the prototype helmet, puts it on, and becomes a genius. He manufacturers a crap load of these things, gives one to each monkey in the amusement park, and they all run off to take over the world. Their plan is to use another one of the professor's inventions, a time machine (they took over the professor's lab btw, he's a good guy), to go back in time, and make monkeys rule the world, and stick the humans in the amusement parks. It's up to you (your character's name is Spike), the professor, and this chick helping the professor (Natalie) to stop Specter from fulfilling his evil intentions.

The plot sounds like a kiddy platformer plot, but it actually plays into the game pretty thick. There's cutscenes often, and the character's all have developed personalities by the end of the game. The graphics are awesome, much better than even Spyro's. The sound is also awesome, with great voice acting and a top-notch soundtrack. But the focus of the game and this review is on gameplay, which is the item which sets this game apart.

The control scheme used in Ape Escape is about as far from traditional as you can get. The "regular" buttons (triangle, square, circle, and x) are used to select the current item (ala Zelda 5). To jump, you use the two R shift buttons (either one works). To center the camera behind Spike, you use L1. L2 does a camera freelook. The left analog stick moves Spike, and the right analog stick controls your currently selected item.

Let me elaborate on the items a bit. Your main item is a glowing sword, it looks like a light saber. The direction you move the right analog stick is the direction Spike will swing the sword, independent of which way you're moving or facing the character with the left stick. So, you can be running left, and still swing your sword to the right by moving the right analog stick in that direction. Using both analog sticks simultaneously and independently takes a lot of practice to get good at, because it's a completely new idea. Then, there's a bunch of different items that all work differently, so you've got to learn the functionality to each item.

The innovation doesn't stop there. You probably didn't even know this, but the dual-shock's analog sticks are also buttons. That is, you can push them down. No games use this, at least not for an important game function. Well, this feature is used a lot in Ape Escape. To crouch, you push in the left analog stick. Then, to crawl, you hold the left stick in and move it. As soon as you let up on it, Spike will stand up again. While you're crouching/crawling, you can push in the right stick to "hide", or play dead, so the monkeys won't detect you as easily.

The other thing that's unusual about Ape Escape, is the quality of the levels. They're laid out so you have to revisit them many times with different gadgets to get all the monkeys. I won't go into detail about what makes for good level design (as if I'd know all the elements to it anyway, it's a sophisticated thing), but Ape Escape's level design quality rivals any of Nintendo's (the king of level design) games.

It's got a significant learning curve, but it's worth the effort, because Ape Escape is a great platformer. Especially after the Blasto disaster, Sony needed a good 1st party platformer to get their reputation back up. So go check it out, Ape Escape is available at any store that carries PSX software.