Ape Escape: On the Loose

Monkey catching as a premise doesn't help for replay value.

The fear that apes will take over the earth with their wily ways has been widely explored in the Planet of the Apes films; now comes Sony's Ape Escape: On the Loose with a new take on the old scenario. Not only are these monkeys freed from their cages and super-smart, they are also blasted back in time, threatening the timeline of human evolution. Their mastermind--the Dr. Zaius, if you will--is Spectre, a super-intelligent monkey-boy gone bad. No longer the frolicking, innocent simian, Spectre plans to rule the world - one monkey at a time.

As plucky young Spike, your mission is to recapture all the monkeys that are, er, on the loose and send them back into the experimental lab. While this may seem like cruel and unusual punishment, the monkeys are so darn annoying that soon you'll be wishing you could just kill them instead and get it over with.

But no, you must take the more benevolent track. Use your stun stick to paralyze them, and then zap the suckers back where they belong. Jumping, swimming, and running around will feel like just another platformer, and there are some fairly easy puzzles to solve. The double-jump feature can get you some serious air if handled properly, and it is fun to explore some of the imaginatively-designed environments.

The graphics are flat and bright--in an anime-style that will be familiar to fans of the previous games. But their opacity actually makes navigating tricky at times, because you lose perspective, especailly in the water. As in all platformers, there are certain places that require patient repetitive actions that take away from the fun. This is by no means a sophisticated game, but its simplicity is also part of the charm.

But the overall vibe, as exemplified by the incessantly cheery music, may get on your nerves after a while. It's like staring at the sun too long--all those candy-colors and happy tunes tend to wear you out.

The best part of the game is the Wi-Fi multiplayer - there's a boxing game and a snowboarding game that are actually quite easy and fun. Unfortunately you can't unlock these until you've spent some time in dreary drudgery, cleaning up Spectre's mess and running after those monkeys. While it was a decent games for the PSOne, especially popular with the kiddies, it seems a waste of the PSP.

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