Like the first two games in the franchise, “Ape Escape 3” is fresh and familiar. It’s familiar in its standard, multistage platform-hopping/baddie-bopping gameplay and fresh in that every button on the controller is employed to great and practically counterintuitive effect.
The normally predominant face buttons are used only to select your weapons and gadgets. The left thumbstick is for movement (as usual), but the right stick controls aim, swat and fire. There’s a heavy use of the shoulder triggers to jump or special attack, among other things. It seems backward, but after a while it feels so natural you’ll wonder why more games don’t interface this way.
The cookie-cutter game play has suprising diversity. You mainly play as a guy with a stun club and a net, but you can swap guises to suit the TV setting in play and become a ninja, a trigger-happy cowboy or an Aladdin-like kid with a genie in his pocket.
Unlockable mini-games – a discus-style monkey toss and a “Metal Gear Solid” spoof – are good for a chuckle.
“Ape Escape 3” is decidedly Nintendo-esque: excessively cute, cartoony and primary-colorful. It won’t blow your socks off with originality but there’s plenty of game here: long playing, addictively goofy and refreshing in how it’s played.
Sony; PlayStation 2; $39.99. Rating: Everyone (10+) (cartoon violence, crude humor)
A sad case of branding without substance, “Ape Escape Academy” has almost nothing in common with the acclaimed “Ape Escape” games as seen on PSX and PS2 – except for the name and the cheeky little avatar that happens to resemble a monkey aspiring to professional mischievousness.
It’s a sloppy collection of mini-games that shrieks “WarioWare Wannabe,” with gameplay that locks you into a series of trite little interactives that are each either confusing, boring or stupid. “Academy” totally sullies the franchise’s reputation for ape escapism.
Sony; PlayStation Portable; $39.99. Rating: Everyone (10+) (cartoon violence, crude humor)
Just to remind us what good, portable, quick-fix gaming is all about, “Dr. Mario/Puzzle League” offers nothing new or particularly inspired, but at least there’s a lot of it – and in one tidy, low-cost package.
There are two titles here, first with old school “Dr. Mario” and his “Tetris”-like, color-coded, pill-dropping challenge, overtly simple and good for a quick go at stolen moments. In addition, there’s the similarly “Tetris”-like “Puzzle League,” a more complicated puzzle game for a somewhat longer-lasting go. Good deal.
Nintendo; Game Boy Advance; $29.99. Rating: Everyone
Shaun Conlin is a freelance games reviewer for Cox News Service. E-mail him at shaunconlin@evergeek.com.
