Ape Escape is a fascinating franchise. Being conceived as a tech demo for the then new Dualshock dual analogue controller, and cementing itself as yet another iconic Playstation platformer classic is no small feat, but it did a good enough job. Ape Escape 2, took everything the 1st game did and turned it up to 11, more gadgets, bigger levels, more fluid controls and animations. But it didn't really do anything to innovate more than "Ape Escape, but on PS2 now".

Ape Escape 3 however...well it certainly made some changes. Some really good changes. But I can't help feeling there's a reason Ape Escape 2 is remembered as a nostalgic classic, but most people don't even know that a third game was ever made. There's a number of reasons for this: It had very little fanfare on its release, it was released for the ps2 in Western regions the same year we got the PS3 - so not only was it outdated before it was released, it also had to deal with Sony losing a lot of good will to Xbox at the time. Why get a 2006 PS2 platformer, when the Xbox 360 is affordable and has much higher capabilities? Heck even the Wii was just around the corner. The next video game revolution was about to happen, and Sony were not leading it, for the first time in over a decade.

The game was also too big for its boots. Playing this game after the 2nd one it lags a lot. It definitely felt like this should have been a PS3 launch title, rather than another underwhelming PS2 platformer in a sea of them by the late 2000s. It's not all bad however - the 3rd game in the series did improve over the 2nd in a number of ways.

Most notably - they scaled back the gadget count to I think even fewer than the 1st game, in an attempt to be more focused. However to make up for the lost gadgets, they added a new mechanic, where you can morph into a number of super personas with improved strength, speed, reach, platforming and other abilities to mix up the gameplay. These are a cool idea - and were fun to play about with - also balanced well, as you could only use them for a limited amount of time before your gauge ran out and you had to refill it.

Where they fail is, there are some moments in the game where you have to use one of those personas to progress. This is all well and fine, but sometimes you'll be using one, run out of power and have to wait to use another one. The gauge takes about 30 seconds to recharge, so it's not a huge deal - but for those 30 seconds there is often nothing you can do except wait. Sometimes there will be boxes nearby that you can break to get items to refill it, but not always. It just feels like a needless roadblock that doesn't add anything to the core gameplay.

Other gameplay improvements include a quality of life improvement on gadget equipping - in the previous games you could only equip 4 at a time (one for each face button) and have to go into a pause menu to swap - which due to the context sensitive nature of some of them, you'd find yourself doing often. 3 adds a feature where you can double tap any face button to cycle through all the gadgets to re-assign them, which is infinitely quicker than going in and out of menus.

They also massively improved the AI of the titular apes. If you hadn't worked out from context - this game requires you to catch escaped Apes. This has always been fun since the first - where there were different types of apes that required different strategies to catch based on the colour of their pants indicating whether they are shy, violent, speedy, or armed with nuclear weapons (only half joking). Ape Escape 2 added more unique apes that had their own weapons and quirks you had to overcome, but Ape Escape 3 has all of that, and has beefed up the difficulty massively. In 2 - you'd sometimes spend a minute or so trying to catch 1 ape. In 3 - there were full own showdowns that I didn't always win. The Apes are much more clever, much better at dodging, hit harder and faster, and even sometimes steal your gadgets to use against you. If you're not careful, an Ape can steal your net and catch you instead - which doesn't lose you a life, but does send you back to the hub world - effectively forcing you to restart the whole level from scratch.

This could be seen as frustrating - but I was so gobsmacked the first time it happened, and the novelty of it was so well implemented that I didn't have time to be annoyed with it. I just learned very quickly that you can't brute force your way through this game - sometimes you need to play carefully and not underestimate the Apes. They stole my gadgets a few more times, but I was much better prepared, and rarely if ever did this particular fate happen to me again. The game taught me that very clearly.

The game also improved the shop system. Where Ape Escape 2 essentially worked as a Loot Box without real money (pay 10 coins to get a completely random prize) - Ape Escape 3 lets you pick what you spend your coins on in a little village area. You can't always pick specific art or soundtracks - but you can at least pick the type of thing you want to buy.

The downside of this is, the cost of items is much higher - which is the main reason I haven't bothered completing the game. I have played through all the levels twice, and still not accrued enough coins to get everything. The grind is not worth it, and there's nowhere near enough post-game content to make it fun.

Apart from that, it's similar to Ape Escape 2 in all other aspects. The boss fights are back, but less memorable. The story is...present I guess. I honestly can't tell you the plot - but catching the apes is satisfying enough that it really doesn't matter.

Gameplay is solid - although by this point the novelty of using the right analogue stick to attack while moving with the left is losing its charm, and you start to miss having free camera control.

But I think the biggest hit this game took was in the soundtrack department. It's no exaggeration to say that Ape Escape 2 has one of my favourite video game soundtracks of all time. Each one thematically appropriate, as well as catchy and complimenting the gameplay - very rarely if ever getting grating. I actually routinely listen to the Ape Escape 2 soundtrack while I'm working, it's that good. Also the little Ape sound effects in some of them add a charm that feels reminiscent of Twinsanity's soundtrack - even though it's not just acapella voices.

Ape Escape 3 on the other hand just feels so bland in the soundtrack department. I couldn't hum any tune as soon as it stopped playing, except for maybe the main menu music (which is virtually identical across the 3 games, just with increased depth).

None of the soundtrack is jarring as such - it all fits the level themes fine enough, but they feel very short and repetitive. Also whenever you transform into one of the personas I talked about earlier, you get played a 10 second song on loop for the duration of your transformation. This can be anything from 30 seconds to 10 minutes if you're vigilant at picking up time extenders while transformed. These get so fucking grating, to the point that I'd actively opt to make the game harder for me and less fun by refusing to use them half the time. Honestly, they are so bad, the only exception is the Monkey outfit you get at the end - but that one you only use to access hidden areas, then immediately transform back because you can't catch or fight anything in that state.

How did we go from such a charming bouncy and sometimes tense soundtrack to this coldplay ass generic shit. The soundtrack is the main reason it took me 4 years on and off to complete this game, as I just couldn't stomach long play sessions. I know that I could just mute the game and play my own music, but if a game is making me want to do that, it has failed.

The game does redeem itself by a very strong sense of theme though. Ape Escape 1 had you travel back through time to catch all the apes, which meant a very consistent set of levels that gradually got more and more modern and then futuristic. Ape Escape 2 too had a great variety of locations. Ape Escape 3 took the unique approach to have each level be a film and TV set - which the Apes have taken over in order to brainwash the whole planet. This is such a cool idea, as each level takes place in a different film genre - full of pastiche of popular films and TV shows. This is reflected in the vanilla enemies as well, which are often designed to look like film equipment. They doubled down on this idea, and it worked. They even had it so you could film apes from a distance that would sometimes act out a little skit in reference to an iconic. film or tv show. These moments were easily the most fun I had with the game. I think I preferred the levels in the previous games overall - but there was some cool ideas here and I appreciate it for thinking outside the box with that.

Oh also the game has 3 mini games, 2 of which are forgettable - but one of which is a literal Metal Gear Solid game. No exaggeration - there was a crossover with MGS3 - MGS3 had an ape escape minigame, and Ape Escape 3 lets you play a condensed version of MGS as an ape. Not my cup of tea personally, but a really cool idea - and actually had the MGS studio work on it IIRC.

That's basically it really - you catch apes, do platforming, fight some bosses - then the game is over. You can also do time trials of the levels, as well as the much needed free roam mode - where you can replay a level to search for easter eggs, film any monkey scenes you missed, etc. I don't feel a strong desire to go back and do that - but I'm glad they included that option. Will be really handy if I ever want to go back and capture footage for a youtube video - so I don't have to play the whole game from scratch.

Oh also you can play as a girl in this game. I forgot to mention that up top, because I 100% forgot that I'd picked a character by the time I finished the game, because I started this playthrough in 2017. Both characters play the same more or less, but it's still nice for trans af me to play as the cute anime girl I never got to be, so thanks Sony - always appreciated.