Ape Escape

This is definitely not the sequel to the family friendly game from yesteryear, Ape Escape. This is a procedurally generated top down, twin stick, rogue lite game. It has flavors of Hotline Miami and GTA (the original). The premise here is very straight forward, you are a captured gorilla and you need to escape these evil captivity scenarios you find yourself in. The game doesnt explicitly say much about background or story but safe to say these are bad people based on how many armed guards are around.

Simian Style

The game initilally plays out like an vintage jazz album with tracks and sides, which pairs nicely with the ambiance the game is trying to set. The soundtrack for the rest of the game switches up from classic jazz to slightly more upbeat tempo but it really pops when you smash the evil scientists and military that are trying to capture you. When they smash on the wall or out the window, the drums smash or the trumpeters ring out louder. The music ties into the larger picture of you are playing the game across four albums and their subsequent tracks. You start the game and the first scenario you find yourself in is a modern day laboratory, on either side of you are two other cages with a peach coloured splatter. The only controls the game offers you are both on the floor of your cell, trigger and stick. The stick moves the ape around inside the cell but once you hit the trigger you smash through the cage, exploding the guard who was watching you in the process is when the game begins. The red blood of the guard stands out on the floor like a bright paint splatter on a dark canvas. You quickly realize that your only means of survival is to avoid enemies at any cost or smash them onto the canvas. The levels are designed well enough that you can see whats close around you but never far enough that you can actually plan your next steps. Its more about being quick and adapting on your feet. There is plenty of walls, corners and pillars in the map to put some distance between you and the enemy. This is a strategy that you need to use because the first time you try to attack an enemy straight on from too far away they shoot you and their aim is true. If they hit you you will splatter a lighter pink tinged paint on the canvas of the level. You quickly learn what distance is too far to make before trying to attempt to attack an enemy. There are no check points during each of the levels or tracks as they are referred to, so the only way to save progress is to get past each track. The tracks aren’t too long and can be passed in five minutes or so, but a few wrong turns or bad decisions can quickly send you back to the start of the track to do it over again. These could lead to some of the levels taking a lot longer to beat However, you won’t be able to memorize the level because it is different every time as it is procedurally generated. I could see the flip side of this coin being fun with speed runs, but the randomness of the level does keep it quite fresh and never lets you rest on your laurels.

Nintendont

The game doesnt have any major issues on the switch just a few minor gripes. It is not a graphically strong game as it focuses more on an artistic style which fits perfectly like most other Indies on the Nintendo Switch. It also feels right at home on the switch because sometime you can feel like you are constantly banging your head against the wall on a level. The ease of use to just put it in to rest mode and immediately resume when you return is great and the potentially bite size nature of the levels does make it perfect for the portability of the Nintendo Switch. On a game this small with precision levels it would have been nice to have trophies and achievements. How many killed, thrown out windows, shots blocked with human shield etc as opposed to just a menu that keeps track of this pop ups after each achievement. Since the game doesnt have story it would have been nice to have carrots dangling just out of reach so you would be tempted to re run a level. It does offer arcade mode after you beat a level but lacks enough depth to demand a return.

The game is a lot of fun at the start and the originality really draws you in at the start but you aren’t learning much in the way of controls and the levels feel similar which makes it feel repetitive. My excitement and interest for the first album (laboratory) was a lot higher since everything was new and fresh but by the time I got to the third album my interest had waned. There was little new being introduced, no achievements I was trying to accomplish, no overarching story I was trying to understand (am I the same ape in all of these scenarios?) Instead it was the same thing I had been doing for the past 3-4 hours. There are new enemies introduced as the game progresses but they don’t change up the mechanics of how you play. You continue to do the same thing over and over. Near the end I just tried to take the most direct path and avoid enemy conflict altogether rather than to try and smash as many enemies as I could, which isn’t a good feeling.

Final Thoughts

Ape out really jumped off the screen when I first saw it announced but wondered what could be done with the art and style. As it turns out there wasn’t much else than what I originally saw. With other games on the market already doing very similar things to what this game is doing but better, not to mention some of the amazing games on the switch already, its very hard to justify picking this game up just for the gorgeous art, style and soundtrack.

3/5