PlayStation Move Ape Escape Review

Where do we start with this? Well lets just say that this is one of the bizarrest settings and premises for a game I have come across. And like Yar's Revenge it's a reboot (so to speak) of an earlier game release.

But back too the story.

Earth is taken by surprise when the sky is suddenly full of UFO's. Fearing attack by little green men form somewhere or the other, imagine the shock when there's an invasion alright..by apes!

The hero of this tale finds himself under attack by the pesky blighters after a UFO crashes nearby. He then finds two young ladies entering his house and they throw a strange gadget into his hand. This is a Playstation Move Controller (no shock there!) and then with them giving advice our hero clears his house of the ape infestation, but that turns out to be the tip of the iceberg.

The tale now goes from the weird to being totally bonkers. It seems that these apes have caused problems before and the grandmother of one of these ladies had the task of chasing them down. But there was one in particular that bothered her, a white ape called Specter. In fact he was so much of a pain in the rear end that Gran built a time machine to chase him down.

Now granny has gone, guess who has to follow the trail and deal with Specter? Yup you guessed it!

So now you have had this task dumped in your lap, how do you deal with the pesky little blighters? You have to snatch them up in a net whilst dodging attacks by UFO's and bloated creatures, to name but a couple of things that will try and stop you. Your handy gadget can change shape at your command, alternating between a net, a bat like device for swatting UFO's and incoming missiles, a catapult for shooting bubbles that contain bananas (these keep your health/energy stocks up) and for releasing a battery. These batteries give you the final and ultimate transformation, and that is an Ape Vaccum. This sucks up any monkeys that have ganged up on you and puts them safely away somewhere whilst you pause for breath in preperation for the next wave. Thats it for the plot - so onwards we go.

Controls:

Obviously the Playstation Move acts as your net, catapult etc. Devices are switched by pressing the move button. The net is linked to your arm movements. The catapult is aimed by moving left or right, and firing is handled by the trigger (or T button as they call it) Likewise the bat is controlled by simple arm movements, and the vacuum is aimed via movement and the T button activates it. Keep an eye on the screen for indications that you are going to be flanked. If coming in from the right, O will swing you that way, whilst X will swing you round to face left. Swinging your arm up and down will hopefully capture the incoming simian nuisance.

Apart from the main story line game there are sub or mini games that involve driving. The control of the vehicle is tricky as you are using the six axis control to steer, brake and accelrate. Left stick steers the car, R2 accelerates, and L2 activates the brake. Whilst driving, the trigger can be used to knock away mines and capture those bananas and batteries whilst driving through check points. There are other games on offer but I'll let you find them for yourself as to be honest..well I'll get too that in the Pros and Cons section.

Graphics:

Bright colourful and cartoony for want of a better term. This is afterall a party game aimed at a younger audience so don't expect eye popping graphics here. They are functional, enough said.

Physics:

Well there are no rag doll physics here to worry about, so physics as such don't really come into effect here.

Gameplay:

Controls are for the most part responsive enough. The Move unit functions very well indeed and lacks the sometimes slow response I have noticed using the Wii Motion controller for instance (And no, I'm not taking cheap shots at the Wii, I actually LIKE the machine a lot) but the driving is a fiddly affair. I cannot see a way of modifying the set up so you can get it to follow a more traditional layout, so be warned this could take a little getting used too here.

Music:

Well the soundtrack isn't exactly going to rock the world but it's not supposed to. Cheerful music that sums up the party atmosphere of the title on offer.

Voice:

The dubbing is spot on from what I can see. There's a very good anime/manga style cartoon at the start that sets the scene and mood very nicely and lip sync seems fine but it's not a key element to the game so there's no need to worry about it.

Pros:

This will keep the young ones happy. If you have kids between 5 and 10, then you'll find that this will probably keep them happy during these long summer holidays and would be suitable entertainment at a kids party. It is clearly aimed at the younger gamer so that should be kept in mind here when you purchase this title. It may mean a noisy session too, so shut yourself away and let the little darlings wear themselves out! The mini games are nice and short which is a plus as..well you can tell there's a but coming a mile off here.

Cons:

Unless I am being dumb or blind, there seems to be no multiplayer option. So for a party game, you would have to hope that someone is willing to pass the controller onto the next kid and not hog it too themselves or there will be tears before bedtime. The main story line is well for someone of my age, repetitive and seems one wave of sameness after another. Sure games repeat themselves but maybe the option to unlock other modes for use besides the net, catapult etc would have added some longevity. There are just 8 levels in the main story as it were. Sub games offer more levels so to speak but I cannot help but wonder how long these can keep the player entertained.

I didn't explore the options too much (my bad I know) so the multiplayer option could well be there, but to be frank this game didn't really grab me enough to encourage me to explore that deeply so it's up too you dear reader.

So the scoring for this game may come as a bit harsh maybe. If I was in the age group it's aimed at I may have scored this a 7 or slightly higher, but being (ahem!) a bit older than that I can only honestly mark it as I see it.

Being a mature gamer then I have to say I find this game palatable in small doses only. It didn't capture my interest for say any longer than 20 minutes at a time (besides, my arm and shoulder soon started complaining!). I know games have elements of repetition but this one does kind of over do it. It needs something perhaps taken from the mini games injected into the single player mode to bring variety to the proceedings. This game is for the kids pure and simple. It wasn't my cup of tea at all, and unlike Playstation Move Heroes it probably won't be seeing a lot of action in the near future. So my final tally is below. Sorry if you think it's a tad too harsh.