Ape Escape 2 16 Years Later

<p>With a July 12th&comma; 2002 Japanese release&comma; <em>Ape Escape 2<&sol;em> is fast approaching its 16th birthday&period; Having only played <em>Ape Escape 3<&sol;em> and <em>Ape Escape&colon; On the Loose<&sol;em> in my youth&comma; this is my first time experiencing <em>Ape Escape 2<&sol;em>&period; How does the 3D platformer hold up sixteen years later&quest;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;138932" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-138932" style&equals;"width&colon; 1000px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"wp-image-138932 size-large" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2018&sol;05&sol;29090111&sol;Ape-Escape&percnt;E2&percnt;84&percnt;A2-2&lowbar;201805271841151&period;jpg" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"1000" height&equals;"563" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-138932" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">Ape Escape 2&comma; Namco and Atlus<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<h3>Ape Escape 2&&num;8217&semi;s Problems<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p>It has plenty of inventive ideas and charm&comma; but the camera and jumping mechanics are stiff and unrewarding&period; Its dual analog control system&comma; which consists of moving the character with the left stick and manipulating gadgets with the right stick&comma; restricts camera movement&period; It&&num;8217&semi;s an inherent trade-off as a result of its innovative control scheme&period; Though that doesn&&num;8217&semi;t mean more couldn&&num;8217&semi;t be done with it&period; Assigning jumping to both R1 and R2 wastes an entire button that could have been used for more refined camera control&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Gadgets are assigned to the four face buttons&comma; leaving the shoulder buttons to tackle most camera and game actions&period; Unfortunately&comma;<em> Ape Escape 2<&sol;em>&&num;8216&semi;s camera feels like it belongs in a mid 90&&num;8217&semi;s platformer rather than an early 2000&&num;8217&semi;s game&period; Developers were still getting the hang of 3D camera systems during the early years of the PlayStation 2 and Dreamcast&comma; but that doesn&&num;8217&semi;t change its awful implementation&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h4>Where it Went Wrong<&sol;h4>&NewLine;<p>As discussed&comma; two buttons handle the same action&colon; jumping&period; Why&quest; Its redundancy makes no sense&period; The L1 button snaps the camera behind the protagonist&period; This logical move could have been a useful tool to further expand the sense of control&period; Unfortunately&comma; it becomes a necessity due to everything else the game handles poorly&period; L2 activates a first-person free-look camera&period; With such wonky stick sensitivity&comma; even scanning the environment in a first-person is a hassle&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>This extends to gadgets&comma; like the slingshot&comma; which are also used from a first-person perspective&period; Lining up shots isn&&num;8217&semi;t as intuitive as it should be for a franchise that touts such an active control scheme&period; <em>Ape Escape 2<&sol;em> recognizes the awful first-person camera&comma; with flying enemies moving slowly as a result&period; Coupled with generous hit detection&comma; the slingshot works for what it needs to&period; Yet&comma; it&&num;8217&semi;s still nothing more than compensation for a finicky first person camera&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>R2 and L2 should have been mapped to rotating the camera left and right&period; A dedicated first person button makes no difference when many of the game&&num;8217&semi;s sections feature fixed angles that lock out the first person view&period; Additionally&comma; the slingshot functions no differently than a first-person camera&period; If anything&comma; you get the added benefit of its ranged attack&period; The free-look camera is useless&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h4>Platforming Isn&&num;8217&semi;t So Hot<&sol;h4>&NewLine;<p>Beyond the poor camera&comma; jumping feels disgusting&period; No amount of description can represent how unresponsive the jumping mechanics are&period; Prior to acquiring the Sky Flyer gadget&comma; I missed simple jumps that would have given me no trouble in any other 3D platformer save for <em>Bubsy 3D<&sol;em>&period; Hikaru&&num;8217&semi;s movement&comma; jump height&comma; and momentum don&&num;8217&semi;t provide the level of control you&&num;8217&semi;d want from a platformer&period; Again&comma; much like the slow-moving aerial enemies&comma; platforming obstacles are simplistic to account for this&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The developers knew how inadequate <em>Ape Escape 2<&sol;em>&&num;8216&semi;s movement and camera systems were&comma; building simple levels around its restrictions&period; The end result is a charming&comma; but easy platformer&period; Even when wrestling against the controls&comma; <em>Ape Escape 2<&sol;em>&&num;8216&semi;s level design and enemy encounters remain basic enough to offset frustration&period; It&&num;8217&semi;s a double-edged sword&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;138933" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-138933" style&equals;"width&colon; 1000px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"wp-image-138933 size-large" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2018&sol;05&sol;29090900&sol;Ape-Escape&percnt;E2&percnt;84&percnt;A2-2-yes&period;jpg" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"1000" height&equals;"563" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-138933" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">Ape Escape 2&comma; Namco and Atlus<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<h4>Conclusion<&sol;h4>&NewLine;<p><em>Ape Escape 2<&sol;em> is a mixed experience&period; It suffers from simplistic level design and boring bosses with basic patterns&period; Designed with children in mind&comma; the game never puts up a challenge even when its camera and jumping wrestle against the player&period; When all is said and done&comma; though&comma; catching monkeys with that net never gets old&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;