Ape Escape: On the Loose Review

Before there was stuff like Last of Us Part 1 and Shadow of the Collossus 2018, there was Ape Escape On the Loose. I make this comparison because this game falls into the remake "trap" of being too similar to the original to the point where it's existence gets questioned since outside of new players experiencing the game for the first time, people who already played the original game have nothing to be surprised about. 

While On the Loose plays well for an AE game without a 2nd analog stick, it's existence is ultimately underminded by the fact that this is a mostly similar and play it safe remake of the original game on the PS1.

I'll start with what I liked, I thought Ape Escape without a 2nd analog stick was going to be a complete disaster since the original was a flagship title for the Dualshock controller, and how so much of that game is reliant on the 2nd stick mainly when it came to the use of gadgets but to my surprise, On the Loose controls pretty well without a 2nd stick and feels just as intuitive as it did on the PS1.

It may take a little getting used to with tapping the gadget button multiple times in order to activate but on a PS5 controller in which I played this version on it felt good enough. It never got in the way and generally, and rarely if ever was I wishing to have the 2nd analog stick back which is a good sign especially considering the PSP only had one stick. I got to wonder how much of playing the PS5 controller enhanced my experience since from what I remember of the PSP analog numb, I don't recall it ever feeling super amazing with games that have heavy amounts of platforming, but since I am not, I can say at the very least it feels good to play on a controller since some portable games do not feel so good on that.

Using the x button to jump rather than the R1 was a welcome if strange change from the original PS1 game and the PS2 sequels since now arguably it controls more like a traditional platformer, the double jump can be pretty finicky at times since there were times where I would press the x button twice and Spike would not do the double jump and then there are times where he would do it 90% of the time. Still it generally works well and apart of me finds the idea of an AE game using x to jump to be rather charming since to do this day, pressing R1 to jump in the mainline series still needs me to get used to it.

Another aspect I like and this can apply to Ape Escape as a whole is how unique it is for how the structure works as a 3D platformer. The games are technically level based, but has elements of a collectathon platformer where you the aim of the game is to collect as many monkeys as the level can allow you to in order to progress.

It doesn't just end there either, where collectathons have you collect a certain amount "macguffins" to progress through a level, in AE the collectibles are an actual obsticle you need to "collect" in order to progress.

Different monkeys have a different style of aproach to them in order to capture, some can be captured with through stealth, some are more aggressive, others have weapons, you have to solve a puzzle or get to furthur parts of the level to capture, and there is a nice enough variety of monkeys to capture here that it never gets overly dull especially if you are playing for the first time or never played the original game.

It's a very unique 3D platformer to the way it controls, to it's structure, all the way to what the level objectives are and what you need to complete them. The final level in particular can be a pretty intense "test" of all the platforming skills you learned up until that point. You will be using the first person mode, and all your gadgets quite a bit to get past such a lengthy platforming gaunlet. 

Some gripes is that the combat while generally getting the job done has occasionally annoying parts like how some enemies can grab you without much warning when the grab will happen, a tank level later in the game that can be on the grating since you can't move side to side, the aforementioned double jump problem and some of the hitboxes being a tad bit off. The RC car controls and the camera controls can create a bit of disorientation and can be an inconvience when repositioning yourself after the use of the gadget. But these aren't too big, just annoying little quirks.

The new voices are nothing special even if I prefer the more sillier dub of the original game. This is okay since this is not a story driven game.

However what is a big issue is that well...I played this all before. The original game on PS1 is 95% the same game as this and the fact that this on the PS Premium is fascinating since the original game is also on there.

Which makes me question this game's existence. If you played AE1, you played this and if you want to play the original and both are avaliable on the same service which can be confusing.

I mainly got this out of curosity and it was a solid time since I hadn't played the original PS1 game in years but I am not sure if were to play it again if my memory starts to degrade.