Ape Escape 2

Talk about a match made in heaven: video games and monkeys go together like students and money-off vouchers. Ape Escape 2 not only features mountains of simians, it's also stacked to the gills with cool platform action and general Japanese craziness.

The original Ape Escape was the first PlayStation game to demand use of the then new Dualshock analogue controller as you battled through time, capturing monkeys with the aid of a variety of unlikely James-Bond-style gadgets. This PS2 sequel is more of the same, opening with the accidental distribution of intelligence-boosting helmets along with special monkey pants. (Whether the game actually means underpants or trousers is never made clear and so you never know whether the peculiar dialogue is meant to be preposterously rude or just sounds that way to British ears.)

The nonsense never gives up as you get to operate a monkey radar, use a remote control car to press switches and fling specially scented banana-rangs. And you really do need all these gadgets and more, since the monkeys are always hidden in the most inaccessible areas of the many levels, with most able to defend themselves with everything from monkey kung fu to guided missiles. Although the game really does nothing different from its predecessor--even the level settings are disappointingly familiar--the addictive gameplay and immense variety ensure that all but the most cynical hearts will find something to enjoy here. --David Jenkins

"This riotous paintbox of baboonery is likely to bring out the gurgling proto-human in you."

"Ape Escape 2's primary objective is to entertain. On those terms, it's almost a masterpiece."

"A pure and uncomplicated joy."

With brain-power enhanced, modesty covered--and resplendent in a series of ever-more bizarre costumes--the evil Specter's anarchic apes are off on the rampage once more in Ape Escape 2. Dash around the world sorting out the primate problem with the help of a range of monkey-catching gadgets including water pistols, clubs, hoops and nets, and a superb new banana boomerang. You'll visit a range of exotic locations, like a Shaolin temple, a beach resort and even a moon base, and in every one you'll find unhelpfully perky primates with more tricks up their sleeves than ever. To deal with them, you'll need to drive tanks and snowmobiles, pilot submarines and boats and even use your own robot for full-on robot fighting.

A Gotcha Box opens up sub-games and gives you hints, tips and items that will help you in the main game and give you access to mini-games including Monkey Football, Dancing Bong, and Monkey Tightrope, as well as a variety of other game features. There are 20 huge and beautifully designed levels, as well as eight boss levels, just in the first cycle of play: once you finish the first cycle, you play through the entire game again with new areas to explore and new weapons to help you. A Time Attack mode lets you pit your skills on any single level, and once you've finished the second cycle you can even play all over again as Spike, the hero from the first Ape Escape game. What's more, there's a two-player game that lets you demonstrate your superior monkey-catching skills over and over again.

An enormous, immersive and beautifully designed game that's gloriously unhinged, Ape Escape 2 has great graphics, and massive helpings of fast-paced, original, and frankly sometimes just plain bizarre, gameplay. Every bit as crazy as the original game, it's the most fun you can have with a monkey with its pants on.