Ape Escape 3 is gentle fun in a cartoon-beautiful world. You can play a young boy or girl who runs around a variety of levels catching little monkeys.



Apes have taken over the world ... again. A group of young kids are the only hope for saving the world from turning into mindless couch potatoes.

This is about the ultimate game in harmless fun that gives you things to do without violence. You've got a big butterfly net and are chasing down monkeys in a variety of scenarios. The levels have fun names like "My 36th Wedding" and each has its own look and feel. Ape Escape 3's atmosphere reminds me a lot of Gex in the sense that it makes gentle teases at a variety of modern culture movies and shows.

The graphics are appropriately cartooney but there's a lot of attention to detail. You have gently turning windmills, colored petals on flowers, billowing clouds. It is like wandering through a well done painting.

There are a variety of monkey types, from the shy to the energetic, from the oblivious to the super-aware. You need to use different approaches on each one. Instead of health, you have Cookies. C is for cookie, and cookie is for me!! Where Sesame Street toned down their cookie monster into "cookies are a sometimes food", apparently cookie consumption is alive and well in Ape land.

The sound is cute and harmless, with lots of high pitched energy. Just about what you'd expect from a game of this genre. It's like watching the average afternoon cartoon show.

Metal Gear fans will find a few sly references in here to that game - just as when you play Metal Gear, you get occasional references to this series.

Well recommended for all ages!

Rating: 9/10

Buy Ape Escape 3 from Amazon.com