Review from a dad and almost 6 year old son
I was not overly impressed at first. I guess it just wasn’t what I was expecting. There is none of the catching the pesky monkeys that you may be use to in the Ape Escape series. Though, once you get past that change in scope, this is an extremely fun game to play.
My almost 6 year old, my wife and I have played this game a lot in the last couple weeks. When I say a lot, I mean it. A couple hours a night for almost 2 weeks now, and still going. Though the majority of that is because of our son, and we play with him. This game is all about tournaments. Even in the multi-player mode, you are still playing tournaments. Though as you are playing through the tournaments, you can go back and do specific area’s in Story Mode, though that does not help you get to the next tournament.
Another fun aspect of this game is that you will attract monkey fans while you play. As you beat the different areas, you’ll get fans that will apply to be a fan. Depending on how well you do on that level (aka how fast you complete it) they will send you letters, and even presents. The presents can be anything from outfits to change into to help change the look of your player, to weapon/tool upgrades.
In multi-player mode, you can have 1 to 4 people play, and even in this mode, you can state if you want computer players or not. However, if you have the computer play, you will have a total of 4 people. You cannot have 2 people and 1 computer. Though, I’ve found that not to be an issue.
Story Mode of the game is where we have spent the majority of our time. In Story Mode, you can still have 2 people play. The levels are a free for all battle/race, though as you play in story mode, we’ve found it helpful to decide one of us is going to win and the other person helps, especially on those hard areas.
This game is mostly a good game, but you will find levels that will really drive you crazy.
Your players also have special abilities and helpers that you use with key combinations (pressing x and o at the same time, etc). Learning what those are and how they work will take some time, but it will help you.
This is a fun game and if you like to play with your kids, then you’ll probably enjoy this game. As far as a strictly adult game goes? Probably not.