Hands-onApe Escape 2

This week's Japanese gaming publication Famitsu features a special demo disc of Ape Escape 2 for the PlayStation 2. Although Ape Escape 2001 was released last year in Japan, Ape Escape 2 is the actual follow-up to the classic PlayStation title. You will assume the role of a young boy named Hikaru, who will be aided by a flying baby monkey named Pipocchi, who will help you when you're in dangerous situations. For example, if you jump over a huge gap and don't quite make it, he will grab you and help you make it across. When you run out of health, the flying baby monkey will revive you, enabling you to continue the game.

The controls are basically the same as in the original game, with the left analog stick for controlling Hikaru and the right analog stick for using the weapon or gadgets of your choice. The L1 and L2 shoulder buttons are used to change the camera angles, while the R1 and R2 are used for jumping. The demo provided us with two weapons, the fishing net for capturing apes and a baton for beating on foes. A couple of gadgets were also available, such as the banana boomerang, which lures the apes toward you. Weapons and gadgets can be assigned to the triangle, square, circle, and X buttons on your controller. Three stages were playable in the demo, varying from a haunted house to beaches. After finishing each stage, you will return to the home base, where you will have access to areas such as the training room, for practicing with newly obtained gadgets, or the library, where you can check the almanac and see the apes you have captured in the game so far. Other areas were visible in the game but were locked.

At this point, the graphics can be described as a better-looking version of the original. There are certain eye-candy effects like motion blur, which are used when capturing the apes. Those who own widescreen TVs will be in for a treat, since the game offers a widescreen mode. You can also add or remove Japanese subtitles and simplify the Japanese text (so even kids can read it) in dialogues during cutscenes. Ape Escape 2 may just be more of the same thing, but since most of us know how fun the original game was, that's not really a bad thing at all. The game is scheduled for a July 18 release in Japan with a price tag of 5,800 yen ($46).