Ape Academy 2 review

Hopscotch. Hide and seek. Pin the tail on the donkey. Snakes and ladders. Tig. Tag. Kiss and chase. Countdown. You’ve probably noticed by now the majority of the aforementioned games are games we used to play when we were children. Well, apart from Countdown, which I delicately placed in there just to throw you off the scent and of course for a cheap laugh. There’s one final game that’s been purposefully missed off there, and is the whole purpose for today’s vaguely intelligent rantings. That game is Rock Paper Scissors, and it plays a major part in our study of the sequel to the original Ape Academy, Ape Academy 2.

Let’s start by saying it would be unfair to simply call Ape Academy 2 a Rock Paper Scissors-em-up, or any other silly classification you could give to such a genre if it ever existed. This is mainly due to the fact that while rock paper scissors is in there, it’s merely on a means to an end, because it’s the mini-games that make up the bulk of the playing time. Gameplay usually goes something like this: Play game of rock paper scissors. Someone wins. The winning card denotes the mini-game. Mini-game winner denotes who loses HP. And yes. I mentioned cards.

Down With the Kids

You see, because Ape Academy 2 is trying to be familiar and “down with the kids”, it’s gone for the much more popular trading card style gameplay. Each card you own possess a mini-game and either a rock, a piece of paper or a pair of scissors plastered on the top of it. So while essentially you are playing rock paper scissors, Shift have decided to make the game seem like your not. So what about those mini-games eh?

I suppose the term mini-game is usually used when these games are smaller parts of a larger game. In this case however, the whole game is made up of these so called mini-games, so it’s a good job there’s a fair few of them. There’s all sorts in here: from games like Magic Carpet where you have to find the oasis (not the band, thankfully) in the middle of the desert while being blown about by sand storms, to the more worrying games like Poke The Bloke where you have to, and I quote: “Poke the dodgy fella”. Seeing as though that’s all it said on the loading screen, I didn’t quite know what to expect when the game finally arrived on the screen, but thank god it only means poke him with a stick. Shift could have saved a lot of worry if they would’ve added that one last noun on the end of the loading screen.

Fumble

For the majority, they are very easy to get the hang of. There’s never more than a few different kind of buttons that you need to press, but sometimes the mini-games can get a little complicated, especially if it’s the first time you’re trying them. Unfortunately there isn’t a practice option when you are trying them in the middle of the match the first time, so you usually end up getting told the buttons on the loading screen, then fumbling with the PSP like a thumbless idiot trying to play this bizarre mini-game. You only get one shot at it too, so it would have been nice if the mini-game was a best out of three challenge or something similar so the competition is fair. After all, it’s not likely the computer will forget the buttons is it?

As I mentioned before though, once you’ve got the hang of the mini-games you’ll find it very difficult to lose. The opponents don’t seem to get better at the mini-games as the game gets progressively harder (they get damn good at rock paper scissors though), so after you’ve spent a while with Ape Academy 2 you’ll find it depressingly easy to win the bulk of the game.

Bananarama

You’ll find it increasingly harder to win even a round of rock paper scissors though. Even in the early parts of the game when the opponent has four of the same card it’s sometimes difficult to get a win in, because you have to win the round of rock paper scissors, then win a mini-game. If you lose the round of rock paper scissors, then win the mini game you don’t knock any HP off of your opponent, you just defend their attempt.

Another annoying thing about the rock paper scissors part of the game is you have to have a certain number of bananas before you can use a certain card. Seeing as though all you do is pick a deck of 20 and then the computer randomises which cards you get first, it can sometimes mean you have to lose before you can get enough bananas to even play your first card. As you can imagine, when you’re in such a pickle tension levels can rise to dangerous levels.

Snakes on a PSP

Having said that though, for the majority of the time, Ape Academy 2 is a pleasant game. It isn’t too hard on the grey matter or the thumbs, and it’s fairly easy to get the hang of. It’s perfectly suited to the PSP with the mini-game style gameplay as you’ll never get too drawn into it, so it’s easy to switch off from when you have to get off the bus. The only thing that lets it down is the means to the end – rock paper scissors. Because this game is essence is pure chance, no skill is needed to be good at it. Throw in the stupid banana system, and you’ll feel cheated more times than an extremely hard exam paper. There’s also very little skill to the mini-games once you remember how to play each one. It’s only the lack of skill needed and the boredom it produces as a result that stops Ape Academy 2 from becoming a portable classic.

Pick Snakes and Ladders next time. Now that’s a game of true skill.