The Professor, away on a trip, leaves a video message for Hikaru, telling him to transport a large delivery of monkey pants to Monkey Park. Hikaru accidentally manages to include a number of Peak-Point Helmets with the pants. Peak Point Helmets and monkeys don't mix: they increase their intelligence and give them ideas above their station. Needless to say, as soon as Specter, the monkey leader, puts a Peak Point Helmet on, he starts hatching plans for world domination, to make a society fit for monkeys to live in, and declares war on humans. Meanwhile several other monkeys also don the helmets and escape from Monkey Park. Hikaru is scolded by Natalie for allowing this to happen, and ordered to catch all the monkeys.
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Key features
- World-wide monkeys
In the previous game you travelled through time to catch monkeys, whereas this time you're travelling around the world. You'll find yourself in more than 20 huge locations with a range of environments as diverse as a beach resort and a snowy mountain, a factory, a Greek temple and a jungle, a castle, a pirate island, a shaolin temple and even a casino.
As soon as you complete a stage, you'll be able to load that stage at any time and try to better the time it took you to complete it, with the Time Attack mode.
- New bosses
In addition to the 20 main levels, there are eight different bosses to fight on their own, specially designed levels. Tougher and more complex than the boss fights in the first game, each requires special methods and tactics to be defeated. Five of the battles will be with the Wooky Five - Specter's gang of monkey goons - another with a Wooky transformed into a gigantic version of himself, and two will be showdowns with the evil Specter.
- New gadgets
As well as the nine monkey-catching gadgets from the first game, (such as hoops, nets and stun clubs) Ape Escape 2 has three new fabulous objects to help you in your ape-hunting escapades. All three have multiple uses:
The Water Pistol puts out fires, can be used to drive items in the game (such as the windmill) and even repairs damaged vehicles.
The Banana Boomerang acts like monkey fly-paper: they're attracted to its smell, but then get stuck to it. It can also hover in the air, emitting sweet monkey-attracting scents, be used as a weapon and to retrieve difficult-to-reach objects.
The Magnetor attracts metallic objects, can steal metal items from an enemy and is so powerful it can even lift whoever's wielding it toward heavy metallic objects.
- New vehicles
In addition to the boats and tanks from the first game, you now have new vehicles to help you in the new environments, including a nippy snowmobile for the freezing wastes, a miniature submarine for underwater exploration and your very own robot - always handy for robot fighting.
- Costumed monkeys
Putting on Peak-Point Helmets not only increases the monkey intelligence to give them ideas above their station, it also induces self-awareness and a sense of shame at their nakedness. Therefore they all put on pants. Because this time they're dotted all over the planet, you'll find them in a range of appropriate and attractive - not to say bizarre - costumes.
- The Gotcha Box and mini-games
In the first game, you could play the mini-games once you'd collected enough Specter Coins. This time you'll collect Gotcha Chips to use with the all-new Gotcha Box. You need ten Gotcha Chips to use the Gotcha Box once. The Box dispenses tickets for various things, which might give you access to mini-games or allow you to have items to be used in the main game.
For example, you could be given tickets to the movie or sound theatre; a Monkey Book which will help you in your quest; Interesting Photos which might also help you; Questionable Photos which might not; stories; daily horoscopes; little comic strips; a Minor Enemy Book or even corny jokes from the Professor's seemingly endless supply.
The three mini-games add depth, fun and longevity as they are as unhinged, complex and satisfying as ever, and consist of Dancing Bong; Dodge-Soccer Footmonkey and Monkey Tightrope.
- Guaranteed longevity: two complete games in one
The game is enormous in scope. Playing through all 20 levels and defeating Specter is only the start of the first "cycle" of the game. You then play through again in the second cycle. This time you'll have a Hikaruscope to help you - it makes objects visible to you that were previously invisible - and you'll also get your hands on the ultimate monkey-catching weapon: the Magic Punch. Complete the game the second time all the way through and you can then play as Spike, the hero from the first Ape Escape.
Play it to believe it, Ape Escape 2 really is full of fun and games!