Ape Escape 4
It has been nearly ten years since the last main game in the series, Ape Escape 3, has been released. During its heyday, Ape Escape brought many gamers a sense of wonder and satisfaction due to its silly & over the top story premise, its light-hearted humor, unique gameplay mechanics, and enough pop culture references to give Edgar Wright a run for his money. Not to mention, the game made PlayStation history by being the first game to require players to exclusively utilize the DualShock controller.
In 2006, there were plans and talks for a fourth installment into the franchise. However, no such title or further development information ever materialized. Doesn’t that drive you bananas? Are we going to let this franchise’s potential esc-ape us? When will we stop monkeying around? And are you sick of all these horrible puns?
Like many other Sony classic franchises mentioned in this feature, enough time has passed where a reboot/revamp of the franchise can be introduced to a brand new generation of young gamers, as well as its older nostalgic fanbase. How about this for a premise? You know how Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight trilogy is responsible for the mass Hollywood trend of the “gritty reboot”? And remember how much Rise of the Planet of the Apes and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes made a killing at the box offices? What this franchise needs to do is jump on that gravy train and give us a serious, grimdark re-imagining of the original Ape Escape storyline… or a callback to the cartoony zaniness of the original – we wouldn’t mind either way.