Ape Out

beat the last level to get hit with fifteen minutes of the craziest screaming jazz I have ever, out of my seat over here

Visually very appealing, the level of violence is mellowed out by it's cartoonish art direction, reminding me of cartoons I used to watch as a kid. Ape Out is enjoyable to play if you are in the mood to smash stuff up. The interpretive percussive soundtrack fits perfectly with the overall vibe of an ape escaping his captors, as your tear them to pieces and launch their limbs at other unsuspecting victims. Fun game and worth your time.

Your honor, it was Funky Monkey Friday. My client had no choice but to go ape.

Short but quite difficult. Very artistic game and a neat concept.

This game has tactile impact. You can feel every kill, snare, and gunshot in your spine. The gameplay loop is simple and perfected in its simplicity, and the hyper-active jazz soundtrack is unlike anything else another game might throw at you musically. This game makes me shake and sweat and smile wide and that's all I asked.

Too addictive gameplay that requires you lock in HARD mixed with funky visuals and drums, so much drums in fact. All i can say is fun, absolutely fun, this is a must play.
10/10

Many years ago I watched a video essay by Jacob Geller titled "Ape Out and Freedom". I was already aware of the game, but after trying it out on Game Pass, I came to the conclusion that I may never beat the game. It is as brutal as it is chaotic, and my constant deaths at the start told me that I was not skilled enough to ride that ride. I loved it's style, and it's music, but I assumed my love for the game would remain surface level until the end of time. But then I saw that video essay and in it, Geller gushes about the game for the entire video. At first, it was a fine way to see the parts of the game I would never see, but right at the end of the video, he shows the ending of the game. I won't reveal what the ending is, but is was something so simple, yet so powerful, that I went and picked up the game on Steam immedately, because I had to experience myself.
So every few years, I would pick Ape Out back up in hope that THIS time would be the time it clicks with my fingers as much as it clicked with my soul. For many years, it never did. Well, today was finally the day. After playing through and a bunch of decent to middling games and movies lately, I was a bit desperate for something to move me deeply. So after cycling through a couple games, I landed on this, and damn am I glad I did.
The gameplay here is dead simple. You run around as an ape and can grab enemies, throw them at other enemies or walls for an instant kill, and can even pick up their limbs to stun other enemies. You can push them as well, which is always faster as holding onto anything will slow you down. Speed is the name of the game here, as you can only take about 3 shots, and one explosion, before getting sent back to the start of the sequence. Armed with all that knowledge, the goal is only to make it to the end by any means necessary. And that simple set of systems was enough to enthrall me on a deep, animal like level.
I think I tired playing this game over the years with the idea that I had to kill as many enemies on the way out as possible, but it wasn't until this time that I ignored that impulse. Once I internalized the fact that I could just run past enemies and dodge their fire if I'm fast enough, then I did so half the time, to great reward. I knew the game was short, which is a great thing in this context, but I never expected to roll credits in about as long as a feature film would be. It's brief, but thanks to the varied level design and fun gimmicks found in each level, it really does feel like a satisfying journey.
There's not much of a story, just vibes. That vibe is delivered through bold, vibrant colors and messy static laid over simple geometry. That vibe is delivered through jazz drumming attached to every action and interaction in the game. That vibe is delivered through the presentation as levels and stages as "albums" and "tracks". That vibe is delivered through the build up of chaos that leads to that cathartic release that ends the game. And that vibe is delivered though the secret extra level that I managed to beat on only my second try, and added an extra bit of characterization that I adored.
I fell in love with the vibe of this game from first sight, but my actual experience with the game just never matched up for the longest time. But once I saw Geller's essay, I added the game to my favorites of all time list (albeit at #60 out of 100). Me adding it there before ever beating the game was a bet that I knew would pay off. From everything I know about games overall, and everything I had seen about this game specifically, I knew I'd fall in love with it, I just had to be in the mood for it. This is a feeling I've had about plenty of games. I dropped Persona 5 after 17 hours, but I know I'll adore it the day I catch myself in the mood to return. I've put a dozen hours into Ratchet and Clank 3 before stepping away, but I know the next time I'm in the mood for it I'll love it. I even dropped both of the open world Zelda's around 20 hours in each, but now that I have a Switch 2, I look forward to trying both again with the 30 extra frames I was sorely missing when I first played them.
So, yea, I know myself well enough to be able to guess when I'll love a piece of art. But going forward, I want to depend much less on that ability. Sometimes, my ability to think forward past my experience with something keeps me from wanting to have the experience in the first place. Just because I know what I'll think about something does not mean I have the right to actually think it until I have my own experiences with it. Sometimes, I feel like learning so much about the world from the internet has lead me to line of thinking, so nowadays I've tried to work against that. I've been doing that by doing the obvious, just have more experiences. Spend less time looking at games, and more time playing them. Spend less time reading and listening about art, and just go out and experience it. Spend less time talking about the world and just throw yourself into it. I am no less free than the Ape I've spent 2 hours embodying, so why shouldn't I exercise that freedom more?
Well, I can confidently say this is an excellent use of free will, and it absolutely deserves that slot on my favorite games of all time list. Now I should probably beat #66 on that list next: Metro Exodus.