Up until recently I’ve steered well clear of Sony’s little bundle of technology but finally curiosity (and long journeys) got the better of me and I picked one up with Liberty City Stories. Although a good game and an example of what the PSP can do it didn’t really feel like the game I should be playing on a handheld console; with missions and scattered save points it’s hard to jump in and out of and the lighting makes it damned impossible to play outside in sunny weather! Ape Academy 2, with its colourful looks and arcade style should be exactly what I want, but has it slipped on its own banana skin?

Ape Academy 2 features the crazy simians from the popular PS2 Ape Escape series, but removes all the platforming action and replaces it with a simple but surprisingly addictive card game. You choose a monkey character, all of which are dressed up in costume with silly names (I picked Monk Vader…). You have a deck of cards and go head-to-head with another monkey in what is essentially rock, paper, scissors with cards, but each card also represents a mini-game. Whichever card wins the showdown is the mini-game you’ll play. If it’s your card and you win the mini-game you’ll inflict ‘damage’ on your opponent and vice-versa. Each card takes a number of ‘bananas’ to play (you start with 4) and the more bananas a card costs the more damage it will inflict on your opponent. It’s quite easy to pick up and there’s a very simple tutorial before you head into the main game to point everything out.

The mini-games are all fairly similar in style and range from button-bashing (blowing up a balloon the fastest) to tests of reflexes (sprint race) and alternate button-pressing (getting up from the floor in a banana suit). The load times aren’t too long but are longer than most of the mini-games, the longest of which will last about 25-30 seconds. The game apparently boasts around 100 mini-games but it’s not surprising given the number of duplication and the duration with the games. I would rather have seen longer, more skill-based mini-games (like Fusion Frenzy) than the simple games, most of which rest on one button press, which is annoying when you bugger one up.

The instructions for each mini-game are very basic and although most games are easy to pick up the ones which need extra explanation lack one and you simply blunder through on a trial and error basis, which isn’t fun when it’s hard to get a winning hand in the card game, and then when you do you bugger it up because you’re not told properly how to play the mini-games! Also, right up to the final boss the AI in the mini-games isn’t particularly challenging, meaning when you lose it’s usually because the game’s not explained properly.

When you win you’re given money to buy cards from the shops and a card from your opponent’s deck. This means in theory you can customise your deck to whatever you want, as each card has a different affect on your opponent and represent different mini-games. In reality you’ll never put a card which costs more than 8 bananas in your deck as since you only start with 4, it’ll either take ages for you to play it or you’ll get stuck with a load of cards you can’t play at the beginning of the game. This means you’ll play the same 20 or so mini-games over and over as otherwise you’ll be tearing your hair out with frustration.

This doesn’t mean that I don’t like AA2 - the style of the game is brilliant and I like the colourful, humorous world that surrounds the card game and the music is pretty catchy too, and doesn’t grate even after hours of gameplay. AA2 could just as easily be played by little ones than by adults, perhaps even more so, and is perfect for keeping them quiet on those long car journeys. If you’ve got two terrors then they can split the PSP down the middle and play against each other and even though it’s a little bit restrictive it’s good if you’re not by a Wifi connection or have a second PSP handy.

Ape Academy 2 has a large selection of mini-games which, although tagged on to a card game constitute the meat of the game. Some are classics, some will grate after a while and some you’ll loathe; this is typical of any ‘party’ game. It’s just that the mini-games are all a little too similar and short for my liking. AA2 is good to dip in and out of for a half hour or so but if you aren’t a kid you’ll start to yearn for something a little more varied.