''Ape Academy 2'' (also known as ''Piposaru Academia 2: Aiai Sarugee Janken Battle!'' in Japan) is the sequel to the

PlayStation Portable The PlayStation Portable (PSP) is a handheld game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on December 12, 2004, in North America on March 24, 2005, and in PAL regions on September 1, 2005, ...

party game ''

Ape Escape Academy ''Ape Escape Academy'', also known as ''Ape Academy'' in Europe and ''Piposaru Academia: Dossari! Sarugee Daizenshuu'' in Japan, is a game for the PlayStation Portable system that consists of a collection of 47 mini-games, many of which borrow fro ...

''. Similar to its predecessor, ''Ape Academy 2'' is a collection of mini-games which can either be played in single player or multiplayer mode. Most of the mini-games borrow from elements of ''

Ape Escape 3 is a platform video game published and developed by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation 2 video game console. The game has been rated for release on PlayStation 4 but no announcement of its release has been made. Plot Specter, th ...

''. The game has been released in Japan, Europe and Australia except North America.

Plot

The primary antagonist, Specter, introduces a new card game which becomes very popular among humans and pipo monkeys alike. Using this card game, he dominates the world through culture manipulation, concurrently introducing a card battle contest for monkeys to complete in. The prize for winning the contest is the rare "Platinum Specter" trading card and a year's supply of bananas.

Gameplay

The

singleplayer A single-player video game is a video game where input from only one player is expected throughout the course of the gaming session. A single-player game is usually a game that can only be played by one person, while "single-player mode" is usuall ...

mode is radically different from previous games in the series, most resembling a trading card game. The player travels to various levels, in the form of islands, to compete against other monkeys in an assortment of minigames. After a set number of victories, the player can then compete against a boss character. This cycle is repeated for each island visited, in increasing difficulty. Occasionally, the player will encounter unexpected battles. These challenges cannot be declined. The objective of the game is to collect cards and coins, eventually to the point that the player can attempt to defeat the antagonist and win. There is also a

multiplayer A multiplayer video game is a video game in which more than one person can play in the same game environment at the same time, either locally on the same computing system (couch co-op), on different computing systems via a local area network, or ...

component which includes a "monkey-shield" that ensures the second player cannot see the player 1 cards. This mode requires a second PSP and game cartridge.

Reception

''Ape Academy 2'' received mixed reviews. It currently holds a 66 out of 100 on Metacritic. Game Master UK described it as "a real mixed bag, but if you really like monkeys and minigames, you might enjoy it".

References

2005 video games Ape Escape games Party video games PlayStation Portable games PlayStation Portable-only games Video game sequels Multiplayer and single-player video games Video games developed in Japan {{Party-videogame-stub