A stylised top-down action game that plays jazz drums when you splat a guard into a wall. Who said we’re not classy around here?
Ape Out is currently hugely discounted on Steam (Until 16 May) – a great and cheap addition to your collection. You control a gorilla with a mouse/keyboard or controller (I recommend using a controller), punching and grabbing as you stalk down the corridors of randomly-generated levels, eliminating guards with extreme prejudice.
Your gorilla is trying to escape from a facility, and guards with guns are out to stop you. Ape Out only has two actions, but you can do a lot with them as you manoeuvre through a level. Each level is a relatively short run from A to B, through a maze of walls, corridors, windows and doors populated by roaming guards. Get to them before they pull the trigger, and someone will have to get a mop. But die, and you go back to the start of the level (but with a new layout.)
This game is violent (some reviews compare it aptly to Hotline Miami). But Ape Out’s cut-out art style makes the gore feel like a motif. It’s splashy, yet the violence doesn’t register as real. Think of an old-school cartoon from the sixties, composed of moving flat shapes. When you splatter a guard into a wall, or if you’re leaving a trail of blood from your wounds, it’s very stylised.
The groovy visuals swing with a crazy jazz soundtrack that moves with the intensity of the action. Even your kills produce musical sounds that add to the manic ensemble. Ape Out won a BAFTA Games Award for audio achievement – it’s not hard to see and hear why. Combined with the visuals, the sound design makes Ape Out a unique trip and a rare treat – especially at the discounted price.
I’ve only played eight of the reported 32 levels. Maybe it falls flat (most reviewers seem to like it). But Ape Out is good so far, and the current discounted price makes it a bargain bin gem (until the 16th). Let your inner ape run free in this stylish, award-winning brawler.