Fantastic art style and fascinating premise, but I found that the sharp wit and banter could not save this game from the word salad of philosophical non-answers at the end. The game deals with finality, perception of the self and perception of the others, but I find that more often than not, the game is simply asking questions and provoking thought, rather than trying to say something of its own. Now, to each their own, and provoking thoughtfulness in and of itself is not without value, there is indeed merit in leaving events up to the readers interpretation. Ultimately, I feel as if you've taken a PHIL 101 course in college, there will not be a whole lot to dig into on a deeper level, and that disappoints me, as the game is clearly trying, but the prose becomes too long winded and full of (intentional) contradictions and existential musings that reflect little on the actions and effects of each princess. But god bless 'em for trying, and they got enough out of me to write all of this so take that for what it's worth

An incredible grasp of satisfying and in depth movement on display here. The abilities you unlock let you absolutely fly through the levels. The movement here is seriously, SERIOUSLY good, almost to the level of 3D Mario (from which there has been clear inspiration taken)

The areas each have good music, but I find that they can blend together visually
as concrete blocks with slightly different tints to each one. I don't think that a map function would have been remiss to add.

The enemies and combat really aren't up to much, but the final boss turns out to be actually quite engaging, with the best song in the game to boot

Theres also some obvious spots that need polish or finishing up, some textures seem to be straight up missing

Not as great of a game as I remember, but still pretty good. The vehicle sections have NOT aged well and the linearity and action focus of some stages isn't my cup of tea, but it is simply impossible to ignore the sheer amount of charm Ape Escape 3 has. The movie parodies are great, and the monkeys have more personality than ever. The forms are a lot of fun although I think some are clearly better than others (shout out Wild West Kid).

Also, I think the post game is pretty weak. If you go ahead and catch all the monkeys before the final level, you just get to go back to empty stages to comb for one door that houses 4 more monkeys. Lame. The OST is considerably weaker than Ape Escape 1, which is a major ding for me.

Mesal Gear Solid might be peak tho