This 2005 conversion of the classic PlayStation game, Ape Escape, is a colourful 3D “chase ’em up”, where you’re basically chasing monkeys with a net through time. Yes: through various cartoony periods of history! And it’s a fairly fun game…

The original PlayStation game was famous because it was one of the first ever games to require the use of a ‘DualShock’, a twin analogue stick controller, to control both the character you are playing (called Spike) and the camera, and it worked extremely well.

Unfortunately the PSP doesn’t have such sensitive controls, so the game has lost some of its subtlety. That said: it’s not completely ruined the game, losing the analogue controls.

Ape Escape: On The Loose is equal parts fun and frustration. The fact that the monkeys you are chasing are pretty devious when it comes to avoiding you means that some chases can go on for longer than you’d like, and in later levels (where you can easily fall), it can get quite annoying having to climb back up to where you were to resume the chase.

Gameplay is kept interesting by the introduction of new gadgets as you progress. After every other level you’re given something new to play with, whether it’s a stun club, an underwater capture device, or a radar tracker, and you use these to catch more and more monkeys.

More: Ape Escape: On The Loose on Wikipedia