The main menu screen displays the various choices available to you. From here you can access multi-player mode - both WiFi and shared, single player mode, the mini-game collection (more on that later), the showcase section where you can view figurines won during play, and the options section where you can customise your monkey from his name to the colour of his baggy pants. Comical cut scenes provide brief interludes between levels, and a boot camp-style tutorial introduces you to the PSP's controls and provides a taste of things to come.

The object of the game is to graduate from Ape Academy - a school those wanting to become the best mischievous makers in the business. This involves plenty of monkeying around, with six levels of play - each consisting of nine mini-games set out on a noughts and crosses grid. Winning a mini-game rewards you with a O and losing scores a big fat X. To graduate the earlier levels you need a single line of noughts but later levels require more lines to pass.

The game proves somewhat inflexible here; once you have embarked on a particular level, short of restarting your PSP you cannot opt out until all nine mini-games have been completed - even when it becomes obvious you can't possibly achieve a line of noughts and have therefore failed. Each mini-game is preceded by an instructions screen, and these can prove quite ambiguous and difficult to follow. Also worth mentioning is the fact that load times seem quite lengthy compared to time spent on actual play. When you consider that the duration of some mini-games is measured in seconds - and that you could fail at the first push of a button, 10 seconds' loading time can put a dampener on the experience.

There are close to 50 different games to play - a wide variety covering four broad categories: mind, tech, body and special. Most are highly original and some are new twists on old favourites, such as the space-age paper/scissors/rock game. All mini-games feature a good helping of zany monkey humour, and you may find yourself laughing out loud at some of their antics.

The challenge quota of each game varies wildly, ranging from ridiculously easy to insanely difficult. After you have first played them, regardless of whether you won or not, the individual games become accessible from the main menu under Mini-game Collection. This allows you to replay favourites and practice the trickier ones that have caused you grief in the past. This feature is particularly suitable for when you only have a few minutes to kill.

Graphics are bright, colourful and appropriately cartoonish. Jaunty background jingles set the light-hearted tone of the game and good use of voice talent breathes life into the various characters. As usual, wearing headphones will achieve the optimum results, with the added benefit of leaving those around you to wonder what you are giggling at.

In summary, despite its drawbacks (lengthy load times, sometimes ambiguous instructions), Ape Academy is an extremely entertaining and original title with a high replayability factor, which is well suited to the PSP format. Gaming all-rounders and fans of the Ape Escape titles will enjoy it, and so will the kids.