The game begins with two characters, Yumi and Kei, who are brother and sister and also the main characters in the game. Yumi and Kei soon discover apes have taken over a TV station. As the game progresses, they find that everyone is slowly falling under some sort of hypnotic spell that is transmitted via the station. The plot begins to reek of bananas already! Further investigation by Yumi and her brother lead right back to the evil monkey, Specter and his crazy band of followers, the Monkey Five.

Confused yet? It gets better. Ape Escape 3 is one of those games that could easily run away with you if you let it. The levels are exceptionally done, both graphically and interactively. Each level that you encounter seems to take on a different theme - for instance, 'Saru-mon's Castle' which is set in medieval times, the 'Seaside Resort' which is self-explanatory and 'Hide and Seek Forest' complete with a monkey dressed up in a wolf's costume! The levels and themes are one of the highlights of the game.

The animation in Ape Escape 3 is great and the music really synchs with the crazy, ape-chasing antics. The sound is very reminiscent of perky, J-pop tunes with infectious beats. As background music, it's quirky and does the job.

Movement in the game is easy to achieve using the analogue controller. Ape Escape 3 gives you plenty of opportunity to do just that. The buttons can be quickly assigned to do specific things. You can assign different weapons and gadgets that you find along the way.

The gadgets and weapons are pretty cool, too. Since you're out catching monkeys, the main tool of your trade is the monkey net. But netting the monkeys will only get you so far. That's when the weapons come into play. You will find the difficulty level of the game increasing as you move through the levels. Hunting down monkeys can be a serious business. The monkeys get smarter and more aggressive which means you need to step up your methods of capture to keep up. You can do this by stunning the monkeys and netting them or by hitting them with various weapons.

Ape Escape 3 also has the option to unlock mini-games within the main game. This offers a whole lot more playability. There are other options that are accessed via the main menu where you can buy things like videos that you can play. You can also buy music and listen to it as you play. Going bananas has never been so much fun. Keep your eyes peeled for coins throughout the game if you plan on purchasing some of the neat little in-game toys.

We found the cut-scenes entertaining but we could have done without some of the voice-overs. The game can easily be a little confusing to follow in parts. This is where the cut-scenes become important as they seemed to fuse portions of the game together.

Ape Escape 3 is definitely a step up from the last release in the franchise. The cool weapons and gadgets are fun, the levels are a lot more detailed and interactive, and the mini-games are a nice way to spread the game time out. The storyline is a little thin but keeps you on your toes. Chasing apes is probably not everyone's idea of gaming fun but Ape Escape 3 gets four peeled bananas from us for the pure, whacky, fun of it all. A great game for the kids, without a doubt.