Ah, monkeys! It's strange how some of my favourite games contain monkeys; crazed gun toting ones in TimeSplitters 2, my pet monkey in World of Warcraft and of course the amazing monkeys in balls of Super Monkey Ball. Not one to be outdone when it comes to our simian friends, Sony has released Ape Academy. Okay, before the pedants here tell me that an ape is a primate and not a monkey, I know! However, they're furry, have scrunched up faces and walk on all fours, so that's good enough for me! Anyway, Ape Academy is the first title for the PSP to bring mini-games to the masses, but is it as fast, furious and fun as other mini-game titles out there?

The answer, sadly, is no. Before I tell you why, let's take a look at the basics of the game and see what it does. There are three modes, Versus, Academy Mode and Mini-game Collection. It is Academy Mode that provides the kind of linear based story mode through which your ape struts his stuff, the more games opened here means the more games you can play in Mini-game Collection.

The first level or so takes you through some basics and makes sure you know where each button on the PSP is, then launches you into a game comprised of several tutors, each with a 3x3 grid of games to throw at you. Your cursor flashes randomly through the games until you hit the X button and you have to complete a task set to you. The task and controls required are discussed during the loading page and then you're thrust into it. You have a few seconds to figure out what's going on before you get to grips with it and hit the pass requirements, or you're left scratching your head trying to figure out what you did wrong.

The mini-games you have to complete are many and varied, testing your reflexes, your hand to eye coordination and your brain. That's not to say they are particularly interesting or enjoyable, however. For example, there is a soccer game where you play the goalkeeper and not only have to stop any balls coming in from the opposition, but fling them back with such force that they're unstoppable to all, including the opposition's goalkeeper. Okay, that sounds like fun, but the goalkeeper is so sluggishly slow that even when you've figured out the trajectory of the oncoming ball there's still no way to get to it in time.

Another example of this sluggish gameplay is where you have to rotate around a campfire to protect a roasting banana and knock away zombie monkeys with your slingshot. Not only is the movement sluggish around your campfire but the sights seem to be off and you end up firing to the left or right of the oncoming zombie. Yet another example is when you're parachuting and look at your monkey from above. The object is to collect as many parachutes as possible on the way down and give them to any flailing monkeys you may pass in your ascent. Great concept, but again a slow moving monkey means you either miss the parachutes or miss the monkeys you're supposed to give them to. The controls seem very unresponsive and when they do respond, the apes move too slowly anyway. Although these are only a handful of examples, they give you a good idea of the slow and sluggish gameplay to expect.

Another problem is the extraordinarily long loading times between each mini-game. You may be prepared to put up with this, if the game itself then went on for a few minutes without a reload, but unfortunately some of the games are so fast it seems that you spend more time waiting for something to load than actually playing the game. This is particularly noticeable during the games that are over in a few seconds, mostly because the instructions are so vague that you aren't able to start a task, let alone complete it and get scored on it. For example, at the start of monkey juggling you're told to hit the circle button to pass from your left hand to your right hand and then press the left direction key to get the ball back into the air for another turn around. You start the game, the monkey is facing you and the ball is thrown. Now, is it his left or my left to press the circle button? And when exactly are you meant to press it? On the way down, when it's in his hand, or when it's thrown to you? Well, it took me four or five attempts just to figure that out, during which each drop of the ball meant that the game ended and to do it again meant an excruciatingly long load time. So much for fast and furious! Slow, turgid and frustrating more like!

Anyway, each time you fail or win a game you're thrown back to the 3x3 grid and an appropriate cross or circle is placed on it. Initially the object is to get at least one line of circles across the grid, although this increases as you work your way through the game. Also, as you complete each grid, if you haven't been able to make a line of three, up, down, left right or diagonally then you get the chance to review one of these lessons. Fail the mini-game and the game ends, meaning you have to go from your last saved point. Yet again, all of this involves a hell of a lot of loading times, sitting around and waiting. You're thrust straight back into a cycle of waiting for the tutor to load up and tell you how much they're disappointed with you, to pick another game and wait for it to load up, to fail it and then have to wait for the tutor to load up again - ad infinitum. Good grief, it's enough to make you tear your hair out at the roots, rendering you as bald as a baboon's shiny ass!

The thing is, even the graphics don't really help. I can see that the designers were aiming for a cute cartoony yet 3D look, with comedy in mind. It could be that I have been spoiled by the scintillating visuals of Wipeout Pure, the last PSP title I reviewed and have come to expect a lot. However, I'm more inclined to think that the graphics are as clumsy and plain as the gameplay. Although the title sequence is bright and cheery, splashes of primary colours abounding, and the monkeys have a certain merry character, it's just all a bit too dull.

For example, one of the mini games involves fighting atop a floating rock, with whirling clouds in the background. So much atmosphere could have been included just by a few more swirls of the clouds, a bit more depth to the rock, or even a few more facial expressions on the apes beating the proverbial out of each other. Similarly, the mini-game where you have to leap upwards between slowly closing pillars could have been made a bit more special with a little more attention to detail; even better shadows on the pillars may have helped, or some nice brickwork in the background. As it is, it seems so plain as to give you the impression that the artists behind it all were lazy, or that the title was rushed to be included in the PSP pre-launch release list.

The sound fares a little better but still has plenty of irritating moments. When you lose a mini-game and are thrust back to the screen where you select another one, your tutor invariably utters the same protestation as last time, such as "I'm so disappointed", or "I know you can do it". After hearing these words of encouragement, or lack of in some cases, for the twentieth time after a frustrating load time, followed by a frustrating mini game, followed by another frustrating load time, I was ready to throw the PSP against a wall. However, it's not all doom and gloom; there are some really nice touches that brought a smile to my face amidst the tawdry chaos. I loved the sound of the zombie monkeys while defending your roasted banana. If ever a monkey features in George Romero's zombie films, he should pinch the sample from this game! Also, the campfire rhythm mini-games, where you get your monkey to make various noises in time to the tune, was a bit of fun and made me realise that there wasn't just one stupid shriek that the damn ape made. I also have to praise the background music for being very upbeat, jolly, toe-tapping fun. There also wasn't any techno, something remarkable for a title not to have these days and a bit of a plus in my book.

It wasn't until I tried out some of the multiplayer options that I thought Ape Academy had some redeeming qualities. First of all, there are two modes; one is where you can play games with your partner using just one PSP console and then of course the multiplayer options involving wireless connectivity between other PSPs. In both options there is still a problem with load times initially, but thankfully once a game is over, the load time is really quick as the game resets. The only problem is when you hop from one two-player game to another. However, the games are nonetheless fun and my partner and I had a whale of a time trying them out.

Our favourites were air hockey, where you take the D-pad or shape buttons and move the guard around the table trying to knock the puck into the opposing goal, and Ask Darwin, a general knowledge and simple maths test, where you each have to answer a multiple choice question at the same time within a time limit. As my arithmetic and reaction times are low, she thrashed me solidly at this one, but it was such fun to play that I came back to it again and again. In wireless mode you also have Ask Darwin, but a lot more besides, including Monkey Bowling and Simian Suplex, a weird little boxing game where you have to bounce off the ropes and catch your opponent with your left boxing mitt. These bring a certain replayability to the game that it otherwise lacks, regardless of little extras in one-player mode, such as collecting golden coins or little trophies for your display room.

It's a shame that such a lacklustre title as Ape Academy has tempted the hard earned cash out of the pockets of gamers upon the launch of this fabulous handheld. What galls me even more is that the poor gameplay, frustrating loading times, overly cartoony graphics and irritating sound may give monkeys a bad rep; there's definitely room for our simian friends in computer games! It's not as if this couldn't have been a great game, either - the design is good, but the execution is unforgivably sloppy, with bland graphics, overly slow reaction time on screen and ridiculous load times, none of which a game like Wipeout Pure suffers from, so we know the PSP can handle it. With all that said, now I've finished this review I'm going to challenge my partner to another round of Ask Darwin and hopefully thrash her at yet another game of Monkey Hockey!

Reviewed by Dave Wynn for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).