My thoughts on Piposaru Racer

Note: For this review, I am focusing more on my own opinion of this game, and a brief summary of it. I don't feel that it's worth it to explain in detail when it's better to see the game for yourself.

SaruGetChu: Piposaru Racer is the first and only racing game in the Ape Escape franchise. It was released in the same year as Ape Escape: Million Monkeys and the anime: Saru Get Chu ~On Air~. Although Million Monkeys was a big hit, the racing spin-off barely touched the one million milestone.

I had high expectations for Piposaru Racer when I saw the commercials and a few episodes in the anime that had the game be part of the storyline. I played the demo and I thought it was good. When I finally got the game, I was overjoyed. Despite the amount of advertisement and promotion that was done to help sell the game back then, the game did not live up to my expectations.

Gameplay (2/5)

Racing with four wheels attached to your hands and feet is not a smooth ride. I give credit to Japan Studio and Sony for making Piposaru Racer be distinguishable from other racing games such as Mario Kart, but I wish they did not implement the gaming mechanics they intended to do in this game.

There are five things that I did not like very much when I play this game:

1) Every time I hit another racer from behind, I keep spinning for like 2-3 seconds. This is the only racing game that I know where you spin out of control for bumping behind someone.

2) Tipping over from a turn is an unforgivable punishment. Not only will you tip and flip sideways, you will keep going until you reach the edge of the track.

3) You get rarely a turbo boost at the start. I only got it once, and you must get the boost at the exact millisecond before the countdown ends.

4) The race courses are boring and too brutal. Sony keeps recycling the same settings and only changes the layout of the courses. There are only four settings in the game: a tropical island, a city, a haunted mansion, and a volcanic island. Every grand prix has these four settings, but different kinds of race courses. Couldn't have Sony come up with a much more variety of scenarios? I was expecting the game to have scenarios that are based on stages from previous Ape Escape games. Are they that lazy to come up with more!? Is this the best they could come up with!? If they can come up with a variety of cities players can race in Gran Turismo, why can't they do the same in Piposaru Racer? Even in Mario Kart, Nintendo can come up with gorgeous and different scenarios for the race tracks. In addition, a lot of obstacles in the race tracks are unpredictable, merciless and nasty. In the Banana Grand Prix, the Robo-Jimmy in the City race track fires its laser whenever it wants, and you don't know where the hell are the cannon balls from the pirate ship will land in the tropical island race track.

5) You have to keep racing in the same grand prix until you fill up an entire bar. It feels repetitive even though you get to choose different kinds of modes for your vehicle. You don't have to win first all of the time and just fill up the bar. Once the bar is done, you can race against each of the Pipotron Brothers in the grand prix. The grand prixes doesn't motivate me a lot compare to the ones in Mario Kart. They don't have a ranking system to show how well you raced or keep a high score. I appreciate their attempt to increase the replay value, but it feels more like a chore to keep racing for more money to get more parts and fill up the bar to progress further in the game.

Despite the negative things I said about its gameplay, there are some positive things that I can say about the gameplay. Once you get coins from a grand prix that you finished, you can spend them to buy parts, costumes and horns. I wish there is a much more variety in parts, because I think Sony focused way too much on horn sounds. The blue missile that targets the winning racer gives him a chance to dodge, and the disco ball item is much more effective weapon than the ink splattering item in Mario Kart.

Honestly, I feel that Sony could have done so much better because of their experience in making Gran Turismo. As much as I hate to admit this, the gameplay in this game somewhat feels like the crappier version of Mario Kart.

Graphics (3/5):
The graphics are mostly just like Ape Escape Academy's but slightly better. Nothing special.

Music (3/5):
The music could have been done better. In tracks that have the same scenario (for ex, the city), the soundtrack for each of those tracks are not very distinct from each other. It's pretty much almost the same song but with minor changes.

Controls (4/5):
The controls are pretty solid for this game. That's pretty much all I can say.

Final score: 5/10

Conclusion:
I feel that this game is a bit too relentless for people who play other racing games and not used to the gameplay in Piposaru Racer. I also find that I can't get myself to keep playing the game when I can just play a better racing game on another portable console right next to me. This game came at the end of 2006 after the release of Million Monkeys in the summer of 06, and I feel that this game is somewhat rushed and is just made to take advantage of the franchise's popularity. There can so much more be done if more time was given to come up with more scenarios and better features. If you're a fan of racing games, you're better off skipping this one. As an Ape Escape fan, this is one game that is not worth getting for your Ape Escape collection unless you have intentions to collect every Ape Escape game that exists. I feel disappointed in Sony for rushing the development of this game. I just realized that instead of making somewhat inadequate spin-off games for the next 6 years, Sony could have just focused their efforts more on a sequel to Ape Escape 3.

I somewhat regretted getting this game, but I am glad that this game never left Japan.

Back from Japan

I just had a wonderful trip in Japan. I went to Tokyo, Osaka, Hiroshima, Aso and Kyoto in 2 weeks.

I finally found Piposaru Racer in a Book-Off store in Osaka, and I got myself Megaman Legends 1 and 2 for the PSP.

I will post a review of Piposaru Racer soon.

-TechieWidget

New Year Starts Off With A Tragic Loss

Dear blog visitors and blog followers,

I wasn't able to update on my blog, deviantART and Youtube or anything for the past two weeks due to the tragic passing and loss of my grandfather.

The following content in this entry are serious and actually happened. Condolences are welcomed and please do not make any jokes or troll on this post. I have already cried enough and been depressed for the last few days.

My grandfather had pancreatic cancer for 4 years and he was suffering the last stage of cancer. Over the past three months and before I flew to Singapore on December 20th 2011, he lost thirty kilograms and he threw up anything he ate and drank. On Christmas Eve 2011, he kept vomitting and having diaherrea and my dad and I had to bring him to the emergency room. The moment he entered the hospital, he knew that this will be his last hospital stay.

When the world entered the year 2012, I got a call from the hospital that my grandfather's conditions are getting worse and that my family has to get ready to prepare for the worst. On New Year's Day, my grandfather was surrounded by my family and I and I cried beside his bed. On the night of January 2nd 2012, my dad phoned me to immediately go to the hospital. On that night, it was the last time I saw my grandfather when he was alive and it was the last night for him.

On January 3rd 2012 at 9:30am (Singapore Time), my grandfather peacefully passed away at the age of 73.

Over the next four days, his funeral was being held and numerous guests came over to see his body for the last time. On January 7th 2012, the St. John Ambulance brigade performed a flag ceremony for his coffin as his last wish and his medals and the flag of the organization were handed over to my grandma. I saw his body get cremated and I cried my heart out loud like mad for nearly more than thirty minutes while everyone in my family hugged and comforted me.

My grandfather was close to me, and this is the first time I have ever lost someone who is important to me. Although I don't see him often since I live in Canada, he always tell me stories about his life and my ancestors and that he and my grandma always loved me ever since I was born. My grandpa and I were the only ones in my family to know the full history of my family tree and I am now the only one left to know.

I wished he lived long enough to see me graduate from my university, get a chance to see my future wife, be the one to help conduct my wedding ceremony when I marry my future wife, or maybe see his future great grandchild. It was so painful to think that now he is gone, he can no longer be there for me in these events. T__T

After the funeral ended, I decided to type out everything he told me about my ancestors and his life so that it won't be forgotten and be passed on to my future desendants as a tribute to him. Once it's done, I will send it out to all of my relatives.

I am already shredding some tears as I am typing this post. I still miss my grandfather up to this day, but I am glad that he is no longer suffering from pancreatic cancer and that he is watching me from above the skies. I hope everyone had a great new year's day, and whenever you see your grandparents please tell them that you love them very much, give them a hug/kiss/both, spend as much time as you can with them, and cherish the moments that you have with them.

Happy New Year.

Sincerely,
TechieWidget

Last Post Update for 2011

I haven't been able to update my blog for the past month due to schoolwork and finals.

I won't be posting anything on Youtube and DeviantART from December 2011 to March 2012 since I am going to be traveling overseas to Asia. I am finally getting the chance to go to Japan, and I have been wanting to travel there for a very long time.

Happy Holidays and a Happy New Year!

Motorcycle Chase (Team Fortress 2)

What to expect in the future

Youtube:
-Two Team Fortress 2 remixes of soundtracks from the Ape Escape games.
-Blue Monkey vs Jimmy (Team Fortress 2 Edition)
-A Mega Commentary Video about what should be in the next Ape Escape platforming game.

DeviantART:
Megaman Legends X SaruGetChu
- Two underdogs in the video game industry undergo a huge crossover.
   - One drawing with Ape Escape characters dressed up as Megaman Legends characters
   - One drawing with Megaman Legends characters dressed up as Ape Escape characters.

Note: I am not gonna draw every single character from each franchise. Only some.

Dates for all of the above: TBA

Ape Escape Cartoon - Egghead (Team Fortress 2 Edition)