Something just fails in the translation of this Ape Escape franchise from PlayStation/PS2 to PSP. The original series -- and especially the first in the franchise -- was unique, innovative, and highly compelling. Many bought DualShocks for their PS1 systems just to play this game. But on PSP, the series has gone nowhere over a series of games. A port of the PlayStation original was decent but nothing special, while the Ape Escape Academy titles showed initial promise but little else in gameplay or party play fun.
And now, we have Ape Escape Racer, aka Sarugetchu Piposaru Racer in Japan. If you wanted Mario Kart on a PSP, or just Mario Kart on any system with just monkeys instead of plumbers, well, here you go. There's little to distinguish this game from the countless other kart racers out there in the demo we played at TGS, and the graphic performance of the game gave us little to look into for more hope.