The Top Five Monkey Games. Ever.

Black & White

Our number one spot could only go to Black & White. The product of genius game designer Peter Molyneux, Black & White is one of the best loved games ever. Besides selling by the truckload the game picked up the odd award or two, and has been followed by an equally popular sequel.

Playing as a god, you are given a tribe of cute primitive humans and a lush 3D world to rule over. Each god can choose a creature to act as their agent on earth, and when one of the options is a monkey it seems ridiculous to me that anyone could have chosen the alternatives of cow or lion.

What's better is that your simian avatar is actually a very clever piece of AI that can be trained to partake in all sorts of dubious behaviour. Next best thing to a real monkey, I reckon.

Monkey-o-meter (out of five):

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Donkey Kong

The original, and deservedly holding a place dear in the hearts of all retro platform game lovers. Based on a mend-bendingly complex back story (rescue your girlfriend from a big monkey while he throws barrels at you) the addictive gameplay largely made up for the inexplicable presence of the word “donkey” in the title. In fact, even Snopes has a tough time wading through the various urban myths surrounding the mysterious "donkey factor"

Monkey-o-meter (out of five):

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Rampage

Ah, that's a bit more like it. Not only can you play as a monkey, you get to smack the shit out of everything in town. The ape in question is called George, and his mission is to punch the living daylights out of every building in town, while a motley collection of wee green soldiers try to take your hairy arse down. Classic giant-monkey-smashy-building action.

Monkey-o-meter (out of five):

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Monkey Island

Er, admittedly a slightly tenuous link to monkeys, but a cracking game nonetheless. Plus it has pirates. Enough said.

Monkey-o-meter (out of five):

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Monkey Kombat

No, I hadn't heard of it either. Technically this one isn’t a game in it's own right. Instead it's a mod of the gargantuan first person shooter Quake. I've not played this one, as I don’t often strap on a FPS, but the gaming nerds over at Ctrl+Alt+Del assure me that it rocks, and that's good enough for me.

Screenshots look highly amusing and I love the concept, but unfortunately I can’t score this one high on the monkey-o-meter without playing it.

Got a copy of Quake? Why not download it and check it out for yourself.

Monkey-o-meter: Unknown???

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