The dolphin named Ecco comes back to a Sega machine. He sports amazing new looks
and another story line coming out of a science fiction novel. One of those
weird ones that you can't really understand. But hey, you are a dolphin. So
this is probably what dolphins go through. Anyway the game is no doubt
beautiful, but does the gameplay take a back seat to the visuals? Sorta.
Very Swimming Graphics
In this game, the ocean and stuff inside the ocean looks like, well, the
ocean. It's not a bad thing. When Appaloosa Interactive can create a
surreal underwater world that looks like the real thing the graphics come
out very special. The water reflects off the underwater surroundings and
even Ecco himself. The corals, and the sponges are very colorful and the waterfalls
that hit the water look realistic too. The marine life look and act like
the real thing too. Turtles put their heads in their shells when they get scared
and the sharks are well, always hungry. Ecco's model acts just like how a real dolphin acts.
Especially when Ecco does his over the water backflips. I could spend hours
watching dolphins at Marine World. And this dolphin never gets tired. Wonder what the sequel is going to
look like.
Sound
Not much to say here. It's like the game put a speaker underwater and all you
hear is water and marine life. It's boring. But hey it's really boring listening
to things underwater anyway. The sound does sound true to life though. Ecco sounds like
a real dolphin with his sonar, and his little yelp sounds real when he gets
injured.
Gameplay
The controls soon become second nature and you'll be swimming with fishes
in no time. My only gripe is that you'll get real dizzy, real fast. It's
hard to tell what is up and what is down sometimes. But the rememdy here
is that if you let Ecco stay still for a little bit, he automatically turns
right side up. But sometimes it's when you're getting attacked. Overall
the gameplay is sufficient enough to play the game.
Overall
This game is real hard. Sometimes the missions don't make any sense and you'll be
swimming around just trying to trigger an event. If you are a patient gamer
this is the game for you. But if you're not, you can always swim around doing
dolphin tricks.
--Alvin
Graphics: 9.8
Sound: 7.8
Gameplay: 8.4
Satisfaction: 8.1
Overall: 8.7
