In the halcyon
days of the Sega Genesis, select developers started to create
games that would break out of the 8bit rut and begin to
harness the 16bit powerhouse's potential. During this time
period Appaloosa Software developed an original, challenge
based, side scrolling adventure title named Ecco the Dolphin.
Eight years later, Appaloosa's Ecco: Defender of the Future
raises the bar, yet again, and offers a slew of new gameplay
elements that have yet to be seen on any other title on the
market today.
In a nutshell - you take control of
Ecco; a young and agile bottle-nosed dolphin lives during a
future age when dolphins and humans share leadership over a
vast and peaceful civilization. Together, they have proved
greater than either race could be alone. Wise and invincible,
they saved many other races from a cruel set of despots. But
the game's not over yet! These evil tyrants, in a last gasp,
send a ship back through time to disrupt the historical moment
when humans and dolphins first united. It's up to Ecco to set
things straight while dodging the ocean's natural dangers such
as sharks, giant octopuses, and poisonous creatures.
In a departure from the traditional level-based game, Ecco
takes you to a great number of different environments built
around themes of several unique worlds. One world, Paradise
Island, contains various multiple environments. From the
island you can move seamlessly between coral reef, underground
caves, and lakes. Appaloosa took a lot of time to make the
underwater scenes feel as authentic as possible. A research
team spent many months working with videos, photographs, and
hundreds of copies of National Geographic magazine to come up
with a realistic depiction of the oceanic flora and fauna.
Within these environments the team had a relatively free hand
to design puzzles to take advantage of their surroundings, and
some of the better and more inspired puzzles came after the
worlds had already been created. The enemies too are more
involved, with, for example, multiple sharks running different
AI routines to present different game challenges through
various tuning of speed, turning, and attitude.
The natural settings are
gorgeous to look at, and the worlds are relatively peaceful.
However, the other environments emphasize more traditional
action and role-playing elements, and are filled with less
friendly and benign creatures. In these parts of the game the
story takes sharper turns and it introduces characters and
scenarios from the realm of science fiction.
Appaloosa's goal was to create
nothing less than an onscreen dolphin that was as alive as any
documentary footage you might see on television. The fact that
they appear to have succeeded is a testament to the power of
these next-generation platforms in only their first iteration.
While a number of other Dreamcast titles have been more
lauded, Ecco The Dolphin: Defender Of The Future has the
potential to be the defining Dreamcast experience.
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