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Does Sega's return to Ecco
equal a return to greatness? |

Game Info
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Publisher
Sega |
Developer
Appaloosa Interactive |
Genre
Adventure |
Origin
Europe |
Number of
Players
1 |
Accelerated
YES |
Rumble Pak
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Release
Aug. 15, 2000 |
Peripherals
Analog
Memory
Pack
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Ecco looks good and behaves
marvelously. |
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The amazing environements
are one of the game's brightest
points. |
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Just a little more time, and
perhaps the game could've equalled the greatness of its
16-bit predecessors. |
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Ecco the Dolphin: Defender of the
Future
Sega's return to Ecco is beautiful, but just a bit fishy.
Read our full review, inside.
August 11, 2000
A
storm rages above the waves, but in the deep it is quiet. Schools of
fish hang in the mire, bouquets of color in a slate-gray world. A
lone dolphin slices through the water, bending around huge, undersea
rock columns. The dolphin is Ecco, and he is the last hope for the
future of man and dolphin alike. The game is Ecco the Dolphin:
Defender of the Future, the newest offering from Sega and
Appaloosa Interactive.
It's taken a while for Sega to get around to an Ecco game
for the Dreamcast, considering that the porpoise was a main staple
on the Genesis. It's obvious what they've been up to all this time:
creating a magical, beautiful world for the dolphin to swim through.
This is one of the most visually stunning games released on a
platform to date. With a good story and great sound added to the
great graphics, Ecco is one heck of a mood creator.
In many ways, it could have been one of those rare games that
redefines what gaming is all about. The idea of playing through a
game as a dolphin was pretty fresh when first presented in 2D. Now,
in full, beautiful 3D, there's an opportunity to really get under
the skin of the Earth's most graceful creature. Instead, it gets
bogged down in difficult-to-navigate levels and general
inconsistency. Add a mediocre framerate to the mix and you have a
good game that could have used about six months of tweaking.
The tale that Defender of the Future weaves is engaging
and well-told. Ecco is charged with the huge task of saving the
planet--not once but three times during the course of the game. To
do this, he must travel through streams of time to stop an enemy
known only as the Foe. This takes the wayward dolphin to various
different realities: the placid world he begins in, a nightmare
vision in which man is in control, another where a group of evil
dolphins rule, and a fourth where the Foe reigns. To progress
through these realities, Ecco must learn skills, seek disguises,
collect life and fulfill objectives to turn back the damage caused
by the time-jumping enemy.
Where the game falls down is in the implementation of this story
and progression through levels. Each level provides hints on how
Ecco can advance to the next challenge. These are provided by
Information Shards scattered throughout the worlds. The hints
themselves are quite cryptic, and provide the only idea of what will
come next.
My complaint here is not that the riddles are always difficult to
figure out. They aren't. Instead, it's that they are too scarce. The
levels are huge, and it's easy to get lost in them. Especially in
levels with many tunnels to explore, it is hard to know where you've
already been, since the textures look the same everywhere and there
is often a lack of distinction in separate areas. More Shards could
have helped point the way.
Another problem with story implementation has to do with
misinformation. The most glaring example of this is in a later level
boss fight. While battling a giant alligator in an underwater
cavern, the hint helper tells you to force the gator into spikes
that jut from the ceiling. I spent a good deal of time trying to
skewer the reptile, when in the end the tactic to beating him was
completely different. This sort of misinformation is frustrating and
ultimately detracts from the game.
Don't get me wrong. I'm not advocating hand-holding. It is just
as bad when games are condescending and over-explanatory. But Ecco
is too far in the other direction. Everything is so open-ended that
you begin to feel abandoned.
In addition, there is no progression of difficulty to speak of.
The last levels of the game are easier than some of the very first.
One level may take you five minutes to play through and the next
will take you days. Boss fights are all over the map. The final boss
took the better part of a day to beat (which is a good thing), but
some of the mini-bosses in the last section of the game were way
easy. This sort of inconsistency is baffling. I have always been of
the mind that a game should get progressively harder and reward you
with extra challenges when you get to the later stages. In fact, I
was more excited about seeing the beauty of the next level than I
was in actually beating the game.
In fact, this is one of the few games I would suggest playing
through just to witness all of the levels. The world invoked in
Ecco is one of the most gorgeous yet created. In many ways,
it makes up for the frustrating gameplay. Ecco swims and dives
through lush, beautifully rendered environments. Each is distinct
and imaginative. In Ecco's world, coral reefs are aglow with color,
the rock face textures are well-rendered (especially from afar) and
the strands of seaweed bob lazily in the current. Everything is
crisp and detailed.
The later levels explore more fantastic realms, and these are
almost worth the price of admission. Ecco swims through the insides
of a rusty craft, rockets through the "streets" of Atlantis, and
take on the Foe's Queen--from the inside. While some are better than
others, there are 27 levels to choose from, and 75% of them are
over-the-top beautiful. Especially worth mentioning is the Hanging
Waters level, possibly the prettiest level ever in a video game.
Ecco has to jump through tubes and spheres of water that hang high
above the surface of the planet. The textures on this "hanging
water" are beautiful. The water itself is a living thing, rippling
and gurgling before your eyes. Remember the water effects from the
Abyss? This level boasts H2O that good.
Creature designs are also superior. Ecco's model is flawless.
While the other dolphins can be difficult to differentiate, they are
wonderful to look at. The sharks in the opening levels move and look
just as sharks would in the open sea. (If only this team would
tackle a shark sim…) Jellyfish float like bags of nothing, pulsing
as they move through the waters of the deep. Anemone sway and flit,
schools of fish move in unison, sea turtles lollygag near the ocean
floor. The creature models help you dissolve into Ecco's world.
Later in the game, you'll run into alien creatures which are
equally interesting. While a few are from the H.R. Giger school of
design, the rest look like prehistoric amphibious mutants. Again,
they add a lot to the later levels, as Ecco takes on the Foe.
Now for the bad news. Being underwater, there is plenty of murk,
and this is understandable. What isn't understandable is all the
choppiness. If you have the luxury of an environment with
justifiable fog, there shouldn't be any problem getting a
smooth-flowing game. But, somehow there is framerate drop in nearly
every level. Especially when jumping above the surface of the water
and interacting with textures, the game has a tendency to chug hard.
In addition to the framerate problem, there are clipping issues.
Ecco has a propensity to lose whole fins into walls and rocks. He
would also get hung up on surfaces and in corners. This happened in
almost every level to some degree. Ecco would get stuck in a corner
and became immobilized. Nothing could be done to free him. In
extreme cases, he got trapped inside of textures and I had to wait
for the porpoise to die to continue.
The dolphin itself is a lot of fun to control. Defender of the
Future could have been titled Dolphin Simulator 2000 for the
accuracy in which they relate a dolphin's movements and sounds. Ecco
swoops and dives with grace and finesse, and it is a trip just to
pilot him around the seas. The controls are responsive and simple to
learn. There's nothing quite like executing a perfect triple flip
and landing straight in the water.
The sound adds a lot to the environment as well. As I've said
earlier, this game expertly crafts mood throughout. The ambient
soundtrack pulses along subtly in the background as the gurgling and
bubbling sounds of the ocean augment the experience. Every chirp,
click and sonar blast is captured, providing a great aural backdrop
to gameplay.
While there are many things to improve, it is difficult to
dislike this winsome game. If I was a little harsh, it is only
because it was sooo close to being an excellent game. The graphics
themselves are almost worth the buy. Ultimately, if you enjoyed the
Genesis title, you'll have a lot of fun playing with this one. And
no matter what, there's something to say for becoming a dolphin for
a day. Click. Click!
-- Chris
Carle, IGN
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