Ecco The Dolphin: Defender Of The Future
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'Chip shop owners of the world unite! That darn mammal is back and this time he's ready to give those bad guys a jolly good battering!'
Publisher: Sega
Contact: 0181 995 3399
Price: £ 39.99
Players: 1
Game Type: Adventure
Out: 26 May '2000

    A question for the insomniacs amongst you - what exactly does it take for a character in a videogame to rise above the dross and become a 'mascot'? Looking back on the golden days of 'old-school' gaming, it's clear to see that while the best have kept getting better (Sega have Sonic, Nintendo have a fat Italian plumber and Sony have... err... help?) so many greats that could have been contenders fell by the wayside. One such unlucky loser is Ecco The Dolphin. Despite starring in no less than three incredibly popular games on the MegaDrive, he was cast aside to be turned into several 'Boil In The Bag' meals... until now that is.

    GAME SHOT
    Peripherals Support
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    Memory Card
    >Dual Analogue
    >Multi-tap
    Call it luck, call it fate or call it a desperate attempt to revive a dead franchise but Ecco is back and he's ready to kick ass (or flip out, as the case may be) with the best of them. As with all their home-grown talent though, Sega have taken great care in producing a game that both entertains AND uses the abilities of the Dreamcast to the full. Take our word for it - as soon as you see Ecco The Dolphin in action, you'll be dribbling more than a group of sex-starved blokes at the annual 'Miss Wet T-Shirt UK' tournament. Hmmm, minty.

    Fish Supper
    Unsurprisingly for a game where you get to take control of a 8ft long earth-saving dolphin, the story line is typically eco-friendly. It's the future - hunger, war and Bobby Davro have all been wiped out and the human race lives in peace and harmony with every living creature on the planet... especially dolphins. Unfortunately though, not everything is well. The forces of evil, in a way that only evil forces know how, have devised a method of going back in time and preventing the human/fish union (ewww...) from ever coming to fruition. In sending a boat back to create all kinds of fishy havoc though, Ecco is accidentally drawn back with it and is therefore the only person aware of the dangers facing the world. He is... the Defender Of The Future! Ooh, dramatic isn't it?

    In any case, that's how it is - being the only person/dolphin capable of stopping the evil tyrants from carrying out their plans, you get to explore over 30 stages of swimming/flipping/puzzle-solving action in your quest to save the world. In keeping with a similar style to that of the original Ecco games, the premise is a simple one; you get to swim around and talk to the other fish-like inhabitants of each level, trying to work out what it is that each one of them needs your help with. Puzzles are the name of the game here; from saving a baby whale trapped under a pile of rocks in Crystal Bay to playing Nose Ball with one of the more unfriendly dolphins late in the game, you'll certainly have your work cut out for you if you want to make it through to the final confrontation with those forces of evil...

    Fish Fingers
    Of course, in using the power of the Dreamcast Ecco has managed to surpass his previous MegaDrive outings a million times over. By watching hours of videotape showing deep-sea dives and dolphin expeditions, developers Appaloosa Interactive have managed to come up with a world that is as real as you can get (without someone walking in and throwing a bucket of sea-water in your face). The amazing graphics are what is going to strike people about Ecco The Dolphin - despite the fact that it's more than just a pretty face, you know that gamesplayers all over the world will be picking their jaws up off the floor when they see it in full flow...

All material copyright Paragon Online 2000. Reproduction by any means strictly forbidden.

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