Gaming Target - Dreamcast: Ecco the Dolphin: Defender of the Future

Written by AJ LaSaracina on August 29, 2000

Review: Tuna!

Ecco has graced his presence on the Genesis, Sega CD, GameGear, and even the PICO! So, wouldn't it be natural for him to come to the Dreamcast? You bet! Sega has finally taken their famous dolphin icon for an adventure under the sea of dreams.

The visuals in Ecco are the greatest "working demo" that the Dreamcast has to offer. They easily surpass any other game to date! The smooth reflections that are seen on the surface, and all through the Atlantis level, are enough to make any gamer pee their pants. The most breath-taking aspect of the game, are the models, which are all superb. The dolphins move seamlessly through the water, as do the sharks, and the octopuses.

This is not to say the game swims without any problems. One flaw gamers have been experiencing during the game is clipping, one of the most notorious problems in adventure titles. It's not that bad to tell you the truth, and isn't really noticeable. Also, Ecco contains a second flaw, pop-up. I know, I know, it's the ocean, things do kind of do pop up from the murk, but not to the extent as object in the game. Again, the problem doesn't really take away anything from the game, but these problems would have only made Ecco even better if they weren't there.

The audio is right on the dinero. The dolphin chirps, are life-like, the bubbles, surreal, and the music is seamlessly integrated into the action. All of it is done in great taste. The only annoying part I found in the sound is the noise that Ecco makes when he is hit. It's a little bit unnecessary, but of course, doesn't happen much to the best of us gamers.

Ecco also shines in its gameplay mechanics. The controls are very responsive and work very well with the pad. The controls are simple with buttons for camera, sonar, special, and charge. One thing that is nice about the game is that in the mist of the underwater action, the camera FLIPS back upright after three seconds of not moving the stick, ingenious. The ability to control Ecco out of the water is also very cool, from front flips, to chirps, to walking on his tail, it's all here and it's all so very wonderful. One bad feature is the difficulty. It goes from really easy, to really hard. The fact that half the time you don't know where you are going is a little bit disheartening. The book also doesn't go into detail about what such things mean and usually the hints given by the crystals are more archaic then Dennis Miller's references.

There are a few features found in the game, including having Ecco learns different "songs" that can control other animals like turtles, and fish. Another one is that Ecco can also learn different abilities, such as super charges, and longer breathing time. Lets just hope you don't get lost or give up in the game, due to its sudden steep learning curve half way into the game. Other than this, Ecco's features some 27 beautiful levels to play through in all.

Not much replay here only the fact that you will want to show it to your friends just to say, "Hey, my Dreamcast rules." Animal fans will want to pull it out when bored just to control Ecco in the first couple of levels, just to make him play and jump. Also there are some small, "side missions" which does its part in adding a little more replay value of the title.