Gaming Target - PlayStation 2: Alter Echo

Written by John Scalzo on September 18, 2003

Full Review: Does this game alter the standard of action platformers? Um... no.

Back in the days of the NES and Super NES the average video game plot was not what you'd call normal. The average video game plot was usually some weird combination of magic, fantasy, and some magic weapon that could keep firing and never have to be reloaded. In those days you could base a game around a man who was cursed by a voodoo priestess that turned him into a giant floating head that now had to fight aliens. Alter Echo is not quite that bizarre, but it definitely fits in with the old style of outrageous video game "story" telling.

In the far future, MultiPlast is the most important substance to all of mankind. And the only place to get Plast is from mining it on the planet Proteus. People with psychic abilities known as shapers can use Plast to create almost anything their mind can think of. Paavo, the greatest shaper of them all, even faked his own death so he could hone his shaping abilities in peace. This is where you come in. You control Nevin, an experienced shaper in his own right, who travels to Proteus after Paavo stops communicating with "The Company." He has created a type of Plast that has intelligence called EchoPlast. The EchoPlast doesn't want Paavo using it to kill people so Nevin is enlisted to take on Paavo and the entire planet of Plast.

The story has everything a classic video game story should. A mad scientist, a far off planet, random gibberish words to descrive things and faceless drones that seem to be created by the ground itself. Alter Echo also uses the long standing video game tradition of the wacky gimmick. Nevin's Echo suit has the ability to alter the landscape of the planet (at designated points known as Sync Nodes) and to stop time (using Time Dilation attacks). Both of these are done the same way by using the face buttons to follow a pattern by hitting the right button when the cursor is lined up with a meter. It's hard to explain but basically think of the old style free throw meters they used to use in basketball games.

It's an interesting idea to base combat around a twitchy set of button commands, but it really just comes off as rather pointless. Sync Nodes are often used to create a bridge or exit a level and you are given unlimited chances to get the pattern right and no penalty if you get it wrong. I give THQ credit for trying to go beyond the switch flip method most games use, but this system is just tedious.

The pattern stuff works better when you use it in combat to stop time though. There actually is a sense of urgency then because if you do it right you'll clear the screen of even the most powerful enemy. But if you screw up you'll be pounded by all the drones on the screen and you'll lose your ability to stop time until you refill the Time Dilation meter.

Aside from the Sync Node and Time Dilation stuff the rest of the game is pretty much your standard third person actioner. Nevin can use his Shaper abilities to change his suit into three different forms. Sword Form is pretty self explanatory. Gun Form changes him into a big hulking cyborg that walks slowly and carries a big gun. But the most interesting is the last form: Stealth Form. Stealth Form changes Nevin into a chameleon type creature that is really fast, can walk up walls, can become invisible for short periods of time and has a tongue you can use as a whip. There's even some strategy involved as certain drones can only be attacked by a certain form. Once you get the hand of changing forms in the middle of a fight the combat gets really good. The game even gets kind of fun. Pretty standard stuff that won't hold your attention for the long term, but still pretty good in the short term.

What's not fun is the game's terrible camera. A lot of games take a frame rate hit when a lot of enemies are on screen, but not Alter Echo. Instead Alter Echo just has no idea where to put the camera. The thing bounces in a hundred different directions during any given fight. Add in the fact that you'll be hanging off walls and the ceiling in Stealth Mode a lot and the camera doesn't know where to go.

Looking at the audio/visual side of things, Alter Echo doesn't really stand out much. The planet Proteus basically looks like a giant rubber ball. Everything is pink or purple and looks exactly the same from level to level. There's no personality. The characters and drones have a little personality to them, but they all look like they were cut from the same cloth. Although to be fair, that is the point of the game, that all of the enemies are cut from the same cloth. Some of the time dilation effects are cool, but just with the combat, pretty standard stuff. The gunship fight looks pretty good though.

The music is also your standard set of forgettable techno tunes. Standard could also be used to describe the sound effects too. Explosions, gun fire, "laser sword" slash noises. You've heard it all before. But the voice acting and script are brutal, especially the character of Kess. Just cheesy, overwrought dialogue to go along with the cheesy, overwrought story. You won't think twice about skipping the story segments of Alter Echo.