From: pmc@world.std.com (Patrick M Chase)
Subject: Re: Ecco The Dolphin
Followup-To: alt.sega.genesis,rec.games.video
Keywords: Ecco, helix, hints...
Organization: The World Public Access UNIX, Brookline, MA
Date: Sun, 24 Jan 1993 04:29:03 GMT

In article <etxalve.727713927@xmas> etxalve@xmas.ericsson.se (Bengt Alverborg TM/SDB 34369 2670 ( tom -> 930301  )) writes:
>wporter@exchanger.ecn.purdue.edu (Head Boy) writes:
>
>
>>A while ago I rented Ecco the Dolphin.
>>(I find that renting is the best alternative for Genesis games).
>
>>Any clues? Hints? Strategies? Compassion?
>
>I've got lot's of compassion.
>This game hasn`t reached Sweden yet. Is it worth buying?
>Is it good/fun? Give a short review if you can, please.

Well I just rented and played it for several hours. I've got a few (or maybe
more) comments:

I thought it was great. My girlfriend thought it was boring. I thought she'd
like it because she doesn't really like arcade games like Galaga and stuff
like that. She likes Tetris and stuff like that though. So, it isn't for
everyone. But it was great for me. Very different. Not like anything else I've
played.

The graphics are fantastic. Very well done. The motion is excellent, and
ahhhh... well.... as smooth as a dolphin swims. The detail is all there.

It's simple. You swim around and eat fish and don't forget to go up for air.
You look for lost dolphins who tag with you back to their group. You bump
into jewel like things (glyphs) that allow you to pass by the next (i.e.
you can't get past one until you get a different one). In this manner they
force you to go through all the tough areas. You can't skip much. And the
glyphs talk to you and give you hints. There's alot of "poetic" stuff in there.

It's complex. It's designed so that you end up going into these tunnels where
air is strategically placed (caverns that are only half full of water). Sort
of like Sonic in the underwater zones (i.e. sometimes you gotta get a big
gulp of air and then wizz through a tough spot and get to the next air spot
after the tough part - too slow and you die.). You gotta get this glyph to
get that past that one. You gott go down this tunnel to go over to that one
and get that thing and push it past that thing... you get the idea. It takes
some time just to figure out where to go and what to do.

It's long. If you die, you start the level over. At the end of the level you
get a password so you can start there later. The levels are long. This drove
me nuts. You can all the way to the end of a level after 10 minutes or so and
then get killed by a goddamn jellyfish. Bang, you're at the beginning of that
level again and have to do it all over again. Fortunately you gotta really
screw up to get killed, and not too thoughtful (or naive) to run out of air
and die. you get a good fighting chance. No real rip-offs.

It's thoughtful. It's so much fun to do jumps and flips that you'll be doing
them for fun even when you don't need to. There's this great new-age music
playing in the background. So soothing. You can shut off the music when you
pause. Nice when you gotta stop for lunch. The manual has quotes from Jaques
Coustou and information on Dolphins, and Dolphin books. Very nice touches.

It's got value. I'm pretty good at video games. I'm the guy that was whining
about finishing Golden Axe after an hour and a half of game play. I played
Ecco for at least 5 hours and I didn't get past level 3. There's 21 levels.
I imagine that that it'll take me more than a month to completely finish it.

It's got two sides. Arcade like. Swim, flip, jump, bump into baddies to kill
them, etc. Strategy like. Figure out how to get through a caved-in tunnel
without air in sight, and an octopus swatting at you. The glyphs give you
hints on what to do. You use tools (rocks, shells, etc.) to manipulate your
environment and get through tough spots to get to the poor lost dolphins and
that last glyph you need to get past the exit.

It's easy to control. Although swimming and jumping take a while to get used
to and can be difficult at first, you'll be a good swimmer after a little
while. You use your sonar capabilities to talk to other dolphins, whales, and
glyphs. If you hold down the sonar button you get an echolocation map of the
area in front of you. "Oh, I gotta get down there to get by that".

Time isn't usually relevent. Unless you are short on breath you can take
your time. I like that. You can spend a few minutes doing flips with the other
dolphins if you want to. Eat a few fish for fun, bang a shark in the head, and
then move on to some strategy. You can always backtrack too. Can always
discover another way to do something too.

The story is stupid. You're playing with your friends living the cool, clean
fun of the dolphin. You sonar a friend to see what he has to say and he says
"How high can you fly?". You do a great big flip in the air to show off and
suddenly there's a wooooosh and red stuff in the sky, and a vortex that sucks
everything out of the sea. Now you're alone and you've gotta find all your
buddies. I imagine they're all swimming around on level 21.

It's gradual. So the story is a bit stupid (they could've just made it your
object to save the other trapped dolphins), but it makes a good intro to the
game. Swim around and learn how to eat fish and jump and swim and explore and
talk - all well before even meeting a bad-dude. You exit appears after the
flash and you go on to the play. In the next level you discover bad guys and
glyphs. The one after that has the first tools and trick areas (high current
tunnels you can't go down or can only go through one way). The level after that
had the first REAL challenge. That's the one I never finished. I gave up. I did
95% once. But then decided I didn't want to go through it all again. All I had
to do was get to the exit and a crab killed me. I imagine the level after that
is *real* hard. And there's 21 of them. So you'll get your money's worth.

One last note. You don't *have* to save all the dolphins on each level. You
can skip them and just head for the exit (which you usually can't get to
without putshing a glyph outta the way - and you can't do that without picking
up a "song" from another glyph that's a bitch to get to). Usually the dolphins
are near the glyphs so you hit them both at the same time. If you save them
all, they give you another "song" that's supposed to be useful. You get lots of
songs from the glyphs. Of course you don't know the difference. you just hit
the "A" button. Then you find out if the song's right or not.

Oh... I use the term 'level' generically. The different levels are called
things like "The Lagoon" or "The Vents". It's a very cohesive game.

And I *did* only play 3 or 4 levels. There's alot to it. I don't even know
what the "DNA-Looking bad-dude" that people are ranting about it is. And I
also don't know how much harder the game gets, how many new suprises there
are, or what's at the end.

So that's about it. I'd say buy it. It's really fun. But then again, the gal
said it was boring. Renting is a great idea.
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