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Sega Genesis Classic

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: April 26, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Here's a worthwhile review from GameFAQs/Joeg19:

"Ecco The Dolphin, on the face of it, looks like a cute game. On first seeing it, you'd think of it as a platformer suitable for a younger audience, the sort of game you'd buy your kids.

But then you'll get home, play the game and immediately see how hard it is. Because Ecco The Dolphin is Hellishly difficult, but, beyond the hardship, an excellent game.

Graphics: Ecco never really pushes the genesis although the graphics are nice enough, appearing dull to match the game's overall sense of impending doom.

Sound: One of Ecco The Dolphin's real strengths is the sound. While the effects are fine, it's in the musical department where Ecco's sound really excels. A wonderful mix of melancholic, dread-filled pieces and techno-style beats, all of Ecco's music is superb and was even released as a soundtrack (Ecco- Songs Of Time). The MegaCD versions, music is even better as it was completely remixed for the crisper and much more powerful CD format.

Gameplay: Ecco The Dolphin is a mix of adventure and puzzles, in which you play (believe it or not) as Ecco, a young dolphin on a journey to save his friends and his home from Armageddon. You can talk to other animals with your Sonar, and destroy enemies by charging into them. You have to bars- a health bar and an oxygen bar. You can keep your oxygen bar up by regularly resurfacing (although this sometimes gets in the way of the gameplay) and you can refill your health bar by eating smaller fish.
Some puzzles are devilishly hard, as are some of the games adventure and exploration elements.

Lifespan: Ecco The Dolphin has to be one of the most fiendishly difficult video games of all time, so it'll take you a while to complete. In fact, one of the final levels, entitled Welcome To The Machine, has to rank among the hardest video-gaming experiences of my life. And, like me, you'll probably want to play through Ecco again after you first complete it, so there's plenty to keep you going.

OVERALL: Ecco The Dolphin is an excellent game, at times hindered by a solid difficulty level and minor gameplay niggles, although overall it has to rank among the Mega Drive's best games."

Rating - 9/10

BIZARRE, BUT FOR HARDCORE GAMERS ONLY! 8 OUT OF 10

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 1
Date: March 21, 2008
Author: Amazon User

Ecco the Dolphin is incredibly bizarre, and it won't be surprising if you ask "what the hell is going on?", because this game is extremely wierd and hard to get a grip of what it's like. The story is Ecco must go rescue his family who have been swept up out of the ocean by a mysterious force. So you must go rescue them, by navigating the most strange locations and solving some very bizarre and extremely frustrating puzzles. The environments are beautifully designed and the bottom of the ocean looks great. The controls work good overall, but sometimes I did notice I had some trouble trying to jump over things, or it would glitch and I would fall into a pit of spikes in the ocean because I was near the edge and I didn't even move. To put it bluntly this game is extremely f***ing hard and is only for very hardcore gamers. Don't be fooled by its looks, if you're a parent who own a Genesis and you buy this game for your kids to show them how much fun you had with your old system don't do it. Just because you play as a dolphin doesn't mean this game is easy... at all. The puzzles can be very confusing, and sometimes you'll be frantic to find an air pocket in the ocean because you have not only a health bar in the game, but also an air bar, so you better not drown. After all these complaints how did it get an 8 out of 10 rating? This game is very unique, there's nothing like it, the puzzles are interesting and you'll get a real sense of accomplishment when you solve them, the game has beautiful graphics, surprisingly haunting music, and a great sense of adventure within it. But be warned, this game isn't easy at all, so expect to die a lot, but in the end it's all worth it to own this game for your Genesis. This game is pretty cool, but unfortunately very frustrating and difficult which does damper a bit of the experience.

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