My Played Video Games Review: Ecco: The Tides of Time for the Sega Genesis
Ecco: The Tides of Time, or sometimes called Ecco II, is an action-adventure video game developed by Novotrade International, published by Sega, and released for the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive and Sega CD in 1994. It continued the story of the first game, Ecco the Dolphin.
This sequel to the first Ecco the Dolphin game which I posted about before was great, but not popular in my country. My countrymen preferred Street Fighter and Super Mario games for their video game thrills mostly during the early 1990s.
The Story
Ecco the smart dolphin, is older, stronger, and encounters danger! The evil alien, Vortex, has shattered the mystical Asterite. Ecco and Trellia, a lady dolphin of the future, travel 100 million years of time to save all life on Earth! Ecco can morph! Charge a metasphere to morph into a shark with all its fighting power! Change into a seagull and fly! Safely swim past dangers as a jellyfish! Dive through many levels of spectacular aquatic adventure through the vast waters of the open ocean!
The Graphics and Sound
The graphics are better than the first game. The sprites look smoother and clearer, with more detail. The backgrounds seem to sparkle and look so realistic that it looks like art.
The sound effects are improved from the original, too. Instead of that irritating noise when your dear dolphin hits an enemy, it is quieter and sounds more like a whining dog. You only hear the scream when you lose all your life. The music is very good and the tunes are memorable.
The Gameplay
The gameplay remained the same as the original. You still have the sprint, dash, and do your sonar for talking and pushing objects. There are still enemy obstacles, and you still need to breathe in places with air.
But this sequel is not a direct repeat of the last game. It introduces new gimmicks like the morph globes. Once touched by Ecco's nose, these give Ecco powers of the sea and change his form to match that of other sea creatures such as sharks, other sea creatures, and even out-of-water sections as seagulls. There are different levels that also require you to work outside the water as well as inside which adds a few more interesting elements to the already fun gameplay.
The replay value is good. The difficulty is not as intense as the original, yet it still is still quite challenging. The game has a decent length but you'll die so many times the first time you play it. No extra bonuses to unlock if you beat it. Exploring everything on a second run is rewarding enough.
My Verdict
Ecco: The Tides of Time should only be played by video gamers who enjoy the first game or challenging adventure games. The new features are good, the old gameplay has been improved, the graphics are great, and the music is beautiful. This is the best Ecco of all.
Play it on the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive or on a damn good emulator.
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