Game Debate #29: Ecco the Dolphin

[Reed Rothchild | 9,533]

 

 

[mbd39 | 2,024]

6/10

I've always liked the idea more than I liked playing it.

 

[TDIRunner | 2,741]

I own several games from this series including the specific one for this debate, but I've never been able to get into them.  I've tried playing several, but they have never been able to keep my interest for very long.  I'm sill debating with myself as to whether or not I've played the Genesis version enough to give it an actual rating.  Honestly, I probably haven't played it enough to give it a proper rating, but at the same time, the main reason why I didn't play it that much was because I simply didn't care for it.  

[Hammerfestus | 3,847]

I played a lot of Ecco the Dolphin as a kid.  I actually got pretty decent at it.  My favorite part was when you find the blue whale.  Very majestic and mysterious.  9

Edited December 24, 2020 by Hammerfestus

[Reed Rothchild | 9,533]

52 minutes ago, mbd39 said:

6/10

I've always liked the idea more than I liked playing it.

 

No actual vote?

[Tulpa | 3,506]

The graphics and music are phenomenal, but the gameplay gets annoying really, really quick.

[mbd39 | 2,024]

20 minutes ago, Reed Rothchild said:

No actual vote?

Oops, just voted.

[Webhead123 | 676]

Neat, original concept. Great graphics. Some interesting gameplay elements. Unfortunately, it suffers greatly from the "cryptic maze-hunt" design philosophy and is much more of a chore than a game about being a dolphin should be.

[Bearcat-Doug | 5,105]

It was an interesting idea, but not that great in the execution. 5/10

 

[Nintegageo | 582]

I remember seeing this game when I was a kid at a dude b-day party and thought it looked amazing. It's an alright game though had they been nicer with the oxygen and some other things it woulda been a pretty good game

[DoctorEncore | 3,691]

5/10. I played this game a lot as a kid, but it wasn't really because I liked it. I just didn't have many options. I never could figure out what the point of the game was. Is it a puzzle game? Is it an adventure game? I don't know, but I never found it particularly enjoyable.

[The Count | 527]

Yeah, at release it looked really good visually. The movement was unique and so was the concept. That said, it was kind of boring to me, unfortunately. 5/10.

[Dr. Morbis | 2,089]

It seems as though Sega thought of a really neat concept for a playable character, but then couldn't figure out how to build an actual "game" around their idea...   4/10

[Tulpa | 3,506]

The controls are what really kill it. The dolphin is hard to maneuver as it is, but then the game throws either time crunches or hard to dodge enemies at you and it becomes a real slog.

[MagusSmurf | 577]

6/10

Nice concept, visuals, music, and general vibe but a little too rough around the edges. Hit detection didn’t seem great, levels are probably a little long and frustrating given you have to repeat the entire thing if you die, and the game gives you no real clues on how you’re supposed to beat the game’s two bosses - the first one’s weakness doesn’t even really make sense. The Sega CD version, on top of a different soundtrack and some new levels, apparently also adds checkpoints which some levels of this game could have really used, and also you don’t have to replay Welcome to the Machine if you lose to the final boss, so that one might actually be a pretty neat game.

Edited December 25, 2020 by MagusSmurf

[AstralSoul | 502]

One of those games with a great concept, great atmosphere, great music, great graphics and, given you have the right player, a great game to watch being played. But to actually play? Not as much. I still like the game. But it's frustrating after a short while, and from my understanding it's pretty long. I've never beaten it. I gave it a 7 because I can tell it is a good game based on everything I've watched while being played. I'm pretty I'd even rank it higher than that if I actually pushed myself to play through it. But for some reason I never got too far in my own. Maybe one day.

[Sumez | 2,959]

Memorable and magical game - genuinely creepy, especially as a kid in the early 90s, where this was still the extent of what video games would pull off.

The soundtrack is incredible on the CD version, really the most "new age" game in the world.

Also, pretty silly, what with the blasting aliens on the final stage, etc. but I loved it a lot. Practically of course, the game is pretty awkward, as is the case with most western developed console games of the time, so I couldn't stretch myself to anything over 6/10. It definitely doesn't deserve less, though.

Edited December 25, 2020 by Sumez

[Sumer | 221]

4/10 for me. 

I was pretty psyched to get it for our new Sega CD back in the day.  After playing it for an hour, I was thoroughly bored with it.  BUT, the Sega CD soundtrack IS very, very good.  

I still own my copy for the Sega CD and pop it in once every 5 years or so.  Just to hear the soundtrack and the ambience is good too when you first start the game.  However, after about a half hour with it nowadays, I just turn it off.  I don't have the patience for it, I guess. 

Also, I was a teenager when this came out and I think I was getting out of console games by this point in the early-to-mid 1990s.  Maybe I didn't give it a fair shake since I was becoming an "exclusive" PC/DOS player at this point with WIN95 on the horizon.  Didn't come back to consoles until the GameCube.

[doner24 | 1,196]

We rented this growing up, loved the look and the music, but we got stuck about an hour in and gave up. 

[peg | 372]

The intro and concept are cool but it goes downhill very quickly after you get over that initial phase.  Probably hurts that I never played it back in the day, but now it's just not a good game. 3/10.

Edited December 25, 2020 by peg

[Tanooki | 4,934]

4/10 and I think that's not generous, nor lacking, but totally fair.  Sega tried to execute repeatedly with this franchise a fantastic adventure in a expansive and beautifully sounding and looking world, but then totally fubar'd the adventure and game play parts of it.  I'll fire up and Ecco game here and there over the years, play for like 30 minutes and get bored and quit.  It's nice to see and hear, but trying to actually do something becomes both boring and tedious pretty fast which leads to annoyance and turning it off.  It didn't need to be linear or anything of the sort, but what it did need to do, was make sense and give some sense of direction.  Instead of have those open world sorts of game, with some barely passable as considered vague comments on how to attack stuff either in text or something going on, yet it's mostly still just getting lost, swimming a lot, throwing off echo location pulses, and hoping something desirable happens on screen so you can move along.  The game moves beyond tolerable if you just straight up cheat using a friend who put up with it or a gamefaqs(or youtube play video) just so you can ride it all out to the end and that kind of sucks the fun out of it at that rate.  It's a franchise that needed serious help and no one at Sega had half a brain cell to realize it and make it right, even in the end with the Dreamcast release.

[FireHazard51 | 2,043]

As a kid I really enjoyed it but only played it in the GameGear.  I feel like this is one of those games where it doesn't age well.  Still bought the SEGA CD version as an adult.  One day I'll play them and have a better opinion of it.

[DefaultGen | 5,405]

Never played it  I think underwater levels in other games have kept it at the back of the backlog.

[PII | 1,886]

Been meaning to give this one a real go for a long time.

[Jeevan | 8,911]

3