Ecco Jr.

"The Real Ecco Must Have Been off on Sick Leave When They Made This."

Introduction
I've always been a fan of the Ecco the Dolphin series despite their penchant for frustrating you like crazy and their insane difficulty levels. Well it was inevitable really that I was going to play this title even if it was aimed at the younger area of the gaming market.

Gameplay
Ecco takes a massive turn on things with Ecco Jr. First off there are no enemies to kill you, no challenging puzzles, no having to surface in order to take in air. This is a whole new Ecco without all the stuff that made it challenging. What we do have now though is a cute little number that provides the gamer with about 30 levels of small party like games purely aimed at kids. Things like tag the other dolphins, collect all the shells/rings/coins etc... find all the creatures of the deep, sonar fish into little caves. Ecco Jr is made up of very easy games that kids would probably enjoy playing, but it's to babyish for the older generation.

Audio
The music in the game also take a few knocks as it's not as memorable as the other Ecco titles. Most levels repeat the same tune and the sound effects have been wound down to just the minimal Ecco sounds, such as when you touch walls or use sonars. It's all a bit sickly done and If you're an older gamer (past 5) you will most likely turn the music down. In brief, very repetitive looping tracks will leave you a little nausea headed, so turn down the sound OK. There you go, now isn't that all better?

Visual
The visuals again, though not bad have been made cutesy so as to fit in with the whole kids Ecco theme and while they still look nice, they as well as the music take away all the atmosphere the original Ecco provided. The atmosphere is more light-hearted now and fun. The visuals take away the evil, dark, bleak setting games such as Tides of Time had. So in brief, Ecco is cute, happy and full of life.

Controls
They have made things a little easier here. Anyone who has played any other Ecco game will know that it has some very frustrating moments that lay within the control department. Although the controls at time can annoy they have been watered down just enough that kids can enjoy the game without getting frustrated. In brief, simple, easy to use controls that don't harass the gameplay too much.

Replay Value
In most cases most people over five probably won't want to complete it in the first place. I forced myself to complete it. But I can never say nobody will come back to this because when I was bored I actually did play and complete this for a second time. Did I enjoy it? Nope. Why did I play it again? Because I was bored, did you not read the line above.

Conclusion 3/10 for older gamers 7/10 for younger gamers
Maybe it was a way to try and introduce Ecco to a wider audience, but for me it was just a poor entry into the Ecco series. Ecco was probably off work sick when they made this and so they had to settle for a lame substitute. Kids will have a blast, older gamers will cry at how tedious this game is. Me I'm a sucker for punishment and that's probably why I'm writing this review right now.

Reviewer's Score: 3/10, Originally Posted: 12/05/08

Game Release: Ecco Jr. (US, 1995)