"Watch out Flipper!"

Ecco the Dolphin, a Dreamcast port, has made it's appearance on the Playstation 2. Is this game worth a look? Well, that's what reviews are for.

Story: 8/10
Right here you have your basic ''save the world'' situation. A little dolphin named Ecco must save the world when the coexistence between humans and dolphins is threatened, or else. Or else indeed, what will happen? Who knows, but it sounds good.

Graphics: 10/10
The real meat and potatoes of this game, everything, I mean EVERYTHING looks exactly how it's supposed to. The water is clear and has just enough of a foggy appearance that real ocean water would have, the friendly fish, dolphins, and manta rays are cleverly detailed, enemies look just as brutal and scary as they're made out to be, and you, Ecco, are just as dolphin-like as you would see on Animal Planet, all the way down to the star shaped dots on your head! The landscape in the ocean is beautiful, I wouldn't be surprised if someone whipped out their camera to take a picture of it (not that I did that or anything). You will really be in awe over this!

Gameplay: 6/10
Here's where it lacks a bit. Don't get me wrong, your character moves around just fine and sonar works like a charm, but the second level took me two days to beat, IT'S HARD!!! No difficulty settings here, so you would think it would be somewhat easy until the last few levels right? WRONG! This is quite possibly the hardest game I've ever played, you will be with it for a looooong while! Maneuvering is easy, just figuring out what you have to do when you have to do it and how is what gets it. Some enemies are near impossible in the first couple of levels, and toward the end might be as easy as tieing your shoe! The difficulty is thrown around a little too much, but you'll get used to it.

Replay: 7/10
Good thing there's a level select huh? You probably won't want to play through the entire game a second time, but you can use this little option to revisit previously completed levels to speculate on how great it looks, or just swim around for fun. You'll find yourself coming back for more of that underwater dolphin fun. Keep in mind that the insanely high difficulty will keep you busy for a while anyway.

Rent/buy?:
I would say buy, but if you're not sure then it's always a good idea to rent. If you are a fan of most adventure games or platforms, or have played and loved the Dreamcast version, then this is for you, no questions asked.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 03/18/02, Updated 03/18/02