Ecco must stop the Vortex! He is “the stone that splits the stream of time.” He now faces his most dangerous quest yet. For it is not just his dolphin pod at stake, but the Earth and all living beings!
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Once again a five star rating because of reasons beyond my control
better than the first one in gameplay but not in vibes
A nice evolution of the Ecco formula, much more playable and even wilder, but still kinda annoying.
It's interesting seeing how Sega's franchises compare to Nintendo's back in the SNES VS Genesis era. Sonic was famously inspired by continuously running through the first level of Mario 1 faster and faster. Shining Force bares many similarities to Fire Emblem even if the former's creator has denied the comparison. The Ecco franchise is Sega's equivalent to the Kirby franchise because both have an obnoxious circlejerk of "Woah deep lore this game is so scary I can't believe it's rated E."
Better than the original but still weird and difficult as a kid.
A much more welcoming experience than Ecco’s original outing, Tides of Time does away with most of the obtuseness and repetition of the original and is a much more well-rounded game for it. Unfortunately, I couldn’t help but feel rather indifferent about the overarching narrative in this one, it’s hard to top traveling 50 million years into the past with a time machine sitting in the heart of Atlantis in pursuit of the alien civilization that abducted your clan. Tides of Time will instead gently remind you at times that something truly horrible is on the horizon… but it never quite manifests in a meaningful way during the events of the game, giving you a little taste during the conclusion before leaving as quickly as it showed up.
I’m happy to say the gameplay can stand on it’s own, keeping Ecco’s base mechanics and controls from the first game and destroying whatever previous expectations you had of how high a dolphin can fly. The progression of this game is much more straightforward, focusing more on moment-to-moment platforming and exploration than it does escort missions, while also mixing it up occasionally with transformations and “3D” rail-shooter levels that echo better games but have the decency to not outstay their welcome. When its at its most ambitious Tides of Time starts to fall into the same traps of its predecessor, forcing the player to rely on dumb luck rather than presenting situations a player could reasonably get through on their first try. These difficulty spikes are less pronounced than anything in Ecco 1, but it’s unfortunate that these moments of triumph often leave the player feeling more frustrated than satisfied when the rest of Tides of Time flows so well.
I would highly recommend playing the original Genesis/Mega Drive version, the soundtrack is superb through and through; the foreboding, menacing tone of the title theme stands unparalleled among its 4th gen peers, it gives me chills just thinking about it! The game is no slouch visually either, 94’ saw Sonic the Hedgehog facelifted into a gremlin with tude' while Ecco quietly became sleeker and sexier, his sprites redone and the backdrops much more colorful and vibrant than his last gig. Easily beaten in an afternoon, I recommend this game wholeheartedly to fans of Sega and the Mega Drive with at least a mild tolerance for pain, suffering, and existential horror… that should be most of you.
I’m happy to say the gameplay can stand on it’s own, keeping Ecco’s base mechanics and controls from the first game and destroying whatever previous expectations you had of how high a dolphin can fly. The progression of this game is much more straightforward, focusing more on moment-to-moment platforming and exploration than it does escort missions, while also mixing it up occasionally with transformations and “3D” rail-shooter levels that echo better games but have the decency to not outstay their welcome. When its at its most ambitious Tides of Time starts to fall into the same traps of its predecessor, forcing the player to rely on dumb luck rather than presenting situations a player could reasonably get through on their first try. These difficulty spikes are less pronounced than anything in Ecco 1, but it’s unfortunate that these moments of triumph often leave the player feeling more frustrated than satisfied when the rest of Tides of Time flows so well.
I would highly recommend playing the original Genesis/Mega Drive version, the soundtrack is superb through and through; the foreboding, menacing tone of the title theme stands unparalleled among its 4th gen peers, it gives me chills just thinking about it! The game is no slouch visually either, 94’ saw Sonic the Hedgehog facelifted into a gremlin with tude' while Ecco quietly became sleeker and sexier, his sprites redone and the backdrops much more colorful and vibrant than his last gig. Easily beaten in an afternoon, I recommend this game wholeheartedly to fans of Sega and the Mega Drive with at least a mild tolerance for pain, suffering, and existential horror… that should be most of you.