Ecco the Dolphin: Defender of the Future

Ecco the Dolphin: Defender of the Future is the fourth title in the Ecco the Dolphin series. It was released in 2000 for the Dreamcast. Defender of the Future is set in a universe with a story that has no ties to the original Mega Drive/Genesis titles, hence a reboot. After the Dreamcast was discontinued in the U.S., the game was re-released in 2002 for the PlayStation 2.

Ecco the Dolphin: Defender of the Future
Developer(s)Appaloosa Interactive
Publisher(s)Dreamcast
PlayStation 2
Designer(s)Gergely Csaszar
Maurice Molyneaux
Keith Higashihara
Kadocsa Tassonyi
Jozsef Szentesi
Csaba Soltesz[1][2]
Composer(s)Tim Follin (in-game music)
Attila Heger (cinematic music)[3]
SeriesEcco the Dolphin
Platform(s)Dreamcast, PlayStation 2
ReleaseDreamcast
  • EU: 16 June 2000
  • NA: 10 September 2000
PlayStation 2
  • NA: 28 February 2002[4]
  • EU: 8 March 2002
Genre(s)Adventure
Mode(s)Single-player

Gameplay

The gameplay is fairly similar to the old games, except it is in three dimensions. Ecco's sonar was kept as a means of interaction with other cetaceans (no longer called Singers in the game) and certain environmental objects, and a sonar map could be brought up. The same style of movement is kept with slight alterations for the 3-D environment. The control stick now only changed the direction Ecco is facing; pressing left and right changed the direction he faced horizontally, and pressing up and down changed the vertical direction. To actually move forward, the player has to tap a button to gain speed and hold the same button down to maintain it. Out of the water, Ecco can perform the purely aesthetic flips in the air just like the original games. Charging foes is kept as Ecco's standard attack, though the designers added a homing feature. The health and air meters were also kept, though the health meter can be increased by collecting power-ups called Vitalits, and the meters have a slightly different look compared to the Mega Drive games.

Some new moves are introduced in Defender of the Future. One is a quick 180° turn, useful for battles. Another is a means of stopping quickly; when Ecco has already stopped, the same buttons can make him swim backwards. A third new move is the tailwalk; Ecco can raise his upper body out of the water, able to look at things above the surface; this is a good way to see small graphical details.

The graphics of the game are generally regarded as one of the most realistic ever seen in a Dreamcast game. Many reviewers have commented that Ecco looks like a real dolphin . One of the most major complaints against the graphics is the high level of fog; other reviewers have said that visibility in the ocean is often much reduced from what it is above the surface. There were also some pop-up problems with distant objects. This was apparently caused by the engine not being that efficient overall, and not being able to render as many on-screen things as was desirable without the generation of too much slowdown. The fog was used to obscure the distance and decrease the number of polygons that had to be drawn. The few cutscenes use the in-game graphical engine, and featured voice-over narration by Tom Baker.

Defender of the Future continues the legacy of high difficulty set by its predecessors. The levels are again divided up, but the idea of a password system was dropped in favor of a memory card save file. The game has few loading times in the levels; the levels load all at once just before they started, and these load times could be moderately long.

The "charge song" and "confusion song" returned in Defender of the Future, but in different forms. The "charge song" is given a name, the Power of Sonar, and is part of a set of five temporary power-ups that could be activated by collecting icons. The powers were:

  • Power of Vigor: Ecco moves faster and does more damage when charging enemies, and is able to swim against strong currents.
  • Power of Sonar: Sonar does damage to enemies, and is able to break apart certain stones.
  • Power of Air: The air meter is temporarily doubled.
  • Power of Endurance: The health meter was maxed out to double the normal maximum; it couldn't be replenished until it reached the level the player had already obtained, and would be lost if the player made it to the next level of the game.
  • Power of Stealth: Ecco becomes temporarily invisible.

The "confusion song" was named the Song of the Shark, and it too is part of a larger set of songs. These songs were permanent and activated by singing at the right thing. They are:

  • Song of the Shark: Confuses sharks, leaving them vulnerable to attack. This does not work on the great white or the white sharks in later levels.
  • Song of the Turtle: Turtles will follow Ecco around.
  • Song of the Fish: Schools of fish will follow Ecco.
  • Song of the Ray: Makes manta rays go in the direction the song pointed; makes smaller sting rays panic and flee.
  • Song of the Plant: Makes a certain kind of plant spray ink, and another plant "sing" while bobbing up and down, which distracts the Clan.

Plot

Defender of the Future bears a different storyline from that of the Mega Drive/Genesis games; it is generally regarded as an alternate universe. The story was written by science fiction author David Brin, who had already written a few stories about intelligent dolphins in his Uplift Universe. The storyline and game are divided into four parts.

Reception
Reception
Review scores
PublicationScore
DreamcastPS2
CVG9/10[5]8/10[6]
Edge7/10[7]N/A
EGM8.17/10[8]7.5/10[9]
Game InformerN/A5.5/10[10]
GameFan98%[11]N/A
GamePro[12][13]
GameRevolutionB+[14]N/A
GameSpot8.2/10[15]7.4/10[16]
GameSpy8/10[17]N/A
IGN7.6/10[18]7.8/10[19]
Next Generation[20]N/A
OPM (US)N/A[21]
Maxim6/10[22]N/A
Aggregate scores
GameRankings81.04%[23]68.50%[24]
Metacritic84/100[25]71/100[26]

The game was received very positively and was considered "one of the year 2000's best" by IGN in 2000. GameRankings and Metacritic gave it a score of 81% and 84 out of 100 for the Dreamcast version,[23][25] and 69% and 71 out of 100 for the PlayStation 2 version.[24][26]

References
  1. "Ecco the Dolphin: Defender of the Future - Credits". AllGame. Archived from the original on 2014-11-15. Retrieved 2015-09-19.
  2. "Ecco the Dolphin (Dreamcast) - credits". YouTube. 2008-06-08. Retrieved 2013-08-05.
  3. PsySonic and Sebastian. "Ecco the Dolphin: Caverns of Hope - Defender of the Future - Dreamcast Soundtrack". Web8.orcaserver.de. Archived from the original on 2016-03-03. Retrieved 2013-08-05.
  4. Cove, Glen (28 February 2002). "Ecco The Dolphin Ships". Archived from the original on 16 August 2004.
  5. Fulljames, Steve (2000). "Dreamcast Review: Ecco The Dolphin: Defender Of The Future". Computer and Video Games (Official Dreamcast Magazine UK). Archived from the original on 2007-06-24. Retrieved 2014-05-16.
  6. Skittrell, Lee (2002-01-13). "PS2 Review: Ecco the Dolphin: Defender of the Future". Computer and Video Games. Archived from the original on 2007-09-19. Retrieved 2014-05-16.
  7. Edge staff (June 2000). "Ecco the Dolphin: Defender of the Future (DC)". Edge (85).
  8. "Ecco the Dolphin: Defender of the Future (DC)". Electronic Gaming Monthly. 2000.
  9. EGM Staff (May 2002). "Ecco the Dolphin: Defender of the Future (PS2)". Electronic Gaming Monthly (155): 107.
  10. Leeper, Justin (May 2002). "Ecco the Dolphin [Defender of the Future] (PS2)". Game Informer (109): 82. Archived from the original on 2005-03-07. Retrieved 2014-05-16.
  11. "REVIEW for Ecco the Dolphin: Defender of the Future (DC)". GameFan. 19 August 2000.
  12. E. Coli (2000-08-15). "Ecco the Dolphin: Defender of the Future Review for Dreamcast on GamePro.com". GamePro. Archived from the original on 2005-02-12. Retrieved 2014-05-16.
  13. Star Dingo (2002-04-10). "Ecco the Dolphin: Defender of the Future Review for PS2 on GamePro.com". GamePro. Archived from the original on 2005-02-12. Retrieved 2014-05-16.
  14. Gee, Brian (August 2000). "Ecco The Dolphin: Defender of the Future Review (DC)". Game Revolution. Retrieved 2014-05-16.
  15. Shoemaker, Brad (2000-08-11). "Ecco the Dolphin: Defender of the Future Review (DC)". GameSpot. Retrieved 2014-05-16.
  16. Lopez, Miguel (2002-03-04). "Ecco the Dolphin: Defender of the Future Review (PS2)". GameSpot. Retrieved 2014-05-16.
  17. Tren (2000-08-29). "Ecco the Dolphin: Defender of the Future". PlanetDreamcast. Archived from the original on 2008-05-01. Retrieved 2014-05-16.
  18. Carle, Chris (2000-08-11). "Ecco the Dolphin: Defender of the Future (DC)". IGN. Retrieved 2014-05-16.
  19. Carle, Chris (2002-03-04). "Ecco the Dolphin: Defender of the Future (PS2)". IGN. Retrieved 2014-05-16.
  20. Lundrigan, Jeff (October 2000). "Finals". Next Generation. Vol. 3 no. 10. Imagine Media. p. 107.
  21. "Ecco the Dolphin: Defender of the Future". Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine: 99. May 2002.
  22. Fryman, Avi (2000-08-15). "Ecco the Dolphin: Defender of the Future (DC)". Maxim. Archived from the original on 2001-06-26. Retrieved 2015-09-19.
  23. "Ecco the Dolphin: Defender of the Future for Dreamcast". GameRankings. Retrieved 2014-05-16.
  24. "Ecco the Dolphin: Defender of the Future for PlayStation 2". GameRankings. Retrieved 2014-05-16.
  25. "Ecco the Dolphin: Defender of the Future Critic Reviews for Dreamcast". Metacritic. Retrieved 2014-05-16.
  26. "Ecco the Dolphin: Defender of the Future Critic Reviews for PlayStation 2". Metacritic. Retrieved 2014-05-16.
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