The third and final game in the Ecco series on the Sega Genesis, Ecco Jr. is aimed more towards the Sesame Street viewer than the ardent gamer. You control Ecco, his creepy-looking female counterpart, or an awesome Killer Whale baby. When you play, choose the orca; trust me, he's the coolest.
Rating Scale: 1-10 glyphs.
Story: 2 glyphs
Ecco and his friends want to meet a whale name Big Blue for some unknown reason, and have to do a lot of child friendly missions so they can get to him and jump around in a disappointing ending that lasts 5 times as long as it should. Why does this nonsensical story get a 2 instead of a 0? The ending is hilariously annoying, long, and disappointing.
Gameplay: 8 glyphs
What? An 8? Si, Senor. Complete a series of mini-missions by swimming and using your echolocation to (pun time!) "Ecco-locate" your objectives. Objectives include playing tag, finding your friends, collecting rings, retrieving lost babies or balls, and finding colored glyphs so you can push aside a crystal and move on to the next level. Although the missions are often alterations of each other, the short time of the playthrough will actually leave you, get this, wanting more.
Control: 10 glyphs
Hey, you swim and you (return of the pun!) "Ecco-locate". The swimming controls are what all swimming games should have as their controls, nice and fluid with no issues. Jumping out of the water is rarely needed, so the somewhat tricky jumping isn't a hindrance.
Graphics: 7 glyphs
The Ecco series usually has nice graphics, but Ecco Jr. got a downgrade in quality. It appears dumbed down, and the original Ecco's awesome level and text screens, and Tides of Time's impressive bosses and minigame graphics are, sadly, absent. But the cool backgrounds and level design, as well as the fish (and in one mission, these super cool-looking stone fish!) keep the graphics up to a good 7 glyph rating.
Sound: 7 glyphs
Ecco also usually has wonderful music and sounds, but Ecco Jr. again falls short. Ecco games usually have amazing underwater music, but for some reason Ecco Jr. thinks they can put a robotic song in a couple of levels, which cuts down at the score I give it. The other songs are fine, though, and the sounds, except during the tag minigame with the most annoying laugh you'll ever hear, are Ecco quality and make the sound good, especially for a Sega Genesis game.
Replayability: 2 glyphs
The inability to select your missions and the lack of a change in environments during replay leaves it almost boring to try to get to one of the few replay-worthy missions, the stone fish one! The best one, it’s like a challenging Where's Waldo, this mission being one of the few missions that is worth playing again.
Overall: 8 glyphs
Do not buy or rent this game. However, get Sega Genesis Collection for the Playstation 2 instead and reserve 45 minutes for a playthrough of this game. It's best if you beat it all in one sitting, for maximum fun.
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