Ecco: The Tides Of Time

Year: 1994
Platform: Sega CD
Genre: Adventure/puzzle solving
Rating: ****

Ecco returns in this sequel to "Ecco The Dolphin", and this time he has to travel back in time to prevent a disaster that's happening in the present. Again, space aliens are involved. During his travels through time, Ecco obtains the ability to change into other sea creatures, which mixes up the gameplay a bit. The game is very similar to the original in look and feel, and Spencer Nilson returns to provide another superbly crafted soundtrack. The biggest difference between this game and the original game is that it's significantly more difficult to play, and some of the puzzles are downright sadistic. I couldn't even complete the second level without enabling the "infinite air" cheat code, and the game places unreasonable demands on dexterity and patience. It's still fun to play if you have cheats enabled and you have the strategy guide in front of you, though. Awesome stuff.