Echo is an adventure game
designed by Kheops and published by The Adventure Company, which has cornered
the market in this particular genre over the last several years. The quality of
the adventure games released by The Adventure Company is varied, with some truly
excellent games interspersed with some really bad ones. Fortunately, Echo
is among the better-designed games in their stable, and is informative and
interesting, to boot.
The story centers around a
Paleolithic hunter, Arok. Forced to take shelter in a cave to escape a
bad-tempered lioness, he discovers signs that an old friend and mentor, Klem,
has been here sometime in the past. Klem was an avid painter who spent much of
his time painting on cave walls, and Arok was intensely interested in his
drawings. Arok is excited to discover that Klem has left many mysterious
paintings inside this particular cave, and intrigued, begins to search for
whatever secrets they may reveal.
This is a traditional point and
click first-person adventure, complete with inventory items and puzzles. Arok
spends much of his time picking up items and manipulating various puzzles, many
of which revolve around painting. The inventory items are stored in a grid menu
at the bottom of the screen, which will pop up when the mouse is right-clicked.
The interface is easy to use and intuitive, and features several "construction
zones", which are special interactive areas that allow for manipulation of
various inventory items. Hunting for items is a little hard at times, as often
things are either in dark corners, or are lying on the floor at Arok’s feet,
where said items won’t be seen unless the camera (which is free-styled around in
all directions) is panned in that direction.
The puzzles themselves aren’t very
difficult usually, but sometimes can be hard to figure out because there isn’t a
whole lot of direction or hints as to what is required, especially if the puzzle
is encountered before the information about that particular puzzle is
discovered. This is a very linear game, and the puzzles will have to be solved
in order before the game can advance.
Along with the inventory, the menu
also has a journal which helps keep Arok on track, and a very informative and
interesting encyclopedia with information about many aspects of Stone Age life.
This is good reading, and definitely makes the game more fun.
The game looks great, with detailed,
crisply drawn landscapes and objects. The lighting is nicely managed inside and
outside, and the animated cut scenes are well-done, too. The characters move
smoothly and look natural, which is the hardest quality to achieve in animation
with human characters. Sound effects are present in the just the right amount,
not obtrusive, but appearing naturally. The music also fits the mood well.
As a whole, this is an interesting
game, with a good story and nicely done puzzles. It’s a pleasure to review a
game that has obviously had much care taken with the execution, instead of being
rushed out the door. The subject matter is sure to interest most adventure
players, and the puzzles are integrated into the story logically, for the most
part. However, the game isn’t very long, nor is it particularly difficult, so
experienced adventure gamers may breeze through it in a short amount of time.
Still, for the price, it’s a fun way to spend the weekend.
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Gameplay: 7.5
Playing Echo is fun, but the game is fairly short, and the puzzles
aren’t always interesting, although many of them are engaging.
Graphics: 8.0
The look of the game is very nice, and fits the Paleolithic theme well.
Sound: 8.0
Ditto for the sound.
Difficulty: Medium
While some of the puzzles are hard, most aren’t very difficult. It’s more a
question of guessing in many of them.
Concept: 7.5
Setting a game in the Stone Age is fun, and the game is well executed.
Overall: 7.5
A good way to while away the hours.
