Ecco Jr.

Ecco Jr.'s definitely for little kids - heck, the manual is part coloring book. But that's great because the original Ecco games were way too tough for younger players. Now even the youngest Ecco fans can go fish.

It's hardly an essential purchase, admittedly, but we can think of far worse things to spend your Wii Points on than this.

Just like what should be expected, it is basically a simplified version of Ecco the Dolphin. I can't complain much though, because it was intended for children. Giving this game a score is quite difficult. The graphics, music, and controls are great. The storyline, gameplay, difficulty, and some other features have been sacrificed to make the game kid-friendly. As an adult, there isn't much replay value, so you'll get about forty minutes of play time out of this one. But, if you have a young kid in the house, definitely consider Ecco Jr. as a good choice. It set out to be a kid's game, and accomplishes that goal very well. I had some fun with it, and you might too. If you can find it cheap, why not pick it up and give it a try?

When you get to the actual gameplay, you have to wonder what the developers were thinking. Basically, they took Ecco the Dolphin, removed all the enemies, made the levels smaller, and added random objects you have to find. Yes, that's right, you cannot die in this game. All you do is search out specific objects or creatures in a stage with your sonar, swim up to them and use the sonar again, search for a crystal in the same way, then exit the stage. There are some different types of stages, like one where you find an object and guide it to a specific location, or one where you swim through rings, but for the most part, you do the exact same thing over and over again.