Let's sit down and have a look at Echoes which you can find in the Playstation Store for $2.99. I want to start by saying I had a really hard time writing this review. I usually find something to be critical about in every game I play; I also find it easier to criticize than to praise. I guess it's because I'm a pretty cynical guy. It's not often that a game comes along that draws me in with such addictive play and has so few flaws that I can hardly say anything negative about it. Every time I sat down to write, I felt like my review made me sound like a mindless shill. I need to be clear here: this review is made up of my own opinions. It's not my job to sell this game to you. That being said, I think you should buy it.
If you don't already have Echoes on either your PSP or PS3, I have to assume it's because you've never heard of it. Allow me to take this opportunity to inform you that Echoes is one of the most entertaining little games I've played all year. You shouldn't think twice about dropping $3 to download this excellent minis title; out of the half-dozen minis I've played since they launched in October, Echoes is the standout best among the pack.
The best category to put Echoes in is Action / Puzzle. You control a young girl from a top-down perspective thrust into a world of crystals. She collects the crystals by touching them, and when she does, a ghostly Echo appears. The Echo retraces the path you took to the crystal and back; touching that Echo causes you to lose a life. It's a relatively simple premise that opens up a lot of frantic, intense puzzle action over the game's four modes. Arcade is the meatiest mode, with 22 levels divided among four worlds. It's the only mode unlocked when you start the game, and this is good, because it's designed to introduce you to all of the game's core concepts. It functions extremely well as a tutorial. Each stage gives you a certain number of gems to collect and three lives; the goal is simply to collect all gems without losing all your lives, but you are also ranked on how fast you complete the level. The other three modes are Jackpot, Survival, and Clockwork. Jackpot gives you a fixed time limit to collect as many crystals as possible. You have infinite lives. The catch here is that you get points each time you collect a crystal, and each crystal increases expontentially in value so long as you don't hit an Echo; if you do, the point values reset. The goal here is to get as many points as possible, which means collecting as many crystals as you can without touching any Echoes. Survival also gives you a time limit but it also only gives you Pulse crystals; these crystals emit an Echo-destroying pulse in a small radius when you collect it. Any Echo destroyed by that pulse also emit their own pulse, allowing you to destroy several Echoes in a chain if they are positioned correctly. The more Echoes you destroy, the more points you earn, including a big fat bonus if you clear the screen of all Echoes. Clockwork mode is my favourite.You have no time limit and only one life. Each time an Echo is created, it remains in place as if time is frozen. You use the shoulder buttons to move time forward or backwards for the Echoes, moving them out of your way as you need them. It may sound far too easy, but in maps with many tight quarters, it can be extremely difficult to manipulate the Echoes into moving out of the way without causing them to trap you. The goal in Clockwork is to collect as many crystals as possible without touching an Echo. It's a fun twist on the mechanics of Echoes after completing the other modes and is the one I go back to the most.
The graphics are simple but are by no means plain. The game sports an overall watercolour theme and many maps look like a painting. The main character is represented primarily by the top of her wide-brimmed sun hat, with a very slight and subtle walking animation. Anyone watching a game of Echoes without seeing the title screen might easily mistake her and her incorporeal duplicates as simple circles. The maps themselves are beautiful; most are like paintings, as I've said, but some are taken from architectural drawings and a couple are based on fractal images. They almost all contain simple shapes, like a bird or a question mark, and wisely fit on a single screen. The Echoes are identical to the main character except that they are translucent blue and are preceded by a dotted line indicating where they are headed. Overall I found the graphics charming; despite their simplicity, I never looked at them and thought "yep, this is a $3 game."
The same can be said for the music. There are only three tracks, but I never got tired of hearing them. They are somewhat techo, but they are expertly arranged and layered with enough instruments that I felt I was playing a more expensive game. If you don't believe me, take a moment to listen: what you're hearing in the background is one of the tracks from Echoes. I hope Halfbrick Studios decides to release this music in some standalone format soon. The sound effects are simple; there's one for collecting a crystal and one for touching an Echo. Both get the job done, and I never really felt the need for more sound effects except for one place: the trophies.
Did I not mention that before? This game has trophies, yo! Obviously these aren't PSN trophies, but the game's overall system of rewards compelled me to keep coming back to the game. Each trophy has a bronze, silver, gold, and Halfbrick level of achievement, so even though there are only 10 of them, they still motivate you to work up to the next level. Each stage also has a high score list, ranked at the same trophy levels. Getting Halfbrick scores in any level takes practice, skill, and a little recklessness. It's incredibly challenging, but not frustratingly so; it's the kind of challenge that has me picking up this game time and again.
I've tested Echoes on the PS3 as well, and it works great with a DualShock controller. The graphics still look good on a larger screen, too. I just wish there was an easier way to maintain the same profile and high scores across the PS3 and PSP versions.
In conclusion, Echoes is a must-buy. It is one of the cheapest and also the best game you can buy on the Playstation Network, and easily my PSP minis Game of the Year.
