Hands-On: Echo Delta

Echo Delta is a resource management game with some fairly strategic elements, but the N64 game doesn't have the point-and-click trappings that are so typical of today's real-time strategy market. The object of each level is to rescue a damaged submarine faster than you can say "ripped from today's headlines."

You control a small scout submarine that sticks close to the ocean floor. The object is to collect enough energy to repair the damaged sub, which lets you move on to the next level. Also present on the bottom of the sea is an energy core, which mines energy for you. Aside from the time limit, there are several enemies, such as sea snakes and giant robots. The enemies will attempt to destroy the energy core. However, the core is surrounded by defensive turrets. You can spend some of the energy you collect on various things, such as enabling and upgrading the defensive turrets, speeding up your radar sweeps so that you can find energy more quickly, strengthening your sub's attack, and ramming against the ocean floor. This last maneuver creates a shock wave that damages enemies within its radius.

The game may seem a little silly - slamming a submarine into the ocean floor in order to kill large snakes that are attacking an energy core isn't exactly a run-of-the-mill gameplay sequence. But the level on display at Space World was surprisingly interesting. The scout sub is easy to control, and while the demo level was barely a challenge beyond learning the game's controls, I definitely got the impression that later levels of the game could be quite exciting.

Graphically, Echo Delta looks pretty solid, with some decent lightning and explosion effects. The sound is also pretty nice. Alerts concerning enemy attacks and the like are given in voice.

Echo Delta is currently 90 percent complete and is scheduled for a Japanese release this December at a price of 5,800 yen.