Gives you a beautiful/tranquil feeling of escapism into 3D ocean environments.
The story is about how Earth has been conquered by some alien race known as the 'Foe' and the Foe used time travel and earth has become all weird,even under the ocean,things become very different.Ecco needs to make a long,dangerous journey throught he sea to stop the 'heart of the foe.
On his journey,he'll encounter dangerous creatures such as sharks,giant worms/eels and Ecco will need to communicate with other sea creatures such as whales and dolphins or these mysterious crystals,because they will give him information he needs to know.You'll need to solve some puzzles or travel through some long under-water caves(remember Ecco needs to resurface for air occasionally,so you can't get lost in the long,dark caves).You might need to do things such as finding a lost whale calf and reunite him/her with their mother or will need to find where the crystal or friendly sea creatures are so you can get information to progress the story or you will need to find your way through multiple under-water passages/caves to gain information or to do tasks.Some tasks can be simple fetch quests.
The sea is a dangerous place in this game,because besides sharks,there's also sharp,vegetation on the under-sea cave walls that will harm Ecco if he swims into them and there's giant worms/eels that will pop out of walls and attack you.
Ecco can do a dash attack against enemies and can upgrade his sonar to destroy undersea walls so he can move through certain areas.
What makes this game stands out is it's beauty,tranquility,peacefulness.The undersea environments have beautiful blue water and you can feel it surrounding you and you'll see detailed sandbeds,ripple effects and bubbles in the water,you'll see a variety of fish swiming around and other sea creatures,detailed rock structures/caves and there's darker undersea environments when you go deeper.
The game also has mysterious alien looking technology and what looks like the ruins of under-water cities.
At times you'll see a beautiful sunrise/sunset effect and it blends beautifully with the surface of the sea.
The music has an almost new age sound to it,and suits the undersea atmosphere perfectly and is relaxing and beautiful and tranquil.
The only things I don't like about this game are the camera works against you sometimes and the VA's for the story narration are terrible.
But otherwise,it's a wonderful and tranquil experience.