However, once you get past the novelty and ingenuity of the multiplayer element, Echoes of Time is a pretty traditional action role-playing game. Level design is kind of neat -- we get to discover and follow narrow paths up to higher levels and swim in deep pools of water -- but battles are limited to hammering an attack button and using specific magic spells on certain enemies. What's more, the flip-switching, block-pushing puzzles are generously described as quaint. And the save-the-girl plot, while modestly entertaining, is interchangeable with those of dozens of other such games. Echoes of Time is an undeniably competent and fairly kid-friendly adventure, and it has some great multiplayer functionality, but it lacks the sort of memorable characters, puzzles, and battles found in the very best action role-playing games.
Graham Russell: "Generally, when you’re looking to play a game with friends, it’s much easier to do it on a home console. With portables, each player usually needs a system, and most need a copy of the game (and maybe some funky cables, if you go back enough). Generally, people haven’t bothered to take advantage of the technology. Of course, if you’re a crazy person like me, that’s more of an incentive than a barrier."
SPC: "Last week began the five week series of what I perceive to be the 50 best Nintendo DS games of the system's exhaustive library... This week we delve into ten more top titles for the Nintendo DS, one of the best-selling dedicated gaming platforms of all time, currently at around 150 million units worldwide across all revisions. On these ten titles for this week, we have a menagerie of memorable characters and series like Mario, Mega Man, and Sonic the Hedgehog. Remember that these games must have released in North America to be on this list. With that out of the way, are you ready for round two?"
Gaming Gauge writes:"It’s not a secret that I’m a massive fan of Square Enix’s Crystal Chronicles series, and oddly enough it was the second DS entry, Echoes of Time, that really cemented the series as one of my favourites. This was because it took the addictive multiplayer action online and really concentrated on making the experience natural and easy. There unfortunately hasn’t been a new entry in that style since then(fingers crossed there’s a new one at E3) but I was very excited when I heard that Square Enix was working with n-space on a new online dungeon crawling, hacking and slashing adventure for the 3DS; finally something to satisfy my hunger! My thought immediately went to how Square Enix should concentrate on this ease of use again and what lessons they should take away from Echoes of Time."
