Gamezebo Rating:

It's been said that in space, no one can hear you scream. Supposedly it has something to do with science. But there can be echoes in space, at least according to Echo Prime, a sci-fi action game by Robot Entertainment. The echoes in this case are much cooler than simple reflections of sound, helping to make an otherwise run of the mill slash-and-blast fest into something a little more enjoyable.

Though there's nothing immediately memorable about the protagonist of Echo Prime, he at least sports a character model that appeals to the little kid in all of us. Or as an actual little kid (my five-year-old son, to be specific) put it, "He looks like a guy in a robot suit with a gun and a sword!" His job is to set things right for humanity, or something of that nature, and fend off enemies called Slivers.

The laser pistol and sword come in pretty handy for doing that, but the real alien-dispatching fun comes from Echoes, which are beings from another dimension who grant your hero special abilities thanks to a weakened barrier between planes. These can be passive or active and come in just about every flavor: simple buffs, heals, additional attacks, the whole enchilada.

As your space warrior levels up, he can take more than one Echo into battle at a time, and they can be swapped out before each stage. On top of that, one extra Echo can be tapped into from another random player or a friend, adding both extra strategic options and an organic way to make the game more social. Other game developers, please take note.