Endless Ocean Review

Alright my 1st review… here goes…
I’ve been eyeing Endless Ocean for some time but had no money for it much thanks to the upcoming Brawl release. Anyways to my surprise LATE XMAS PRESENT. Gift card of 25 bucks for Best Buy. Nothing was stopping me now so I took a trip and picked up my copy after much searching.

The game starts out fairly simple make a name, customize your diver, pick male or female than pick from a whopping 2 haircuts and 2 colors, blonde or brunet(Don’t worry later on you can customize as you unlock more). So you start out by learning how to swim which could not have been done easier. Simply point where you want to go hold the B button and off you go. You soon learn that if B is too much of a strain on your finger you can press the – button and it will auto swim in which all you have to do is point. A button is used to interact with objects and fishes such as poking and petting and along with B to grab things. Grabbing is only used on artifacts to collect or on bigger fish to hitch a ride. As you progress through the game you’ll run into a mischievous bottlenose dolphin and later on become friends with it. You will than be given the option to have it accompany you on dives.

The game is pretty straight forward and you can dive for your own enjoyment but to explore certain areas you have to follow the story… Yes there is a story. Katherine is your guide to the vast world of Manoa Lai. Kat will teach you how to play as well as tell you what to do to progress in the story. As you progress through the story you will get items that will further you enjoyment such as a flashlight for night diving and a special air mixture for deep sea diving. After receiving those two you can go where ever you please and just ignore her. Along with those you will receive a camera for taking pictures an underwater pen for drawing underwater (note you actually draw on the water and can swim through your own creations) and an underwater whistle used for recruiting new partners. Another reason I suggest following the story is so you see some of the rarer species which are truly amazing to swim with.

Other than free diving and story there are yet even more features. At certain points you will receive emails from people looking for a diving guide as well as magazine editors asking for pictures of certain fish. Performing these tasks is generally how you unlock new outfits and hairstyles. Guides generally ask to be taken to a certain area and to look for a certain fish. Photo requests are exactly as they sound like. Look for a fish snap a pic and send it back to them in a reply. Other than that the camera can be used mostly whenever you want to develop photos HOWEVER photos cannot be sent to Wii message board.


(Took This picture of Sunset from game)

Along with the typical diving there is another feature that I like to call Nintendolphins. While on deck you can go to the boats edge and play with your acquired dolphins or whales. During this mode you can give commands to up to 3 partners and than they will perform a little show for you. Commands include flips, back flips, tail walks, and singing along with others however with more practice than can performs tail walks longer and even perform double front flips and double back flips. Your partners skill in this feature does not affect their performance underwater but nonetheless very cool to watch.

And lastly is the in-game music. Every song included in this game is sung by Hayley Westenra. The first time I heard her songs in game I was quickly annoyed by them but after they became very soothing and well enjoyed. Not much can be said about the music as all songs have the same style though you are given the option to play your own custom .mp3 songs. Songs must be chosen while on deck and then will continue to loop while diving until you return to the boat (This goes for both in game music as well as custom .mp3 music). You could always just shut the music off all together if you just feel like swimming though.

Overall the game is exactly as advertised. A simple diving game that is easy to control for all ages. The game simply put is huge and will take a while to explore it all. Story mode is short if trying to rush it all however there is no possible way to rush when searching for sunken treasure and hidden artifacts as they are very easy to miss. Endless Ocean is quite possibly the most peaceful game I’ve ever played to the point where I feel asleep not because I was tired but because of how relaxed it made me. This game is not recommended for most gamers and has little to no action but is a great way to show off the Wii’s potential.

I give this game 4 out of 5
--Over 20 hours long possibly 40
--Beyond simple to control
--Amazing graphics close to lifelike
--Music is as good as you want it however there are no voiceovers (characters don’t even move mouth when talking)
--Cheap only 30 bucks
--Can’t get hurt (even running out of air will just send you back up)

By Kolma