N+ Review: Endless Ocean
By seaempty. Monday, 12. November 2007, 17:02:27
Endless Ocean is the latest Wii game to be released by Nintendo under the Touch Generations range. The game places you on a boat in the middle of an ocean, and let’s you explore the underwater world to your heart’s content. The idea of delving into the depths of idyllic and tranquil waters was too good for N+ to miss, and we couldn’t wait to dive in. Read on to see what we discovered.
Endless Ocean is an amazing game to play. It is probably one of the most unique gaming experiences I’ve had. Above the water the graphics are pretty poor, with some bland and jerky animations, but when you head underwater you are enveloped in a gorgeous and captivating world. Not only is the marine life captured perfectly, but some of the structures and rock formations are truly breath-taking. I’m struggling to think of another videogame which has made me say “wow” on a more regular occasion. When you are diving in a deep, dark abyss, and suddenly your torch-light hits a gigantic sperm whale swimming a few feet away from you, it’s hard not to say anything else. Or when you are following a narrow underwater cavern, which suddenly opens up to a large grotto with towering limestone columns, or when you hitch a lift on a whale shark to find that you’ve discovered a submerged temple that can be explored. No, there’s no way to die, no way to be hurt, no bosses to kill, but the anticipation of what you might stumble across next in the Endless Ocean that Nintendo has created is in so many more ways more entertaining.
You start the game as a diver, drafted in to help a marine biologist explore the region of the fictional Manaurai Sea. The marine biologist, a woman called Catherine, unfortunately can’t swim, and therefore needs you to carry out research on her behalf. At first she acts as your tutor, introducing you to the controls and tools, and offers you advice and instructions throughout the game. She acts as your guide to the areas that you visit, but when and where is completely up to you. You move your boat to an area on the chart, dive down, and explore the area. The game is controlled solely with the Wii Remote, and it works very well. You point where you want to swim, and press the B Button to start kicking. You interact with creatures using the A Button, and the D-Pad brings up different tools and options you might need. It’s a simple system that is mastered quickly, and allows you to start exploring instantly, which is what this game is all about.
Endless Ocean is an odd game in that there appears to be no real objective when the game starts. You must help Catherine catalogue marine life, and so every creature you meet must be interacted with to gain more information. You can poke them, rub them, grab them, and feed them, and the more times you do this, the more information you will get. There are over 300 species to encounter and record, and they are found in a variety of places. The Manaurai Sea covers a huge area (there are over 100 squares on the sea chart), and has a wide variety of environments, from shallow waters, deep abysses, intricate cave structures, and even an underwater temple. Each area is home to different species of marine life, including sharks, octopi, starfish, walruses, sea lions, lobsters, whales… the list is impressive, and when you consider that certain species only appear at particular times of the day, it will take some time to just encounter the creatures, let alone get all the information available on them. Endless Ocean is not in real time, and you can fast-forward the clock to help you, but with seasonal migrations amongst other factors, the catalogue won’t be completed easily.
Cataloguing marine life is not the only objective to the game and you will often be given tasks to do from various people. At an early stage you get given an underwater camera, and people will start to request pictures of certain fish, or animals. As well as photographing marine life, you will also be asked to take guests on diving tours, showing them creatures native to particular areas. They will always be keen to see a one specific species, and if you find one for them to see during the tour, you will receive a higher rating. Completing either task rewards you with new equipment to customise the look of your diver, or new tools to help you explore more areas of the sea. The photography is a fantastic feature of Endless Ocean, and the camera is one of the most detailed I’ve seen in a video game. Not only can you control zoom, and focus, but there’s also the ability to change the aperture. It is, however, underutilised; you can only keep 40 photos in your album, and there’s no ability to share photos with other people. You can take some stunning shots, and it would be great to be able to save them, and email them via the Wii messaging service. Although it may seem like a minor gripe, your efforts feels wasted without this.
The Manaurai Sea is home to a number of legends, and as you progress through the game, you start to discover more and more about them. Although Endless Ocean appears to have no structure, a story does start to develop during the game. Not to give too much away, it involves Catherine and her past. She’s a rather odd character (who has some serious issues, if you ask me), but she’ll begin to explain more about her mysterious past as the game goes on. From the start of the game Catherine will direct you to specific areas on the map, and urge you to explore them. In many of these locations you can find and salvage artefacts on the sea-bed, which trigger new events, giving you a reason to visit another part of the map. It’s a great way of getting you to explore the chart, and makes you want to keep playing the game. Exploring the sea is a joy, and Endless Ocean will engross you. The hours seem to slip by whilst you’re exploring the depths, and you want to keep diving to discover the next secret the ocean has to show you.
There’s much more to Endless Ocean than you may expect. You can create an aquarium to display some of the creatures you have encountered, and even go diving with a friend via Nintendo’s WFC. Although there’s no voice chat, you can use preset messages to communicate, and even use an underwater pen to point out objects of interest. You will meet several animals in the Manaurai Sea that you can adopt, and act as your diving partner. These include several species of dolphin and a false killer whale, and once you have earned their trust they will accompany you on your dives. They may point out areas of interest, or lead you to discover some of the game’s secrets, but they can also be trained. Back on the boat you can teach them tricks, and with daily practice, they can put on some impressive shows. It’s like a very basic version of Nintendogs training, but won’t keep you occupied for long. Gestures with the Wii Remote would’ve have made it a much better feature, but as it stands, giving instructions is just pressing buttons in a certain manner. The music in Endless Ocean also deserves a mention, and features a selection of songs by Hayley Westenra. They’re perfectly suited to the game’s tranquil nature, but if they’re not to your taste, you can play your own MP3s stored on an SD card.
Endless Ocean is an impressive game. It is a game that will amuse you for hours on end, and perfect for the casual gamer, with simple controls and a relaxing pace. It’s a stunning game, with some breath-taking environments that create a truly memorable gaming experience. It’s much more than simply cataloguing fish, and to explore all that the Manaurai Sea can offer will keep you occupied for a very long time. There are some wasted opportunities, and the ability to share your underwater photography with the world would have been very welcome. It’s certainly not the type of game that will appeal to everyone, but if you ignore Endless Ocean, you will be missing out on something special.
N+ Summary
Game: Endless Ocean
Developed by: Arika
Genre: 3rd Person Adventure
Players: 1
Release Date: August 2, 2007 (JP) November 9, 2007 (EU) January 21, 2008 (NA)
Rating: Pegi: 3+, ESRB: E
Supports WFC: Yes
Video available: No
N+ Points
N+ Impressive underwater graphics
N+ Simple controls
N+ Large area to explore
N+ Truly breath-taking gaming experience
N+ Good use of the WFC
N- Points
N- Catherine is a rather annoying character
N- No ability to share photos
N- Diving partner training is very basic
JudgmeN+: 8.0
GAME | Amazon.co.uk | Play Asia | Amazon.com
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.ed # 12. November 2007, 17:56
great review, too, this is one game i would have otherwise not read about, now i know it's actually pretty decent.
the WFC diving is crazy
Anton # 12. November 2007, 18:22
Pikachu Electron # 12. November 2007, 22:21
Then again it could be co-reviewed by CaptainSeagull as well .lol
MK # 13. November 2007, 00:25
Yamurr # 13. November 2007, 01:36
im not going to bang on 2 long as you did a good job of pointing out the faults/strenghts of the game
it seems to me to be a very long game, im only 6 hours into it but have barly scratched the surface! so for £20 its more than value for money, so i reakon that should of been a N+ point
on a side note...seaempty do u want to go diving with me at sum point? i have ur FC and check if ur on when ever i boot the game up but ur never on (or dont have ur gate open anyways
Anton # 13. November 2007, 04:36
seaempty # 13. November 2007, 07:08
It'd be ace to go diving - I'm free most evenings. If you're able to get onto the N+ IRC channel, it'll be a doddle.
.ed # 13. November 2007, 16:27
haha
GAMEBOYZINDAHOOD # 13. November 2007, 22:23
WiiMaster999 # 4. December 2007, 20:57
Don't yet know my Wii code, only just got the thing.
Anyone know where to find it?
Yamurr # 6. December 2007, 07:41
if u still cant find it im sure some one else can give you more details
Ryan # 29. January 2008, 12:58
Awesome Review and Game!
Anton # 29. January 2008, 16:27