Game Review: Endless Ocean

Endless Ocean is a Wii game that I purchased with some money I received for my birthday.  At thirty dollars (bought at Best Buy), this game was a bargain! It is well worth every penny. The game features a large explorable ocean in which you can find many beautifully rendered fish. The whole game is immersive - you feel like you're really diving in the ocean.  The soundtrack is sung by talented New Zeland soprano Haley Westenra and is very relaxing - or you can also get the game to play your very own mp3 playlist, which is a nice touch!


The plot invovles discovering new fish, helping your diving partner with a mystery from her past, and finding strange objects and new species. You also have little side quests, like delivering fish to the aquarium, taking pictures for fish magazines, and acting as a dive guide for various folks. By doing the little missions, you can unlock new clothes and hairstyles and equipment for your diver. You also have a photo album which holds forty pictures  - you can take pictures underwater and on your boat.   The more you interact with sea life, the more information about them you unlock. This game is also very educational - it tells you facts about fish, birds, seals, whales, dolphins, sea birds, sharks - all sorts of creatures! There are hundreds and hundreds of critters to find - some only come out at night, and some can only be found during different seasons (there are day and night cycles and a calendar) or in different locations.


 As you go through the game, you can find various animals who will be your dive partner - dolphins and whales who want to be your friend and who follow your boat around. You can train them to do tricks, and when they dive with you in the ocean, they will sometimes point out objects or fish on the ocean floor. If you have a friend who has the game, you can visit their boat or have them visit yours so you can dive together.



 What I like most about this game is that there are many things to do. You can follow the plot, or just relax and pet fish.  You can fiddle with the settings on the camera and try to take the perfect fish picture. You can swim around and enjoy the scenery and explore new terrain. You can dress up your diver. You can get the game to play your music for you while you just putter around.  You can try to find all the pieces of objects scattered around the ocean floor. You can train your dolphin to do tricks. You can stock the aquarium with fish. You can read the encyclopedia for information on all the animals you've seen. There's so many things to do - and all of it is very relaxing, and low pressure. There is never any 'you must do this right right now' and there's no difficult maneuvers.

The controls are very easy  - you press B to swim (or the minus button for auto-swim), you press A to interact with something. To pet a fish, you press A and move the wiimote in a petting fashion. To poke a fish, you press A. To grab on to a dolphin and go for a ride, it's A and B.  To move up or down, or turn in the water, you just wave the wiimote in the directon you want to go. Very easy!

I think this would be a good game for children and adults alike. Even little kids would be able to swim through the water and pet the fish - adults could read the fish facts to them for a learning experience. Older kids who love animals would enjoy learning about the facinating creatures. And if you have a lot of stress related issues like I do, you would really like this game as it is very relaxing and beautiful.

Learn more about the game by visiting the Endless Ocean website -  there's some interactive fun and a free screensaver there, too.  And here's a video review in which you can see footage from the game itself.