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Endless Ocean: Blue World Review for Nintendo Wii

Endless Ocean: Blue World Review for Nintendo Wii

The Nintendo Wii is home to a lot of unique gaming experiences. One of those came to us in 2008 in the form of Endless Ocean; a game that, despite its screen-saver box art, satisfied our oceanic fantasies with simple diving mechanics and high-quality visuals. Flash-forward a little over two years, and the sequel – Endless Ocean: Blue World – is also making waves on Wii.

Endless Ocean: Blue World screenshot

The biggest complaint that I can level at Blue World is that it adds little to the formula; this is one sequel that essentially innovates in no substantive way. As such, you’re more or less going to be treated to the same experience that was on offer over two years ago. Of course, Endless Ocean was a widely-praised title, so mimicking the formula exactly is far better than throwing the baby out with the bath water. Still, I would have liked to have seen more than a new storyline and new environments.

The other major complaint, which likely isn’t an issue for anyone truly considering buying this game, is that its gameplay mechanics feature a plodding pace and is almost devoid of action – shooting your ‘pulsar’ at sharks in order to pacify them is more of an annoyance than fun. If you’re going to pick this game up, be sure you’re looking for a relaxing time full of exploration opportunities. If you’re looking to tear the limbs off mobster lobsters and wrestle with giant squids while saving the world from a one-eyed grouper-merman, this isn’t the title for you.

What Endless Ocean: Blue World does offer is hours of beautiful virtual diving. The serene visuals, countless varieties of ocean-bound wildlife, expansive, branching environments, and the utility belt full of exploration tools will give the right player a lot of bang for their buck.

Starting out in the South Pacific, you’ll join aging dive legend Jean-Eric and his granddaughter Oceana’s diving outfit in search of amazing artifacts and sunken ruins of civilization. After getting your sea legs at the crew’s atoll HQ, you’ll soon find yourself jet-setting around the world in search of clues and epic dives.

Endless Ocean: Blue World screenshot

The story in Blue World will likely give most players reason enough to work their way through the game. For me, I could have almost done without the plot entirely. In fact, the diving sections, filled with nooks and crannies to explore, fishes to identify, and valuable collectibles to find, are intriguing enough that I found the story portions actually got in the way. This is especially so when you have to fly back to your base of operations countless times – thousands of miles away – just to get an artifact appraised. What happened to the Internet? Waiting through a couple of load-screens, just to empty my salvage bag or to get info that’ll lead me to my next objective, felt artificial, yanking me out of the immersion. Still, I suppose the collectibles and artifacts you find are made more rewarding due to the fact that they help advance a narrative.

In terms of gameplay, you’ll mostly be tasked with exploring the depths and colorful coral reefs of the world’s oceans and seas. You’ll investigate and identify hundreds of ocean-dwelling species; I found the cataloguing of these animals to be quite rewarding because I was constantly treated to interesting informational tidbits. You’ll also have a ton of gadgets at your disposal to uncover priceless artifacts and even improve the health of the dive site denizens. You’ll also be able to train dolphins and create your own private reef. While I could have done without training Shizzle (my dolphin friend), building the private reef with hard-earned purchases and watching new residents come in was quite enjoyable. In fact, grooming your reef is a Viva Piñata-Animal Crossing-like experience that can be shared with friends over Nintendo’s Wi-Fi Connection. Showing off your reef to friends and then going out on dives together via the co-op online feature is a quality bit of gaming.

Endless Ocean: Blue World screenshot

Unfortunately, there are a few design choices that were annoying and hampered the experience somewhat. For example, my intellectual pursuits were occasionally interrupted by aggressive animals that would smack me, wresting me away from my desired course, if I didn’t deal with them first. Worse yet, you can only have one tool equipped at a time. That means while scanning the ocean floor, you won’t be able to bring up the mini-map to keep you on track, nor will you be able to research new species while healing sick ones. The constant switching between tools was tedious – favorite tools should have been mapped to the D-pad for easy access.

Endless Ocean: Blue World screenshot

Blue World’s presentation is pretty darned good. The visuals, for instance, are some of the best on Wii. This is especially so whilst underwater. From whales to sea slugs, sharks and tangs, you’ll be treated to highly-detailed visuals that look great despite their 480p resolution (of course, I still wonder what the franchise would be like if moved to the HD consoles). Sounds don’t fare quite as well. Undoubtedly, many will enjoy the relaxing tunes on offer (after all, ‘Endless Ocean Soundtrack’ is a Google search suggestion), but I found them to be too cheesy to be enjoyable. Additionally, any punch the story might have had is softened by an utter lack of voice work. That being said, the dialogue on offer is so trite, spamming through the text rather than slogging through poorly-voiced conversations might be far more desirable. Finally, the sound effects are good, but they aren’t quite enough to really immerse you in the diving experience.

Endless Ocean: Blue World is another enjoyable adventure in the unexplored vastness of the Earth’s oceans. As long as you can deal with the action-lite gameplay and lackluster storytelling, there is a lot to like.

RATING OUT OF 5 RATING DESCRIPTION 4.3 Graphics
The underwater environments and varied fish species are some of the best visuals we’ve seen on Wii. The surface views do suffer from jaggies, and the character design is pretty unimaginative. 3.5 Control
The Wii Remote alone is very functional, but the Classic Controller is best. After tweaking the defaults to my liking, the game was easy to control but would have been improved greatly if favorite tools were mapped to the D-pad. 3.5 Music / Sound FX / Voice Acting
The music is relaxing but very cheesy. There is no voice work (which could be a plus), and the sound effects aren’t as evocative as they should be. 3.6

Play Value
Diving, exploring, salvaging, and learning about ocean wildlife is actually quite satisfying. Of course, the lack of action makes this a niche title rather than one with particularly wide appeal.

3.6 Overall Rating – Good
Not an average. See Rating legend above for a final score breakdown.

Game Features:

  • The ocean is teeming with life. Hundreds of real-life species are there to be discovered, from seahorses to giant whales.
  • Are the local fish sick or agitated? Players can view their health status and then use a tranquilizer-like tool to zap the ones in need of rehab with healing energy.
  • The game also includes a storyline that players can follow as they choose. The plot involves Oceana, a woman who investigates the “Dragon’s Song,” which her father, a prominent ocean explorer, was searching for just before his death.
  • While at Nine Ball Island, players can become friends with a dolphin and teach it some new tricks. When ona dive, players can even bring along the dolphin, which players can hold onto for extra fast swimming.
  • For the first time in the series, friends who have broadband Internet access can connect and dive with one another via Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection, while using the Wii Speak microphone to converse.
  • Players: 1, 2 via Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection.

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