Discovering the endless in Endless Ocean

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RohanS added 2008-04-15

After reading your article on Nintendo Wii "Endless Ocean", i was a bit apprehensive when my girlfriend presented me with a copy as a present.

i found that after an initial forray my sentiments were similar to the articles author. However as a sign of affection i continued. To my surprise i found the game incredibly addictive, with issues grumbled about in the original article vastly outweighed by the positives.

The game does indeed follow a plot, though it is loosley cast so that the player can follow it to their leisure.

Having subsequently finished the game i can now say that it is well worth persevering. Players can expect to get both a torch and camera, which opens the game options right up. Doing night dives doubles the playability of each dive site and the camera "missions" give a different focus to each dive.

Without ruining the game for anyone, i will say that players can expect to dive some fascinating dive sites including a underwater cave system, a 150m volcanic abyss and the sunken ruins of an ancient structure. For me discovering these sites was a bit of a thrill, but i also found the challenge of finding new creatures (and finding out about them) very satisfying.

In playing the game i think i realised the designers intent to provide a glimpse of scuba diving without any of the usual technical aspects of it. While i personally would have enjoyed the challenge of planning and executing dives with air or nitrogen limits, including correct dive profiles, i also agree that including this would limit the game to gamers with this knowledge. Instead i simply enjoyed diving with the prime motivation of exploring and discovering different fish. I found the idea of learning about the fish "on the spot" was excellent + i also found myself using the map to test my navigation skills by always returning to the boat before finishing my dive.

To summarise, i found the game completely engrossing, despite some of the drawbacks mentioned in the original article. Gamers should play this game with the idea of enjoying everything a virtual diver could, without all of the restrictions that an actual diver has. My hope is that Nintendo bring out an "advanced diver" edition marketed for actual scuba divers.

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