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Endless Ocean: Blue World review

Game: Endless Ocean: Blue World
Platform: Wii
Genre: Adventure
Developer: Unknown

Staff review by Jason Venter

February 26, 2010

The ocean is both beautiful and inconvenient. It's beautiful because, well... just look at it. Swelling waves, a deep blue expanse with no true borders in sight, schools of fish and the mesmerizing sight of shafts of sunlight could keep an artist busy for all eternity. The ocean also is inconvenient, though. Most of us will only explore it vicariously, through film and the writings of Jules Verne. Few gamers will ever live within easy walking distance, but that only means that we can steer clear of the things that you don't read about on the postcards and the travel websites: the stink of salt and seaweed, the freezing wind lashing a fine mist against your skin, the risk of seagull droppings and the nearly constant rain.

There truly is much to love about the ocean, just as there's much to happily do without. Endless Ocean: Blue World, the latest Wii release from Nintendo, wisely focuses on the former.

Developed by Arika, Blue World is the latest and most polished in a growing series of ocean-based adventure titles that dates back to 2001's critically-lambasted Everblue for PlayStation 2. The team responsible for that particular misfire has had a lot of time to polish its craft, most recently with the original Endless Ocean in 2008. I didn't play that particular game and thus can't comment on its quality, but people obviously enjoyed it enough that a sequel made sense. I'm thankful for that fact, as it gave me the chance to embark on a relaxing undersea adventure that's sure to please many gamers like me who are perhaps looking for something that feels more like an experience and less like a video game.

That's not to say that there's no gameplay. For better or worse, there will be many moments where your reflexes and gamer intuition must come into play. You still rely on the Wii Remote (no Nunchuk, though) and you still mess around on menus, wait for load screens and perhaps even choose to reattempt ocean dives that go seriously wrong. Such moments remind you that you're a gamer and still in your living room or game room, but there are other moments where Blue World rescues you away from the hustle and bustle of day-to-day life and lets you pretend that you're part of something magical.

Early on, the aquatic magic isn't entirely evident. The game takes awhile to fall into its stride. Your first hour or so is spent doing things like naming your character (I went with a girl that I chose to name SassyPants and was pleased to find that I had characters to spare) and learning about the various resources that will be available to you during the ten or twelve hours of play that it will likely take you to reach the closing credits if you hurry. The initial tedium quickly dissipates, though, because once you know the ropes you're allowed to enjoy the game's main attraction: the diving.

Naturally, diving is what prevents Blue World from feeling much like "just another game." The waters of the world's most memorable bodies of water teem with life and play host to everything from seals to gray whales to eels to jellyfish. In most instances, you're able to move in close for an investigation and you can watch as shy fish retreat into their holes or hungry sharks circle in murkier waters as they make meal plans. The various residents of this liquid world seem apathetic about your presence. You're a novelty at best, hardly worthy of their attention because you mean them no harm and will likely be gone once you find the treasure that ultimately beckons you to this nearly mystical realm. The nature of it all is sufficient to put even the most critical of gamers under its voyeuristic spell, except then technology gets in the way.

The most obvious problem is that Wii isn't a graphical powerhouse. I can't imagine that my aunt or parents would care when playing the game, but that's only because they haven't yet been spoiled by truly high-definition gaming. Arika's artists have done what they could with what they have here, and the result is typically quite satisfactory. It's just so easy to imagine how much better things could have been with more detailed textures, sharper resolution and perhaps more underwater architecture. Blue World triumphs over such limitations and offers a more vibrant and varied environment than you'll easily find elsewhere in the system's library, but it's difficult not to mourn what might have been.

Another issue that I have with the game also relates to the control scheme. Despite my extensive experience with numerous Wii titles throughout the years, I often found myself shaking the controller back toward the center of my screen so that it would register after drifting off to one side or the other. The game puts you in an immersive world where you worry not only about a horizontal plane, but also a vertical one. Perhaps such issues were unavoidable, but I've played other titles on the platform with silky-smooth controls and I miss them here.

My final concern has nothing to do with any hardware limitations, however. As you explore that underwater realm, you'll perhaps find that it can be difficult to keep track of where you've been, what you've found and where you need to go. Pressing a button produces a map and perhaps your next objective with a red ink circle around it, but sometimes that's not as helpful as you might suppose. During one late mission, for example, I had difficulty finding markers near an air tank that was deposited along the ocean floor because I kept switching between maps when swam in the direction that appeared to be my destination. You'll always have the tools to figure your way around such puzzles, but sometimes things grow a bit frustrating until you succeed at a given objective.

For the casual gamer who just wants to dive into some underwater exploration, such hiccups won't come up with the same frequency that they will for those who are in a hurry to view the game's ending. You can ignore the more demanding missions, finishing them only at your leisure. It's possible to offer guided tours, to explore every nook and cranny of each map and to catalog a wide variety of species. Stepping on land gives you new options, including choices about which attire you'd like to wear and how you'd like to decorate Nineball Island, the place that serves as your main hub. It's even possible to train your dolphin or to head to an aquarium in Japan and swim with critters that you've found. There's also plenty of post-game content for those who want to keep going, ensuring that your adventure will probably last as long as your interest in the aquatic playground does.

Endless Ocean: Blue World winds up being somewhat difficult to rate as a game, because as a game it has enough shortcomings that many people could find that they would prefer something else instead. It's hard to blame them, though I would hasten to add that the unique thrills this artificial blue world offers do go a long way to justify the occasional inconveniences and occasional technical limitations that you encounter along the way. Besides, you can experience every last bit of it without ever having to endure the smell of salty brine and seaweed. For this virtual aquanaut, that's enough to warrant a recommendation.

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