Review

Platform: Wii
Developer: Arika
Publisher: Nintendo of America, Inc.

Reviewed by Burk Frey on 2.16.2008

Review Rating: 8/10

User Rating: 8.33/10

You're underwater, off the coast of Manoa Lai in the Pacific. A small school of Yellow Tang drifts by. Everything is cool and blue, and the only sound you hear is the gentle in, out... of your respirator. You kick downward idly, observing the colorful, exotic coral on the shelf floor. Your hands balance you as you press towards the edge of the ocean shelf, your body tossing up sand as it passes over the floor. As you reach the edge, you peer over, and are treated to a truly majestic sight: a forest of kelp stretches dozens of feet below you, the bottoms fringed in blue opacity. All manner of sea life darts between the stalks, and a pod of dolphins, barely visible, plays in the distance.

Welcome to Endless Ocean!

The underwater world of the Manoa Lai Sea is a gorgeously diverse place. You'll find everything from hidden caves, to old shipwrecks, to deep trenches. Though the sea and island country of Manoa Lai are fictional, they're based roughly on locations within our western Pacific Ocean. The animal species in the game are quite real, however, and many of them are native to the real-world Pacific - a nice touch. And of course, everything has that bright, tranquil Polynesian aura.

As the game begins, the player - a professional diver - is assigned to the sailboat Gabbiano in the Manoa Lai Sea for research. Fellow researcher Katherine Sunday has already been working aboard for an unspecified time, and the two of you essentially man the boat. Your initial relationship with Katherine is positive, but very detached and casual; it's somewhat like a friendly business acquaintance. Katherine (a native to Manoa Lai) introduces you to the place and helps you out a bit. Other than that, she does her thing and lets you do your thing, which is dive and loaf around. As you progress in the game, Katherine opens up to you about some past events, and begins to rely on you to help provide closure. The story between the two characters is finely woven - the player really becomes attached to them - yet it doesn't hinder the main focus of the game, exploration and relaxation. Despite their overt fondness for each other, the player's character and Katherine never reach the point of a romantic relationship, but that's just as well. The former's aloofness and the latter's intense focus on her work become surprisingly endearing traits.

Endless Ocean essentially progresses via two methods. Firstly, a PDA phone in the cabin receives e-mail from the research institute and private individuals. The e-mails ask for some sort of service, mainly for underwater photography or a private diving session. Secondly, Katherine herself can request something of you, as a personal favor. Either way, there's no strict time table for obliging, and if you want, you can just go diving and never reply at all. This system works perfectly, because it suits the player no matter what they want to do. If you want to do the story thing, great; if you want to dive and relax, great. The game never forces your hand.

Nevertheless, you'll be shocked at how engaging and driven the story is, if you want it to be. Endless Ocean sells on the mantra of "it's not a game, it's an experience", and to an extent that's true. But for gamers wondering if there will be "anything to do," rest assured, there's plenty of traditional game objectives to complete. I know, I was surprised too. My completion time for beating the game at a moderately fast pace was 15 hours, and that's not even close to the amount of time you can spend exploring everything, getting 100%, or playing co-op.

Okay, so then let's start exploring, right? First, you get behind the wheel of the Gabbiano and select a diving point on the map. From there, Katherine takes over while you head beneath the waves. She'll be your backup over the radio. Controlling your diver is handled with just the Wiimote. No Nunchuk, no nothin', which is a perfect choice for the laid-back style of gameplay. Hold B to swim, point where you want to go, and interact with fish and treasure with A. The D-Pad brings up your items (such as fish food or your camera) and allows you to return quickly to the sailboat. Finally, you can press the - button to autoswim, which is super convenient.

As you explore the underwater nooks and crannies of Manoa Lai, you'll notice a wide variety of sea creatures. It is in this respect that Endless Ocean feels expertly balanced: care was taken to include enough large species to maintain the "wow" factor, but also a generous number of small species to keep things from getting repetitive. What's more, many fish in the game only occupy an area during specific seasons, so you may only find them in the warmer or cooler months. Same goes for the time of day - certain fish are night dwellers, whereas others may be most active in the morning or midday. The season / time system adds a nice layer of complexity to spice up the exploration a bit. Even if you've dived in a certain area of the map before, you're likely to get a different experience when you visit again. And when you do find a new species, as you often will, no information will be available about it at first. But as you observe it and interact with it, you'll learn more and more specifics about that particular species.

This latter aspect leads to another feature in Endless Ocean. As you interact with certain creatures (dolphins, mostly), occasionally one will become attached to you and follow you back to the Gabbiano. Now that you've formed a bond with that animal, you can call it to the boat at any time and interact with it above the water. Your new animal pal can be trained to perform a bunch of neat tricks, in a similar fashion to Nintendogs - only with less dog, more dolphin. The training system is entirely inconsequential to the rest of the game... it's there if you want it, but you don't have to participate if it isn't your thing. It is, however, beneficial to befriend at least one animal buddy. Once you do, they can accompany you on dives, and their keen animal senses will direct you to hidden items and creatures that aren't as visible to human eyes.

I mentioned underwater photography earlier, and how it's one of the tasks that clients will ask you to perform. But you can also take photos just for your own enjoyment: you can photograph the animal pals you've befriended, other creatures, and even the underwater vistas. For the photography buffs out there, you'll be pleased to know that the camera in Endless Ocean has a nice set of options compared to cameras in other video games. There's a semi-manual focus feature, and you can select aperture (from f2 through f8) and zoom level. Though ISO and shutter speed aren't selectable, your photos will be blurred realistically in low-light areas or for a fast-moving subject. Likewise, the various levels of aperture usually provide realistic depth of field, which is really cool. For the photography dabblers, you don't have to worry about any of what I just said - you can automate everything and still get some great photos. As it turns out, photography is one of my favorite parts of Endless Ocean. You can get some really fantastic and unique photos, worlds beyond anything found in a game like Pokemon Snap. Your 40 best photos can be placed in a photo album in the Gabbiano's cabin; it's surprisingly fun to fill it up and then look back at all your photographs later on, adding new ones as you go.

A big reason why the photography - and the game as a whole - is so successful is because of the beautiful graphics. The visuals in Endless Ocean positively draw the player into the game world. There's nothing like diving in between bits of rock formations, schools of colorful fish and coral fading into the distance. Or poking your head above the waves, mask speckled with drops of water, to see your boat silhouetted in the setting sun. When diving, you have the option of a first or third-person view; they're both good, but the addition of third-person view is a treat. The previous games in the series, Ever Blue and Ever Blue 2 for the Playstation 2, only offered a first-person perspective, so the ability to choose is much appreciated. Either way, half of the fun is just exploring all the underwater sights. Sure it's laid back, but the visuals deliver. There is the rare occasion when you're swimming next to a rock wall and, momentarily, everything just looks extraordinarily bland. But for the most part, everything is respectably detailed, scenic, and realistic. Pay no attention to the HD fanboys trolling Endless Ocean on online blogs and news sites... As much as I love HD gaming, there was never a moment where I thought, "gosh, I sure would be enjoying this more if it were on my PS3." The game is quite beautiful as-is, so cheers to development team Arika for a job well done.

The soundtrack is the second big piece of the Endless Ocean experience. The vocal tracks are sung predominately by Hayley Westenra, a young soprano from New Zealand. Her work is, without question, absolutely fantastic. Not only that, but it suits the setting of the game perfectly. A few of the tracks are sung in the Māori language, from the indigenous people of New Zealand (notably the traditional Māori folk song "Pokarekare Ana"). That being the case, the music fits right in with the flavor of the the game's Pacific Rim locale. The vocals themselves generally have a sort of ethereal, New Age vibe, ranging from quiet and meandering to triumphant and epic. The wide range in tone covers the varied undersea locations quite splendidly.

I would be remiss, also, if I didn't note that some of the music contains a minor Christian influence. The most obvious example is a rendition of "Amazing Grace" (though tastefully done); all of the other songs are significantly less in-your-face about it. Due to my personal spiritual background, the theistic undertones in some of the tracks served to deepen the experience, but your mileage may vary. Just fair warning. All the same, this is one of the finest soundtracks of the past few years, so ignore at your own indiscretion. Westenra's hauntingly beautiful vocal work and the slow, impassioned strings complement the ocean visuals like nobody's business.

A second (and quite welcome!) component to the music is Endless Ocean's compatibility with custom MP3 soundtracks. Yep, just like Excite Truck, you can load up an SD card with your tunes and listen to the music in-game. Throw some more Hayley Westenra on there, or put in some death metal (totally ruins the feel of the game, but it's good for a laugh). At any rate, I have to commend the devs for including the wonderful soundtrack and custom MP3s. The soundtrack is great, but the latter adds some variety and replayability to Endless Ocean. My current favorite MP3? "Monkey Billards," from the Super Monkey Ball soundtrack. Perfect for a whimsical daytime dive... try it, you'll like.

On the sound effect side, there's less to be enthusiastic about. It's not that the sounds are bad, it's just that a game based under the sea is necessarily going to be a bit lacking in quantity. Not too many fish make sounds that we can hear. Compounding this issue is a total lack of vocal work for Katherine. However, there are a few bright spots. The sound of your respirator, essentially the only constant sound, sounds pretty okay and never becomes irritating. The above-water sounds, mostly seagulls and lapping waves, are effective at conveying a cheery, tropical atmosphere. My absolute favorite, however, is a low, tension-filled rumble that encompasses the player in the deepest and darkest parts of the ocean. It's very subtle, and I don't know what the hell it's supposed to be, but it's simply unnerving. Combined with the pitch black water in those areas, you get the definite feeling that you are diving beyond your limits.

Examples like the rumbling effect above demonstrate a level of polish uncommon to a "budget" $30 console game. Honestly, I was a bit surprised to find that Endless Ocean feels so finely tuned and complete. There are little touches all throughout the seas of Manoa Lai that really sell the experience. The particle work, in particular, is very good. Additionally, at any point during a dive, you can approach the surface of the water and press A to poke your head up. This allows you to see where your boat is, as well as the geometry and location of the surrounding islands. Back on the Gabianno, there're several things you can do. Occasionally seaborne birds or animals will fly or swim up to the boat, and you can interact with them. You can develop your photographs, which is done by selecting the camera sitting in the boat's cabin. Most actions aboard the Gabianno are initiated this way: by selecting a real-world item versus an option from a menu. Most cleverly, the process for starting up Wi-Fi play involves physically lowering a ladder on the side of the boat so that other "divers" (aka players) can come aboard.

Wi-Fi play? That's right, Endless Ocean features co-op diving between two players online. Once the requisite Friend Codes are exchanged (ugh), you can be on your way. It's possible to mess around on your friend's boat or show off one of your animal buddies, or just get to exploring. Unfortunately, there's no voice chat - more resultant from Nintendo's current setup than any omission by Endless Ocean's developers. A rudimentary communication system using the D-Pad was included instead, and it offers enough to get by without too much hassle. Wi-Fi play is a nice diversion from the single player game if you have a like-minded buddy to explore and kill some time with.

Of course, online co-op is just another piece of Endless Ocean's already generous replayability. As mentioned, you can expect the main story to run roughly 15 hours, and there are many more little odds and ends to fill in the experience. Firstly, you can customize your diver with different hairstyles, air tanks, buoyancy vests, flippers, and wetsuits that are unlocked as you progress. There are all sorts of underwater artifacts and treasures to find in Manoa Lai, and the ones you've found will be added to a footlocker on the boat for viewing. Similarly, each creature in the game is added to an encyclopedia once you discover them, but you'll often have to interact with the creatures over multiple dives to learn everything there is to know about them. The game features an aquarium that you can populate with any sea life that you've discovered, and then dive amongst them. On top of that, factor in that the photography alone will be akin to another half-game for many players, and there's a lot to enjoy and experience here.

Endless Ocean is a paramount, shining example of the escapist side of gaming. It contains a surprising amount of traditional game elements, yes, but the real draw here is the relaxing and soothing world of Manoa Lai that Arika has so lovingly crafted. It probably isn't for the Madden / GTA / Halo only crowd, but chances are most other gamers will get a lot out of this one. The visuals, controls, and music are top-notch efforts, all pushing towards the end result of a laid-back gaming diversion. Readers, consider this one highly recommended.

Boxart

Media

2.16.2008 - Japanese Screenshots (9)