Endless Ocean for the Nintendo Wii: Review

I was waiting for the arrival of Endless Ocean for the Nintendo Wii for quite some time now.
When I first heard that the title was being released for only $29.99, I assumed immediately that the game would suck. Most games released at $29.99 for the Wii have proven to be horrible, and crappy games, with horrible graphics, and horrendous game-play.

However after seeing a few screenshots of Endless Ocean, I was left on the fence. I didn't know what to expect. Some screenshot showed some pretty gnarly looking graphics, while others showed a less lush environment.

Game play:
 
First I had to choose whether or not I wanted to use a male or female diver. I of course choose a female. Sadly though she was not very customizable. I was either to choose a long hair style, or short one. I also only had the option to give my character brown hair or black hair. Red and blond were not included.

After giving my girl a name, I was then introduced to my guide. She basically is my tutorial, on hand at all times. She told me how to dive, and basically broke down the aspects of my controls.

Diving was easy, and only consisted of holding down the B button, and navigating with the Wii mote. If I wanted to swim to the left, I only had to point the wii mote in that direction.

I could also press the plus button to have my character moving/swimming without me having to hold the B button down.

As far as game play goes... there is no game play. So they say. I however beg to differ. Along the way you have to option to pick up mini side missions, such as touring other divers through the sea, and showing them a variety of fish.

You also can interact with the many different types of fish, once you get to know them a photo of them will be placed in the encyclopedia, with a brief summary of what kind of fish they are. Your goal is to fill the encyclopedia up with all of the fish in the sea.

Interacting with fish:
 
You can pet them, until they like you, you can feed them, or you can touch them. The interaction in my opinion gets boring after awhile... but its always cool when you find a new species.

The Boat:
 
After every dive, you can come back up onto the sailboat. On the sailboat you may interact with your partner, or you may interact with animals that may be on the boat. I so far have had interactions with different types of seal, penguin, and other land mammals.

Besides this, in the boats cabin you will find that you can receive email. Emails usually include thank you notes, and descriptions of areas you have been diving. You may also get a small task here.
In the cabin you can also change the time from night to day. During day and night different species come out.

Not only that, but you can also change scuba gear (when you work up to that area in the game), check out fish you have gotten to know in the encyclopedia, and more.

What loved most though was being able to sail my boat to any area on the ocean map. I did have to wait a few moments into the game for the wheel to be made useful. However I was having such a good time that I didn't even notice it was locked.

You do not have to do anything to unlock wheel use. Just dive, come back up to the boat, and the girl on the boat will give you a key.

Environment:
 
The ocean is huge. You will find yourself swimming in small lagoons, caves, arctic waters, and deep deep diving areas. The deep diving areas however do not open up for access until you have the required deep diving equipment. You can get new items by completing mini tasks given to you.

Graphics:
 
Endless Ocean was pretty impressive. I especially liked being able to zoom in on certain corals and fish.

Each area you swim in has a unique environment. The coral, and the fish all look very realistic, and swim naturally. They don't look fake, and swimming is actually enjoyable.

Every aspect of swimming was nice. Filled with gorgeous coral, sponges and fish, everything was lush, and looked pretty realistic.

Music:
 
I was not fond of the music in the game. One tune in particular was very whiny, and annoying.
What is cool though about Endless Ocean, is that you have the ability to add your own music into the game using an SD card. Pretty nifty!

Partners:
 
In the game there are approximately 3 partners your diver will make friends with along the way. These partners will become useful while diving. So far I have only a dolphin partner. I don't really use him much though. He can be trained, but I find training to be a boring task which makes little to no sense.

I find that these partners are basically only useful for when you hook up to wifi and compete with other users in competitions using your partners. Although I have a wifi connection, I didn't bother hooking up because I assumed it would be boring and confusing.

Items:
 
While diving you may see shiny spots on the sand and hidden in coral. These are hidden objects that others have lost in the water. You can find jewels and other objects that will be given to the museum.

Photos:
 
The most confusing part of the game for me was photos. My guide kept telling me about pictures I could take and sell for things later on...however my diver had no camera, and I still don't know how to get one.

I'm not sure how cool photo taking would be, but I find it neat that I could get money or rewards by selling photos.

Overall:
 
There is tons to explore in Endless Ocean. You do not have to finish any tasks if you don't want to, but it just makes the game more enjoyable. Diving looks pretty realistic, and the game really relaxes you.
I enjoy it, and it is a game that I would pick up time and time again. There is so much to see and do, I haven't even covered half of the map yet, and I played or hours this weekend.

Recommended?
 
Yes. Endless Ocean is $29.99 well spent.