Difficulty:

Very Easy

Time Spent:

20 to 40 Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Immersive"

Let me preface this review with a warning: Endless Ocean is not, I repeat NOT a game. There is no real story to speak of, or even a goal to accomplish. Don't jump into this thinking you'll That's not to say, however, that it's not enjoyable.

Endless Ocean can best be described as a scuba diving simulator. You, a marine biologist, are on a boat with your colleague, another biologist who cannot swim. Her goal is to complete an encyclopedia of all the life in the ocean. The way you collect the information is by swimming and interacting with the fish around you.

Controlling your movement is simple. Simply point where you want to go on the screen, hold B and you will let you swim to where you want to go. Shaking the Wiimote side to side lets you do a barrel roll, and flicking it up instantly turns you around. Generally, it all works as it should. There are just occasional times when your intended barrel roll turns in to a flip. Apart from that minor annoyance, the controls work just fine.

Sometimes you will have something specific to accomplish on your dive. The company you are working for sometime emails you requests, either for a photograph of a specific fish, or asking you to guide a tour. These help add a little variety, but sadly, there's no real reward to speak of for doing a good job.

When you aren't under water, you have a couple options. You can walk around your boat, as small as it is, and interact with any animals that climbed up on the deck. Walruses, polar bears, birds and sea lions will all come join you from time to time.

You can also play with the dolphin friends you make throughout the game. As you encounter dolphins during your dives, they will become familiar with you, and will start to show up around your boat. When this happens, you can name them and play with them. Touching different parts of the dolphin in different ways (be it by tapping or rubbing them) will instruct him to do different tricks. Swing the Wiimote from side to side and the show will commence. The more you play with them, the better they will become at their tricks. They can even accompany you during your dives, if you want some company.

Although there's no no specific goal, or a challenge to complete, the gameplay in Endless Ocean works well to create a nice, relaxing experience.

Graphically, Endless Ocean is a very mixed bag. The under water effects, where you'll spend most of your time are very nice. The sun comes through the water very realistically, making for beautiful scenery. Your character moves realistically, as do the fish swimming around you. When you are walking on the boat, however, the movement becomes very robotic and stiff. Overall, however, the graphics in Endless Ocean really give you the impression that you are under water.

The sound remains excellent throughout the entire game. The music is soothing and fits the mood perfectly. The sound effects give you the feeling that you really are scuba diving.

Endless Ocean certainly isn't for every one. Any one expecting an action packed adventure will be very disappointed. If, however, you just want a calm, relaxing experience, you will have no problem losing yourself in the endless ocean.