Soothing, engrossing and utterly unique, a game to treasure... especially when you hit the pirate ship stage.
And by definitive I mean lazy and cobbled together from previous forum posts of mine
So I'm 27 hours into the Endless Ocean and the end is nowhere in sight. In fact I just discovered a whole new area and I keep discovering new species left right and centre. Since the game is one of those overlooked gems and since it's one of those rare occasions where europe receives a game well before america I will give you my sort-of-review-cobbled-together.
The game launches in the US in January 2008 at $30
For a game with supposedly nothing to do, this game is as much of a timesuck as Oblivion. You just lose yourself in this alien atmosphere and zone out to the tunes.
The game has the boat as a hub area, you move between different co-ordinates on a huge sea map. Then you get emails form the ocean foundation asking you to do research or take various VIPS on guided tours, find a certain fish, photograph something, train a dolphin, explore an unknown area etc. They are like mini missions.
All of this is kind of like an excuse because the basic underlying experience, the main grit of the game is basically swimming about, looking around at the fauna, animals and landscape, investigating those and chilling out to the music.
On your first encounter with a new species you will have to track it, click on it, which locks you onto the animal. Then either poke, rub or feed it to get some info. At that point an encyclopedia entry opens on screen which you can read. There are 3 parts to every animal and you have to unlock them stage by stage so it's not just inspect one animal then move on. There is replayability going back and gleaning more info. Generally the first stage of info is just a physical description. Later on you will be asked to photo a specific fish so you better start associating animals with names with enviroments.
Well, you can hold B to move and simply point to where you want your diver to follow. But for longer treks you hit the minus button and he continues moving forward till you hit any other button. When close to any surface in the game you can hit the + button and it goes into a hyper detailed fixed view of terrain in which you can pick up objects or interact with tiny fish otherwise not viewable.
A is the button that you use simply to point and click on animals to investigate them. The 1 button brings up the map, thankfully you can turn while on the map to orientate yourself. Hitting the 2 button puts you in a first person view, which is really great, it gives you this floating feeling. The d-pad scrolls between option icons such ascamera, pen, food, whistle, options and end dive. It uses just the remote yet uses every button of the remote. Most of the time you are just pointing and hitting minus to move. Or pointing and clicking A.
Now I wouldn't ever dare dream of buying a Hayley Westenra album, but just as Enya's music suited Lord of the Rings the music here perfectly suits the game. The game does a great job of tricking your mind into a scuba diving state, the way your character floats at jaunty angles, the rhymic and pulsating sound of your own breath through your air tube for instance or the bubbles escaping in front of you.
Some of the graphics are really impressive for Wii. Even on standard camera mode everything is detailed and really sharp. Go into first person mode and everything is just as crisp. There is also a focus mode, where you can zoom into a plant or coral or rock face, literally (anything) other than an animal and the game renders it in minute detail, so good that it looks like a 360 game at that point. I don't know if it's pre-rendered or not, it moves and flows with the water so I can't call it, but either way it looks GREAT.
The custom soundtrack is essential to this game, I've already dived into a huge ravine with the choral Odin Sphere theme. Gone into a Mermaids cave with the Zora's domain music. Swam about the lagoon to the NIGHTS theme Even circled a whale to the Okami music.
In most normal games you have those wow moments, usually when something blows up, or a huge boss appears etc. Endless ocean has those moments, but they usually occur when some massive underwater beast turns up, slowly ambling towards you in the shadows, or when you dive into a cave and a whole new area opens up.
The game teases you with these wow moments, the whales mostly. Your first encounter for instance is of a humpback whale that is migrating to a new area so you only have a brief glimpse. You eventually receive a deep sea diving air mixture and the night lights which allow you to dive into a huge ravine, down into the abyss. I saw a sperm whale. Sperm whales feed at incredible depths where humans can't venture, on giant squid so this one came out of the night and dived into the crevasse and I couldn't follow.... until I got the deep sea diving equipment.
The put into context one of those wow moments: I just got back from a trip down a deep crevasse with this deep water diving air mixture and....... That one seamless experience will live with me as one of those great gaming moments that I will always remember. Picture it, it's night, blackness and you cling to the wall and get this extremely alien feeling of vertigo as you vertically plunge down into the abyss, the light of your torch illuminating the rock wall as you descend. This choral, godly music echoes gently in the background as you go.
Then out of the dark murk a sperm whale emerges and the music reaches a high pitched crescendo and it drifts by, another tease as you can't track this one and it disappears. Then you submerge deeper and..... well I wont spoil the rest but OMG. Just wow, unlike any other game experience I've had. The whole game feels worth it just for that section.
I didn't think they could match that experience, that first encounter with a sperm whale but yeah, they do later and it's better.
I uncovered like 95% of the map so I thought that there was nothing else left to see, nothing that could suprise and enthrall me like the abyss or the central chamber of the ruins in marige atoll. Then last night I finally have the chance to explore the inner chambers of the mermaids cave. I only saw the first chamber before, but each cave is a different delight. I squealed like a delighted child when I saw a giant manatee. Chamber after chamber it keeps getting better until the final one where the music changes and you get a new track and it was.... it was like stepping into a fantasy movie or something, I could not stop grinning ear to ear at what I was seeing. I ambled around that chamber for a good 20 minutes looking around.
Last night I went back to the abyss to search for something and I came across a sperm whale again, that was like the 4th time I'd seen it in this setting. This time I followed it up to the green sun above and it was amazing, towards the end it even flipped onto its back so I was riding along its belly and it even seemed to look down on me. AMAZING
You really getting into the photos too, it's like Pokemon snap and you find your favourite animals, get some decent poses and later develop the pictures and put them in your album. Some missions have journal writers asking you to send them photos of specific animals, I sent one back and he sent me the finished article with my pic in it. Nice touch.
The visuals acheive all that they need to. Other than the odd poorly rendered creature the experience simulates natural beauty very well. It's hard to see how they could have gotten some of the textures any better, the lighting is natural, delicate and etherial. The animation is lifelike, the audio is superb and the addition of custom soundtracks make it better.
Last night I explored the ruins. You move from an open map to a dungeon area and which has currents, it's like a mini-zelda dungeon minus puzzles and enemies.
This morning I discovered a new area. You swim through this underwater garden, reeds brushing your face, bending to your will and then you open out into this cove of new creatures. The music is great too, all the games tracks aren't availible at the start, they gradually are unlocked the more you explore and it's getting better and better.
*Gaming gods please don't turn me into a Haley Westernra fan*
The experience can vary with little things. You make "friends" with certain animals like dolphins and seals and before you dive you can choose who you want to come with you or go alone if you want. For one dive I took the arisse dolphin which had followed me out of the abyss.
I entered this cove where fish had been funnelled by strong currents. Anyhow I was listening to the court suite from the Orchestrated Phoenix wright album. And just at the pinnacle of the song, as the music swelled I turned my view to a veritable torrent of swirling Blue tangs illuminated by rays of sunlight streaming down from the surface. And at that very point, as if to put that one perfect exclamation mark on the moment, my dolphin friend Sara started chirping at the best part of the song. It's such a great moment, but entirely random, that depended on where I was looking, what point in the song I was at, what song I chose, what animal I chose to accompany me and what area I chose to dive in.
What it means is that these moments can just happen in random and varied moments depending on a combination of little things.
This game is something so different, something so wonderful and we should be celebrating this title. It just presents you with experiences you never even dreamed of having from a videogame. And the experience unquestionably works. When the NGamer review called it console psychotherapy I can absolutely understand that now. You are at peace playing this game because it nails the ocean experience exactly how it is.