Game Review: Endless Ocean
Nick Chordas - The Columbus Dispatch
Jan 29, 2008
Consider Endless Ocean the stress ball of video-game titles.
More relaxation device than game, the undersea simulator asks players to explore the ocean floor, identify marine life and collect the occasional treasure -- all set to a soothing new-age soundtrack.
What developer Arika hasn't included are time limits or punishments for leaving certain tasks incomplete or even undone.
The pace of the game is up to the player, who inhabits the customizable body of a scuba diver charged with helping the Manoa Lai Oceanic Research Society.
"Missions" include locating aquatic species, accompanying paying customers on leisurely dives and training dolphins to do tricks.
Virtual divers are also rewarded from time to time with new equipment, including diving suits, dolphin whistles and an underwater camera.
Some tasks are required for the player to progress, but none must be performed with any urgency.
One of the game's simplest pleasures is taking long sojourns in the vast, detailed underwater environment. Running out of air, as far as I could tell, is impossible.
What's interesting is that Endless Ocean holds appeal for video-game rookies intimidated by complex controls and tasks as well as for veterans bored by first-person shooter and racing titles.
Not that Endless Ocean provides endless fun: After a few hours of discovering and recording fish, I pined for the livelier waters of Bioshock or even Super Mario Galaxy.
Endless Ocean might be best enjoyed sporadically -- an approach that the forgiving $30 price tag allows.
To enliven the proceedings, players can import songs or team with others through the Wii's Wi-Fi capabilities.
Both activities seem overly strenuous, though -- especially when compared with an option that allows the player to recline in a boat-deck lounge chair and take in the view.
If only Endless Ocean came with pixelated daiquiris.
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