Endless Ocean (Wii) Reader Review

Part of Nintendo's Touch Generation series of fun and accessible games here in Europe, Endless Ocean, re-named from Forever Blue in Japan, offers players the chance to dive to the depths of the ocean, and explore aquatic life and surroundings.
The game was developed by Akira, of whom also made the two Everblue games on Playstation 2. Both games shared a similar premise to this one, so Akira have relatively strong experience in this kind of product. Nintendo published the title late 2007 in Japan and Europe, and the US in early 2008, as a budget release.

The first thing that strikes you about Endless Ocean is how beautiful the underwater depths are. Whether it is a school of Pyramid Butterflyfish swimming past your ear, or encountering the ruins of an ancient civilization, this game will impress. Make no mistake, when swimming, Endless Ocean is one of Wii's best graphical treats. Above-Water is the only time that the visuals revert from that quality, but since you'll only be spending around 15% of your time there, it isn't much of a problem.

The core idea of the game is to explore the world underwater, discover marine life in all shapes and sizes, and find artifacts and pieces of history on the sea floor. By doing the latter, usually you move the storyline along, but in a game of this nature, it isn't very important. The key goal of this game is to immerse, and thereby relax the player in the world of Endless Ocean, and it achieves this target easily.
Above the water, you can guide your custom character around a boat to do a variety of tasks; from Training your pet Dolphin, Saving your game, Traveling to a different patch of water to explore, accepting requests for a swimming guide, and Speaking to your own adviser, who will help progress the story along.

For a game in Nintendo's Touch Generations series, you'd expect the control scheme to be easy and accessible; Akira do not disappoint in this regard.
The game makes use of the Remote alone, and in particular the pointer. Pointing allows you to maneuver your character in the direction you wish to make him/her go, along with either holding down the B Button for manual swim, and the - Button for auto. The 2 Button changes from third to first person perspective to give that little extra immersive boost. When highlighting something interesting with the pointer, you can use the + Button to have a closer look, and the A+B Buttons together allow item pickup.

A good number of the tracks in Endless Ocean are from Hayley Westenra, a US Soprano. Her songs fit incredibly well into the game, and add even more to that relaxing element the game already has in spades.
If you don't like the music this game offers though, Akira have provided the option to import your own music through the SD Card slot on the Wii. It isn't a perfect system, as you have to return to the boat every time you wish to change a track, but it's a nice afterthought, especially considering that this is only the second Wii title to offer such a feature (Excite Truck being the first).

Endless Ocean provides a lot of gameplay for an already low price. The Underwater life you encounter can be arranged into a large explorable aquarium a couple of hours into the game. and there is an Online element to the game, where two friends can go diving together (Thanks for that Mason! ). The game has a lot to offer to those willing to put in the time and effort will reap the rewards.