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Endless Ocean: Blue World review. Probably spoilers.
16 years ago
General
A'ight, here goes another review-ish-thing. Endless Ocean: Blue World (known as Endless Ocean 2: Adventures of the Deep outside of the US).
Again, all in all, I enjoyed this game. The controls took a little getting used to (but then, I hadn't played my Wii in age before I got the game), and, as I'm used to hi-def Xbox 360 graphics, the graphics suffered a bit at first.
As time went on, though, those complaints evaporated. Sure, on the 360 or PS3, there would've been better graphics, but they're still pretty good, in my opinion. And while the classic controller controls suck hard, the Wiimote controls are easy to get used to, and nicely functional.
I do have some complaints about the story, though. In the first Endless Ocean, most of the 'excitement' came from discovering new, spectacular creatures and areas. This game blew it's 'awe inspiring sea-animal' load in the opening cutscene, with the huge pods of whales. There are still some great moments, but I still think the first Endless Ocean had the most epic moments (Discovering the Great Mother, and entering the Abyss area. Sperm whale + Benedictus = WIN.)
Another gameplay addition I'd rather have gone without are the 'dangerous' animals. Ok, so completely harmless Great Whites and such in the first game could stretch one's suspension of disbelief, but the dangerous animals (sharks in particular) in the sequel don't fix that. They don't bite; instead, the 'dangerous' sharks prefer to just tail whip you and knock out a couple bars of your air. There's no real danger, particularly if you've upgraded your equipment so air is hardly an issue.
Of course, with the pulsar came a 'boss fight' at the end, against a few goblin sharks and one bigass goblin shark. It even had the whole 'escape a collapsing base' thing (though more delayed than in most games, and actually explained) at the end.
I do like the different environments, though, rather than the first game's single sea with an inexplicably varied ecology (Polar bears? In what's supposedly the South Pacific, if I recall? Really?). Wish there were more of them; the 'freshwater environments' were frewquently mentioned in previews, but there's only really one, rather linear one. Not much exploring to do.
Anyway, griping aside, I enjoyed it immensely. Hope there's a sequel, particularly if Nintendo's next console is HD.
Again, all in all, I enjoyed this game. The controls took a little getting used to (but then, I hadn't played my Wii in age before I got the game), and, as I'm used to hi-def Xbox 360 graphics, the graphics suffered a bit at first.
As time went on, though, those complaints evaporated. Sure, on the 360 or PS3, there would've been better graphics, but they're still pretty good, in my opinion. And while the classic controller controls suck hard, the Wiimote controls are easy to get used to, and nicely functional.
I do have some complaints about the story, though. In the first Endless Ocean, most of the 'excitement' came from discovering new, spectacular creatures and areas. This game blew it's 'awe inspiring sea-animal' load in the opening cutscene, with the huge pods of whales. There are still some great moments, but I still think the first Endless Ocean had the most epic moments (Discovering the Great Mother, and entering the Abyss area. Sperm whale + Benedictus = WIN.)
Another gameplay addition I'd rather have gone without are the 'dangerous' animals. Ok, so completely harmless Great Whites and such in the first game could stretch one's suspension of disbelief, but the dangerous animals (sharks in particular) in the sequel don't fix that. They don't bite; instead, the 'dangerous' sharks prefer to just tail whip you and knock out a couple bars of your air. There's no real danger, particularly if you've upgraded your equipment so air is hardly an issue.
Of course, with the pulsar came a 'boss fight' at the end, against a few goblin sharks and one bigass goblin shark. It even had the whole 'escape a collapsing base' thing (though more delayed than in most games, and actually explained) at the end.
I do like the different environments, though, rather than the first game's single sea with an inexplicably varied ecology (Polar bears? In what's supposedly the South Pacific, if I recall? Really?). Wish there were more of them; the 'freshwater environments' were frewquently mentioned in previews, but there's only really one, rather linear one. Not much exploring to do.
Anyway, griping aside, I enjoyed it immensely. Hope there's a sequel, particularly if Nintendo's next console is HD.
