I am totally hooked on this game. I've been playing video games since Pong, Odyssey and Atari 2600, so I'd say I have some experience.
Pros:
The graphics are excellent (for a Wii). For instance, watch the water when you are interacting with a dolphin partner (training or giving a show), especially when s/he enters the water after a jump. Or watch the diving boat rise and fall with the waves, when it's at the dock.
It is totally unbelievable how interesting this game is and how many features it has. There are hundreds of species of fish/birds/mammals to "collect" in my handbook. There are 200 salvage items to pick up + 100 coins I have to find.
I have to collect different styles of haircuts and pieces of clothing/diving gear. I have to collect pieces of maps until they are complete and interact with every different species of animal. I have to build a coral reef and train multiple dolphins different tricks. I have to take pictures and submit them to magazines for publishing. I have to design exhibits in an aquarium. I have to earn and be awarded 155 different titles. I can take visitors on diving tours and take orders to search for hidden treasure.
You can change your clothing and hairstyle, take a shower, nap in a hammock, build a bonfire and sit and watch the coastline. Not only that, but you can earn a jukebox and change the background music. (I read somewhere that you can load MP3's onto an SD card and play your own music, but I haven't tried this yet.) Most of these options either help you to earn, or spend, money.
There are multiple story lines that can be taken in or out of order, which is a blessing, because some of the puzzles are a little difficult to figure out. So it would be nice to have some type of game guide made.
If you look at all of the awards you can earn, you'll see that this game will take a very long time, if you wish to get every one. (I still have to earn 1 million 'dollars,' which I then have to spend and then will have to earn 2 million more to earn another one of the titles. I only hope it means I have to earn a total of $2 mil, not have that much in the bank at once.
Cons:
After a while, it gets a little monotonous, however. Especially if you play more than a couple of hours a day. Plus, you'll probably get tired of having to watch EVERY VISITOR arrive on a jet ski without being able to click past the scene.
The game does promote evolution in some of the comments, which I don't personally believe, so that's a little bit of a pain. I'd consider that minor, though.
Plus, when you have to find and heal some animals, the game makes the cause "those thoughtless humans." Granted, humans have polluted and continue to pollute the earth, for the most part, but humans are also the only creatures doing anything about it.
The game is a little unrealistic:
-You meet dolphins around the world (the Arctic, the Antarctic and the Amazon, to name a few) and just kidnap them back to your tropical paradise/base of operations. So this only supports the other side of the "thoughtless human" theme. As in, "Oh, yeah. I befriended a dolphin. Let me take him home whether he wants me to or not. Not to mention whether he can thrive or even survive in water that is a different temperature from his normal habitat."
-Not to mention, all of the ladies/men that come to the island have "perfect 10" bodies. I mean, seriously, where are the beer-bellies & baby-weight?!
-I won't even mention the unrealism of the Pulsar, as this has been mentioned in other reviews.
It seems almost impossible to get an A or B grade on the photo publishing. And you have to get 20 of these to win one of the awards. Really, some of the fish you can only zoom in so far, and they still say that you need to focus on the subject. C'mon!
Finally, this game can take over your life, if you let it. There are so many requests coming in (dolphin show requests, salvage requests, guided-tour requests and picture requests) that you can't do them all, but if you try, you spend all of your time doing that and not doing any diving.
I'm sure I've missed something. But I guess you'll just have to get the game to find out what! :)Get more detail about Endless Ocean: Blue World.
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