Endless Ocean 2

Diving adventure Endless Ocean was quite successful on the Wii. The diving and exploration side of the game worked well, allowing players to meet a wide variety of marine wildlife. The ‘adventure’ gameplay was more limited and didn’t go beyond looking round some sunken ruins and searching for a mysterious white whale.

Endless Ocean 2 has just been released and it comes across as a much more complete title. Diving is still central to gameplay but players can now dive at half-a-dozen different locations around the world. The new habitats and wildlife play to the game’s strengths, as our working diver earns a living from taking photographs and offering guided tours.

The new title also benefits from the welcome introduction of a certain amount of danger when diving. It’s hardly ‘empty the ammo clips’ time but the element of risk livens up the gameplay and helps to deliver a better diving simulation.

The improved diving works alongside roughly eight hours of plotted gameplay to provide a more polished game than the original. Players of the first game will be impressed by the choice of wildlife, the underwater graphics and the presence of a few mild threats. They’re also unlikely to have a problem with the new ‘speargun’, which works as a kind of ‘healing stick’.

Endless Ocean: Blue World European Cover/ US Link

New players are likely to be younger kids and parents who are looking for games they can help their kids play. There’s certainly plenty to talk about during play and those with a Wii Speak and an online connection can go online and dive with a friend. Diving with friends would be all the better if players could still add their own soundtrack but that’s one feature of the first game which hasn’t been carried forward.

Some older kids may already be too used to action titles to go for a ‘casual’ game, but it didn’t take us long to find a 10-year-old who was more than happy to settle down with a copy of Endless Ocean 2.