Beyond Blue inspired me to catch up on diver games I’d missed, starting with this well-regarded Nintendo-published sequel to Arika’s two PS2 Everblue games.
Now I haven’t played Everblue, but it seems like Beyond Blue took a lot of inspiration from this series. The game is quite relaxed in feel; you’re a diver semi-aimlessly cruising around on your yacht in the fictional Pacific tropical sea of Manaurai, where sea life from all over the world somehow shows up (to give the game more variety, clearly). You don’t really have much of set goal, so the player is free to explore at their leisure.
You swim around the shallow coastal waters, interacting with different critters to fill out your fishdex, discovering sunken treasure and ruins, finding hidden caves and coves. Occasionally a phone message will offer you a job, either photographing a particular animal or, more likely, a tedious “diving tour” where you lead around a rich toff to find some particular fish or other. A lot of stuff is optional though, there’s no pressure to do anything at all, but if like me you’d like at least some structure in your video game, it’s there with suggestions of what to do next, or with timed or unlocked events.
The loop of diving, returning to your boat, checking messages (along with other cabin routines like browsing your fishdex or changing your cosmetic gear) then moving to a new dive spot is reinforced by the presence of your NPC companion. Catherine is a quite unrealistic character, existing to support you and offer platitudes, apparently an oceanographer but unable to swim, with hidden daddy issues and out-loud pondering about her purpose in life. It’s all very anime, but at least she adds a bit more to the structure of picking what to do next, especially late on when she decides to go looking for a literal white whale, leading to the game’s “climax”(?) and credits.
It doesn’t look too bad for an early Wii game… I had problems again with the draw distance fading sooner than I’d like, but it’s understandable. There’s a great variety of fish and other creatures to discover, hanging out in particular nooks of the map or in the clunky activated “close-up” view. The game world itself isn’t quite varied enough, with large swathes of sandy floor, rocky cliff, and coral reef. I suppose it’s realistic, and at least there are discrete landmarks, which the game presents cinematically as you discover them. Perhaps it also makes the limestone cave, shipwreck, (tiny) abyss section, etc. more special.
The controls bear mentioning; as an early Wii game, the solo motion-capable remote is front and centre. It’s all pointing; you hold B or use the convenient auto-swim button to go, your direction determined by your pointer. Accessing all your other functions is quite awkward but as long as you’re supporting your arm well, and perhaps pressing buttons with your second hand, the main locomotion mechanic works pretty well. Adding the Nunchuck to the scheme could have made things more comfortable though.
Endless Ocean is just a nice time. Discovering new species, then patting or poking them to find out their identity was always a little thrill, and you can befriend dolphin companions to accompany you on dives! The Manaurai sea is full of mystery, whether it be the huge variety of anatopic life, or the inclusion of ooparts (out of place artefacts). I wish there was a bit more freedom to dives; parking your boat gives you a circle to stay in, preventing you from going further. The music tries for pleasant if repetitive, with superstar Kiwi singer Hayley Westenra at the height of her “easy listening” powers contributing several tracks including some traditional Maori folk songs. It’s all aiming high but not quite getting there, but where it lands is a cozy middle ground.
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