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ENDLESS OCEAN
review | WII
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a.k.a. Forever Blue (Japan)
Publisher: Nintendo. Developer: Arika. Released: November 2007. Genre: Adventure. Posted 18th August 2025. By Tom Clare © 2025 |
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Sporting all-new motion controls, the Wii marked a voyage into the unknown for Nintendo in 2006, as the Japanese giant sought to arrest a trend of dwindling home console sales stretching back three generations. The GameCube’s successor would give gaming a much-needed shake-up, but with new ideas would inevitably come fresh scepticism. A revolutionary new means of interactivity, or a passing fancy? As always, the proof of the pudding would lie in the software. Around a year into the system’s life, Endless Ocean offered a persuasive reminder of the medium’s immersive qualities. With a veteran developer at the helm, it affirmed how effective a gaming tool the Wiimote could be, even without the Nunchuck.
No strangers to nautical games, Arika developed Endless Ocean as a spiritual successor to the Everblue games that had been released to little fanfare in the early days of the PlayStation 2. This scuba-diving adventure sees players assuming the role of a mute, semi-customisable diver, who begins an adventure amidst the Manaurai sea, a fictional location in the South Pacific. You’ll be assisted and guided by the enigmatically named Katherine Sunday, a walking encyclopedia on marine life, who harbours her own motivations for researching the area.
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If you love exploring, you'll find plenty to enjoy in Endless Ocean
Plumbing the gentle depths of the lagoon, you’ll quickly find Endless Ocean an enchanting experience. Players can position their boat anywhere on the map and swim within a perimeter of it. It isn’t fast-paced, it isn’t packed with challenging gameplay, but it does gently encourage the player to explore, inspiring wonder as you uncover the remarkable facets of the ocean. Its 200 or so species, which include fish, sharks, whales, rays, birds, penguins, and even a polar bear, create plenty of incentive to delve deeper. Additionally, diving at night reveals different species and behavioural patterns.
A lovably hokey story provides the conceit needed to nudge the player in the direction of various landmarks in the Manaurai sea, and this has Endless Ocean batting to the best of its ability. Moments like discovering the Mermaid’s Cave make for gaming magic, as you get to pore over an unusual rock formation, unearthing treasure, as well as a host of new marine life and a dolphin companion to befriend. Elsewhere, you’ll encounter gigantic whales, explore an ancient ruin, track the legend of a mysterious ghost ship, and dive into the depths of the Abyss, a trench as black as night, that harbours some of the game’s most remarkable sights and secrets.
A lovably hokey story provides the conceit needed to nudge the player in the direction of various landmarks in the Manaurai sea, and this has Endless Ocean batting to the best of its ability. Moments like discovering the Mermaid’s Cave make for gaming magic, as you get to pore over an unusual rock formation, unearthing treasure, as well as a host of new marine life and a dolphin companion to befriend. Elsewhere, you’ll encounter gigantic whales, explore an ancient ruin, track the legend of a mysterious ghost ship, and dive into the depths of the Abyss, a trench as black as night, that harbours some of the game’s most remarkable sights and secrets.
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With no combat or danger, it’s a serene experience, and considering the game foregoes the Nunchuck controller, swimming and manoeuvring is surprisingly straightforward. It’s simplicity itself; guiding the on-screen pointer allows the player to make smooth, precise movements, holding ‘B’ to swim or pressing ‘-’ to pad automatically along on the course you’re headed. The player can provide food to fish, create spirals of light with an underwater pen, and utilise a camera to snap memorable sights.
Visually, it fares quite well. Whilst the character models aren’t anything special, the enormous array of wildlife is expressively animated. Witnessing dolphins perform tricks, penguins swimming in circles, or sea turtles flanking whales, proves a treat. Lighting is subtly effective, and there’s an appreciable difference in the look of the sea when diving at different times of the day. It’s not the Wii’s most graphically impressive game, but the sum of its parts is often pretty. You’ll become accustomed to a decent amount of on-screen activity, and even with the larger sea creatures in attendance, the smooth performance is never impacted. The musical direction is also interesting, but for a small collection of original themes, the soundtrack consists almost entirely of music from operatic-pop singer Hayley Westenra’s first two albums. The choral style and purity of vocals adds to the Manaurai’s peaceful, powerful qualities, with theme tune “Prayer” proving the highlight. Using only her vocals lends the game a unifying voice, a nice aural continuity, though if it doesn’t take your fancy, there’s the option to import your own MP3s.
Visually, it fares quite well. Whilst the character models aren’t anything special, the enormous array of wildlife is expressively animated. Witnessing dolphins perform tricks, penguins swimming in circles, or sea turtles flanking whales, proves a treat. Lighting is subtly effective, and there’s an appreciable difference in the look of the sea when diving at different times of the day. It’s not the Wii’s most graphically impressive game, but the sum of its parts is often pretty. You’ll become accustomed to a decent amount of on-screen activity, and even with the larger sea creatures in attendance, the smooth performance is never impacted. The musical direction is also interesting, but for a small collection of original themes, the soundtrack consists almost entirely of music from operatic-pop singer Hayley Westenra’s first two albums. The choral style and purity of vocals adds to the Manaurai’s peaceful, powerful qualities, with theme tune “Prayer” proving the highlight. Using only her vocals lends the game a unifying voice, a nice aural continuity, though if it doesn’t take your fancy, there’s the option to import your own MP3s.
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Somewhat ironically, given the subject matter, Endless Ocean’s biggest letdown is a lack of depth. It certainly isn’t short of promising ideas, but they tend either to peter out or fail to fulfil their potential. Secondary missions, typically relating to photography or giving guided tours around specific regions of the map, are endemic to this. Capturing shots of fish involves the player developing and sending a chosen photo, before having it graded and used as part of a magazine spread or cover. This is a really nice idea, and these missions could have perhaps tied in with a search for rare marine life. Instead, they’re typically allocated to very common aquatic denizens, and as a consequence, they lack identity. Playing Tour Guide is too workmanlike to be fun: you’re essentially retracing the exploration you’d be doing as part of standard gameplay, and so these forays quickly start to feel aimless.
You’re left wishing there were a few more distinct areas to explore. The ruins, for example, has the player seeking out stone tablets, working out how best to access certain parts of the site due to currents. This adds a purpose and a framework to the ongoing discovery element, and feels rewarding as a result. Combing over flat or featureless ocean floor isn’t enough on its own, however, and too much of the main map defaults to this, giving a false impression of the playing area’s size and features. There’s just enough to sustain the game to completion, but little beyond that, and fewer diversions than you’d have hoped for early on. Whilst discovering new wildlife allows you to populate a personalised aquarium, there isn’t a like-for-like museum to house the various treasure you discover, which feels like a missed opportunity. Given you’ll find fragments of loads of treasure along the seabed, having it collated in an interactive display space would have been both rewarding and in keeping with the game’s style.
You’re left wishing there were a few more distinct areas to explore. The ruins, for example, has the player seeking out stone tablets, working out how best to access certain parts of the site due to currents. This adds a purpose and a framework to the ongoing discovery element, and feels rewarding as a result. Combing over flat or featureless ocean floor isn’t enough on its own, however, and too much of the main map defaults to this, giving a false impression of the playing area’s size and features. There’s just enough to sustain the game to completion, but little beyond that, and fewer diversions than you’d have hoped for early on. Whilst discovering new wildlife allows you to populate a personalised aquarium, there isn’t a like-for-like museum to house the various treasure you discover, which feels like a missed opportunity. Given you’ll find fragments of loads of treasure along the seabed, having it collated in an interactive display space would have been both rewarding and in keeping with the game’s style.
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Some of the marine life is beautiful... while others sport an appearance you wouldn't want to meet 150m below the surface
Endless Ocean is thoroughly absorbing for a week or so, though its long-term appeal dips sharply thereafter. The ingredients for a great game are largely in place: a vast array of discoveries, some neat Wiimote-oriented gadgets and an evocative location. Some will find its hands-off approach to sandbox diving a refreshing change of pace, though there’s room for improvement: Arika would need to look at new and more effective ways of motivating players beyond combing the ocean floor. Despite this, I thoroughly enjoyed EO, which proved another feather in the Wii’s cap.
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VERDICT"Absorbing, relaxing and occasionally magical, Endless Ocean makes for a good diving adventure, though a few of its more interesting ideas suffer from a lack of development." OVERALL: 7/10 |
OTHER GAMES THEMED AROUND WATER REVIEWED
Hydrophobia (2010, Xbox 360)
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Endless Ocean Luminous (2024, Switch)
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