This morning Endless Ocean 2 arrived for me in the post and I have been excited all day. The first game promised exploration and interaction with all sorts of aquatic beasties with whales and octopodes being the highlights for me.
Unfortunately I didn't manage to get past a particular section so never got to track down the elusive whale I was after but I did manage to dive deep into the abyss. This is probably where I should mention that though I love the ocean and am fascinated with its creatures I have an irrational fear of being underwater in games, so descending into a pitch black chasm with nothing to keep your bearings but the occasional flash of an unnatural looking fin gave me a huge case of the heeby-jeebies and made Endless Ocean one of the only two games that has managed to scare me enough to turn the console off (the other being Thief).
So what was I expecting from Endless Ocean 2
- Vast blue seas full of creatures to poke, prod and examine.
- Great Big Whales!
- Relaxing environment exploration.
- Collecting treasure, equipment and information.
What are my thoughts so far:
Firstly, Arika seem to have sussed something about their audience, in the first 5 minutes you are in the water surrounded by whales and it is awesome! Whales give an impressive sense of scale and after being established as impressive gives you an idea of what the rewards will be for playing the game.
A nice surprise was that Endless Ocean 2 gives you an actual storyline to play through which is a welcome change from the first game which did have progression but it sometimes felt a little vague as to how to unlock the next event and area.
Combat has been added by way of the Pulsar device. It effectively is a fishy tazer for zapping any nasties until they calm down. I've not let myself be bitten by a shark but they have closed on me with grim intent. It's kind of fun but my underwater nerves don't hold up particularly well when the danger sign comes up on screen, with no indication as to what direction the danger is coming from I flounder and swim away as fast as possible.
One little sticking point for me at the moment is the diving timer, it the original you could swim uninterrupted for a long while but now a leveling system has been introduced that allows you to dive for progressively longer and longer periods. I find that even after a short dive my wet-suited adventurer is rasping for breath which breaks the flow for me when I have to pop back to the boat just to go swimming again. I would have preferred to have a longer dive time to begin with rather than slowly gaining experience at breathing but its a minor gripe at best.
All in all, I can't wait to plunge back into Endless Ocean 2
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