Rating: E
Developer: Arika
Publisher: Capcom
System: PS2
Release date: 2003
This game is the sequel to Everblue and its spiritual successor is the Endless Ocean series for Wii. All of these games are scuba diving simulators with RPG elements, at least from what I've heard. This is the only one I've played of these and probably the only one I will play for a long while.
From what little I experienced of the game it seems very akin to visual novel games. When you are out of the water you can choose to talk to characters but you control everything through menus, and not by actively walking your character around. You are mostly tasked to read what characters have to say a few times and then make a decision where you might like to go or whatever next.
Underwater the game is a full scuba experience. You must monitor how much air is left in your tank as well as being wary to not venture too deep into the ocean. I'm not sure what else there is to do in the game but for my maiden swim in the ocean all I could find to do was search for treasure. You did this by sonar and sending out waves until you were near an object. After finding a few objects you could bring it back up to the surface and identify it.
The aquatic life was beautifully rendered but the ocean felt very safe and overall boring. What was there to do down here? I'm sure later on there are probably more obstacles and things to worry about (sharks?) as well as cool places to search for treasure. However, as it stands the game seemed pretty lifeless and not worth spending time with.
Would I play again? No.
3 comments:
I've never played the Everblue games, but I have played and enjoyed Endless Ocean on Wii. It sounds very similar to this game, though, so I'm not sure you would enjoy it. Personally, I really like the serene atmosphere it tries to create for the gamer.
The problem for me must be that my gamer sensibilities have long-since been tailored to like FAST ACTION PEW PEW PEW and the like. :P
Endless Ocean is still on my list to pick up eventually... It looks like a slightly more fleshed out version of Everblue, which is a plus.
Well, I'll definitely be interested to hear your thoughts on it should you ever pick up Endless Ocean. Just be warned that it's very similar to what you've mentioned in this post about Everblue. I think the key to enjoying it, at any rate, is to give in to the desire to explore. For some reason, I had a great time just swimming around, finding new fish and new locations. I didn't need any confrontations with sharks, etc., to remain interested. That said, I understand such experiences aren't for everyone.
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