Wii Warm Up: Ever PS2

by JC Fletcher on Jul 16th 2007 9:00AM

We here at Wii Fanboy are pretty intrigued about Endless Ocean, because it looks like such a unique gaming experience-- underwater treasure-hunting mixed with adventure game elements. But, strictly speaking, it is not unique at all. It is, in fact, another entry in the Everblue series of diving adventures for the Playstation 2.

Well-rounded and experienced gamers though we are, there is a big old hole in our gaming history in the shape of the Everblue games. This is especially embarrassing for us, as we are possibly alone in our fandom of Arika games like Technic Beat and even the Street Fighter EX series.

We figure somebody out there has played one of the Everblue games. We'd love to know what you thought of the experience. Should we stop caring about Endless Ocean? Should we be getting Endless Ocean tattoos? Also, do you think this game is the sort of thing that waggle can genuinely improve?

Tags: arika, diving, endless ocean, EndlessOcean, everblue, forever blue, ForeverBlue, ocean, ps2, scuba, wwu

Reader Comments (3)

If you google Everblue 2 you'll be presented with plenty of reviews. Most of the ones I read were pretty mediocre, but having said that the game did show promise and seeing as it was released in 2003 on the PS2 we should see some worthy improvements to the new Wii version..hopefully.

Personally I'm quite looking forward to this game, certainly won't be rushing out to buy it without reading some reviews first but if it sounds good I might go for it.

It's good to see there's WiFi support, hopefully they'll put it to good use, co-op diving expeditions could even turn out to be a nice way to wear off that sunday morning hangover.

The first Everblue didn't come out in the US so I never played that one but I did play and complete Everblue 2. This game was an RPG with a small 2D world map you point and clicked on to take on missions and advance the story which was told via pictures and text bubbles.

There was no leveling up like normal rpgs but you did have to purchase better equipment in order to dive deeper, hold more/heavier items and to stay underwater longer. You also had to upgrade your boat so you could select diving points that were further away from the island. Once you took to the water the game played from the first person perspective in a 3D underwater environment.

You explored shipwrecks of various kinds (boats, planes, subs etc) looking for specific objects to satisfy a mission goal which would then reward you with an important item, piece of equipment, another job or the location of another wreck. The ambiance was amazing. You didn't fight any creatures but you could be injured by sharks, jellyfish, electric eels etc to take down your HP. You could also photograph all the animals you saw and record them in your journal and see them in the town aquarium once you built it.

This type of game is not for everyone, there's no action, mostly just exploring but it's very relaxing, fun and the 3D graphics of the wrecks and marine life were very well done. It certainly was a unique experience and I loved this PS2 game. As a marine biologist games like this fascinate me. I was overjoyed to see Endless Ocean coming to the Wii in the US and it is my most anticipated release for it. Exploring with a friend via wifi will be awesome this time around.

Cuddlefish:

Thanks for your comment. You've sold me on a game that I might have otherwise overlooked. I am no marine biologist but I really like the idea of free-roaming and doing something other than just shooting things in a game.