Shark Attack

Post date: Dec 25, 2010 12:01:40 AM

My wife and I decided that since our kids are no doubt going to be getting an overabundance of gifts from our families tomorrow, we'd just go ahead and slowly start opening our gifts today. And, lo and behold, I even got to open a gift this morning! My wife gave me Endless Ocean Blue World for the Nintendo Wii.

I really enjoyed the first Endless Ocean, finding it very relaxing and beautiful. The sequel seems to follow suit in those departments, but developer Arika beefed things up a bit, too. The graphics look better, there is much more sea life to discover and document, the game has more of a narrative and flow, and there are a few new underwater gadgets to play with.

What's up with the stereotypically black character GG, though? Kind of cheesy, Arika! But, that said, I remember seeing some pretty racist masks for sale out in the open while visiting Tokyo in 2006, so hey! Maybe Japan just doesn't know what's up with not being jerks about other ethnicities.

At any rate, Endless Ocean Blue World is pretty great so far. My daughter is mesmerized by it and sat on my lap watching me explore the depths of the first few areas.

One thing, though: You are now vulnerable in this game! In the first Endless Ocean, you didn't have to worry about any of the ocean life harming you. Not the case in Blue World. Some freaking shark cornered my diving partner then decided to go after me fairly early into the game.

I have a fear of sharks and regularly have nightmares about them, and even a virtual shark attack scared me. Luckily you can "calm down" any aggressive ocean life by shooting them with some type of electrical charge, but geez... Why does Nintendo and Arika want to scare me?

I'd love to see a new Endless Ocean surface on the Nintendo 3DS. Imagine those underwater environments with 3D depth... That would make it even more immersive. I just hope it doesn't make the sharks even scarier!