I picked up Endless Ocean/Forever Blue a couple of days ago and thought I'd post some of my thoughts and impressions in case anyone else is thinking about buying it (although I know it's not out in the USA for a few more months.

I've only played it for a couple of hours, so bear in mind these are just initial thoughts. And I only paid £19.99 for the game. I'm not sure if that's a reduced price or the standard price.

I hesitate to call this title a game, as it's more of a diving simulator, or even a virtual ocean toy. Essentially you swim around various dive sites in the ocean and interact with all sorts of fish, crustaceans, birds etc.

Somewhat like Pokemon, your character is on a mission to learn about and log all of the animals that he or she comes into contact with. The game unfolds through a series of onboard and underwater cut scenes and small tutorials, so that you can easily pick up the ropes. Everything is well explained and easy to do.

The game, crucically, is played entirely via the remote control and movement simply involves pointing in the direction that you want to swim. It's the kind of control that makes sense - swimming is fluid movement and you just wouldn't get the same sense of immersion (no pun intended) from a joystick or control pad. While some other aspects of the controls are fiddly (pressing the + sign to zoom in on the ocean bed or a feature) the general swim control is marvellous and entirely essential.

And then it's time to go underwater. When you first encounter a fish and click the A button it's unknown and titled with ???. You can nudge or pat the fish to make it more friendly towards you, and then you'll learn what species it is and gain access to the first page of species information.

If you spend more time swimming, feeding, or playing with a species 2 more pages of information can be unlocked. There are 40 pages of animals to be identified and catalogued - so it's going to take a while for completists to see everything in the game. Some animals can only be seen at night, in particular locations, or during particular seasons.

You'll spend some of your time onboard the ship, where you can do a variety of things: reading emails (sometimes you're asked to take diving clients out to see a particular species of fish), changing your diving costume as you earn new gear, and reviewing your species log and items you found while diving.

The underwater graphics are well done, really giving a sense of what it must like to go diving. I particularly enjoy zooming in and looking at corals etc. The first time you see a whale you'll be amazed. They're huge! I was very impressed!

The in game music is suitably dreamy and ethereal but may greate on your nerves after a while. Depends on what you like, I suppose.

Ok, so is this game actually any good and should you buy it?

Buy this game if:

- You enjoy watching documentaries such as The Blue Planet or other documentaries about nature/marine life.

- You understand that this is not a game as such, and beyond a few limited diving missions, you have to make your own goals and simply enjoy the experience of diving, exploring, observing, and interacting with aquatic life. It is really relaxing to just swim and go with the flow.

I have some concerns about the longevity that Endless Oceans offers, as at some point you'll have done and seen everything that's on offer. However, even with a few flaws and limitations, I feel that this is an important title that pushes the boundaries of gaming into an entirely new, absorbing genre.

There are so many possibilities for modelling different underwater regions and environments, adding new species, etc. that this game must surely spawn a sequel.

Roll on Endless Ocean 2.

Sweet, glad to read your thoughts. I've been looking forward to this coming to North America.

As far as getting the most out of the game, it sounds as if it will be a fun game to re-visit later on after it's been put away for a bit of time.

I'm stoked (who uses that word anymore?) for this game.

I forgot to mention that there are missions where you're required to take photos with an underwater camera (nice for building up a little photo gallery), and that you can populate an aquarium with any of the species that you've encountered. There are approximately 212 species to be discovered. And at first, you can't swim at night. You need to put in some dive time before you unlock the underwater light.

Probably the most annoying thing is that when you dive you can only explore a certain area in the dive site. If you go to far from the main site a warning message pops up and you have to turn back. In a way this makes sense as there must be a lot of empty space in the ocean, where there's nothing particular to see.

I think you're right that the game will be a good one to revisit after a time. It's a lot like Animal Crossing in this respect. Even although I've pretty much seen/done/collected everything in AC it it's still fun to play now and again. I sure hope Endless Ocean will be the same. It's a game for more mature, thoughtful, experimental types. Younger players will find it a yawn fest and be bored after a couple of goes.

It sounds like alot of fun, so I will pick this up at release for sure. From everything I've read and seen on it - I do agree with you that younger players may become bored quickly with it...blue ocean, right? Maybe the target demographic is skewed to the types you mentioned.