Endless Ocean Luminous Review

thesixthaxis.com:

The original Endless Ocean game’s slogan was ‘Dive, Discover, Dream’. While that might be gloriously alliterative, it wasn’t enough to make the diving game genre achieve much more than a few air bubbles of interest in a sea of alternatives. It’s somewhat surprising then to discover that the Wii original spawned not one, but two sequels, and here Luminous stands as the third in an unlikely trilogy. While Endless Ocean Luminous is clearly doing its own thing, it seems likely that the diving game genre will wait a little longer for a tidal wave of interest to wash in.

Endless Ocean: Luminous is, as previously mentioned, a game about diving. You are a nameless diver and, accompanied by Sera, the survey, exploration and research assistant AI, you head off into the depths in search of different aquatic species. Your primary aim throughout the game is to locate and scan them in order to build up your own reputation as a researcher, furthering knowledge of the fictional Veiled Sea.

This unusual region is constantly shifting and changing, and each time you choose to embark on a new dive the area spawns in a new configuration, with a numeric code given to identify it. You can share this code with friends if you’ve found a particularly interesting layout for them to explore, or even explore an area with them in a Shared Dive.

The simple fact of the matter is that each area does very little different, and while there might be some interesting deep sea crevices, a series of interconnected reefs, or the remains of a wrecked ship, they’re strung together by bland, listless areas punctuated by the smallest of topographical details. From a visual point of view, the areas you’re exploring are generally extremely basic.

Endless Ocean Luminous is still capable of wringing an occasional ‘wow’ moment out of you, starting with your first introduction to the World Coral, a diverse ecosystem with multiple types of coral forming a single reef. You’re part of the team that’s been despatched to