Endless Ocean

$30, Wii

Teaches: science, oceonography, sea life, animals, biology

CTR Rating: 92%

CTR Review

More of an experience than a game, Endless Ocean is a one-player scavenger hunt that lets you move freely around a 3D undersea world. To "swim," you point the Wii Remote in the direction you want to go while holding the B (trigger) button. This two-things-at-once type of control system takes some getting used to, but all our testers were able to figure it out. As you move, you might come upon a fish or item that you want to learn about. By clicking on it and shaking the controller an information card comes up with facts, and the critter is added to your collection. There's also some gold bullion and ancient artifacts -- just to keep things interesting. The goal is to collect as many interesting creatures or items as you can. Different regions of the fictional ocean contain coral reefs, shipwrecks, WWII bombers or caves. Because there are no time limits, you can explore at your own pace.If your Wii is online, you can swim with another player on the same screen, providing they also own the game and you've exchanged "friend codes" in advance. Content includes 50 treasures and 230 living creatures. While you can freely explore, a set of missions can be completed to earn money. For example, you might be asked to lead a diving tour, or take photos of special animals for a travel magazine. As you dive, you can listen to your own music as long as they're MP3 files loaded on an SD card.Our testers fought over this game -- they all couldn't wait to play it, and didn't want to stop once they started. Daniel (age 8) played this game for three days (over a weekend) and then couldn't wait to get his homework done (during the week) to play some more. He loved the soothing music and the sound effects of the underwater breathing. He was able to train a dolphin and identify fish on his own. The more he played, the more marine life he encountered including a hammerhead shark, octopus, groupers and stingrays. At one point, he found a cave where he saw penguins. He was also able to unlock a camera to take pictures for his photo album and an underwater pen that he wasn't sure what to do with, but had fun scribbling underwater. His parents loved how much he learned from this program, with no "shooting, crashing, and the usual things little boys like." He would definitely buy this game. Developed for Nintendo by Arika.