Endless Ocean is a currently released video game in stores right now exclusively available for the Nintendo WII game system. The game was developed by Arika and released under the title Forever Blue in Japan on August 2^nd 2007. It was then released to the European market on November 9^th 2007 and the American market as on January 21^st 2008 as Endless Ocean.

The general premise of the game is a scuba diving simulator. Most of your time will be in questing for items, looking at underwater sea life and performing odd jobs to earn the rights to swim in additional areas of the local ocean.

As with many games currently released, Endless Ocean is chocked full of hidden gems and quests to find items. As you reach these additional achievements, you will be given more achievements to reach and more items are given to you to use.

The following is a walkthrough of the game from start to finish. Endless Ocean is an "open ended" style of video game. That means your path is not linear, (a set pathway you must go), and you can go anywhere you want and do anything you want. You are free to play the game as you want to play, however, if you do not follow the storyline, you will be unable to explore new areas, receive additional gear or complete the game.

You start out the game as a marine correspondent. Fancy way to say that you are a scuba diver that gets paid to swim with the fishes! You will choose your characters attributes, hairstyle, hair color, gender, even your suntan! As you complete quests, which come in the form of emails, you will unlock more hairstyles, hair colors, scuba gear and other details for your character.

You have a boat called the Gabbiano that you will use to access different areas around the island of Manoa Lai. Endless Ocean is has many different places to explore like underwater caves, sunken ships and deep waters. Remember though, before you are able to explore additional parts of the ocean, you have to complete certain quests. Some of the tasks you are going to perform to complete the game are as an underwater photographer, tour guide, and dolphin trainer. Feel free to let loose the mini marine biologist inside you.

Like most games, the developer has given you a helper in Catherine. When you are lost or stuck, unable to get anywhere else in the game, you can talk to her. She will help to guide you through whatever task you need to complete to explore more of the game. TIP: If she doesn't want to open up to you, make sure to go and dive for a little, then come back and visit her again, she should be more helpful.

The controls of the game are relatively simple

• Dive/return to boat
• Food
• Pen
• Camera
• Whistle
• Options - "in game" things like mp3 player, display settings, etc

To teach you the controls, the game starts you off in a shallow lagoon where you learn the swimming positions and get used to moving your character around with the controller. Once you complete these tasks, you are introduced to Catherine. The game allows for diving at night, but since you are just beginning, that part is locked and you will have to use the clock to "rest" the night.

When you wake up you will have received an email from Alfred of the Global Marine Foundation, not Bruce Wayne's butler. This unlocks your map and then teaches you how to access and use your map. I know what you are thinking, who has to be taught how to use a map? Just look at it. It is that simple, for the most part. You just need to be familiar with it and how to navigate it.

Next you will dive into the water where the game teaches you how to focus on fish and interact with them by patting, nudging and feeding them. This mechanic is really important. Some tasks that you need to complete require you to befriend certain creatures like dolphins in order to unlock the next section of the game.

Once you are back on the boat, there is a penguin on deck and you learn how to do the same things you did underwater, just on the deck of the boat. This unlocks the guide to marine life, the ship's wheel and the gate. The guide to marine life shows you what species of fish you have befriended, the wheel takes the boat to further locations and the gate enables multiplayer mode.

You are now free to roam about the water.

You will have received another email from Alfred. This gives you a new objective.

Note: Every time you get a new objective, your objectives are going to be displayed as a red cross on the map.

Once you complete the new objective from Alfred, you can go back up to the surface onto your boat. Check your email again and you should have a new email from either Alfred asking you to do more exploring for the foundation, or from Aubrey, telling you that you have clients interested in going on a guided dive.

In fact, all you have to do from here on out is follow the emails you get from Alfred or Aubrey and follow what Catherine tells you to do and you can complete the game as far as the storyline goes. There are certain things that truly must be done when Catherine or Alfred request them or your game will be stuck and you cannot proceed. The best example is with Catherine and the dolphin. When she says to find a dolphin to befriend it and be your diving partner, you really must do so. If you don't it will get to the point of that being the only thing Catherine will say to you and you won't be receiving more emails for clients.

From time to time you receive emails from Aubrey, a contact point for clients wanting you to take them on guided tours of certain areas, or from Douglas to take pictures of certain fish or areas underwater. While initially you don't have to complete these tasks, after a period of time, you will have no choice as completing these tasks is needed to complete the game or use certain features like the underwater pen.

The game does have a very linear path, despite the open-ended nature of it. To get you accustomed to certain features, the game takes you on small tasks first and then moves onto larger feats such as following whales and searching sunken ships for treasure

Clients are going to play a large part of this game for you. A potential client who wants to go on guided dives will email you through Aubrey. Each email for guided tours will stay in your inbox for a maximum of 7 days. After that, you lose the option to accept the quest. These virtual people don't want to wait forever, even if they can! Don't worry though, even if the quest disappears, it will eventually come back. They are generic quests and not storyline related.

When a client emails you and asks you to take them on a tour, they have specific fish they are looking forward to seeing. The information is found in their email or by just listening to the client. There is a grading system to the guided dive and you are graded on each dive that you take them on.

Grades are as follow:

• How long you keep them on the dive
• If you showed them the type of fish that they wanted to see
• How much information you give them about the creatures you showed them.

Grading is a standard A though E, A being the best grade you can get, E being the client wants to keep you underwater for a while longer.

Other requests are for you to take underwater pictures of fish for newspapers. The only person that asks you for these fish pictures is Douglas Banner, a freelance journalist who knows your partner Catherine since childhood. When he emails you the subject of the email will tell you what creature he is looking for and what kind of photograph to take.

Here are the types of photos:

• Close up
• Small fish
• Medium fish
• Large fish
• School of fish
• Marine animal

Once you take the picture and complete the job, you will get an email from Douglas telling you how well you did. Given the right circumstances, (still not sure what those are), he then includes a copy of the image you took in the email to show you how well it came out.

TIP: you don't have to be a professional photographer by trade to do these tasks, but a few "real life" pointers will help you. Make sure you have a clear shot of your subject and keep it centered in the photo. Take lots of pictures so you can choose the best one.

TIP: Also note that you have to take these pictures in the open, if you use aquarium fish, your photo wont be used at all. No cheating here!

Speaking of cheating...Endless Ocean does offer 2, that's right 2, whole cheats. Bit of a spoiler here folks...

Technically you can't consider them cheats, they are truly unlockable features of the game not normally included. The first is that anytime the sun sets in the game, you may go to the deck of the ship, sit down in a chair and watch.

Your reward? The credits!

Next up, once you visit the abyss, you will unlock a new song to listen to. "Benedictus" by Haley Westenra

The game can be completed without all the extra quests (or cheats) in a relatively short time, but then you won't be unlocking all the options available. I hope you enjoy playing Endless Ocean, just don't forget to come up for air once and a while!