Review: Endless Ocean Luminous

It’s very rare for me to review a game with zero expectations or knowledge of its existence. The last time was nine years ago when I reviewed another Nintendo game, Puzzle & Dragons Z Super Mario Bros. Edition for the Nintendo 3DS.

Endless Ocean Luminous is the third game in the series – thanks Google, and tasks you with exploring a fictional sea, documenting marine life, and discovering treasure.

I dove in with significant optimism and almost immediately drowned in the dullness. From the tutorial to the mechanics, every aspect of the game felt like concrete on my legs, and I struggled to navigate to any joy or excitement.

I understand how harsh that sounds and I was concerned that I was being overly critical, so I asked my wife Kareema to play the game and she quit within 15 minutes.

I then tried to get my five-year-old involved. He is at that age where he can talk about a subject endlessly and just likes to hang out with me. It wasn’t long before he asked me to put on Mario Kart instead.

Sure, there are over 500 species to catalogue, but it’s never fun, like what fishing in Animal Crossing was, and the marine life don’t respond in a satisfying way that immerses you in the game.

I remember being terrified of the sharks in Far Cry 3 and every dip in the ocean was like a game of chance with lots of tension. Here they feel like holographic tokens, just floating along and sometimes phasing through me like Kitty Pryde in X-Men.

The game has a lot of repetition and not fun repetition, like eating popcorn, I don’t know why I’m making that comparison, but the gameplay does feel like munching on the same thing 500 times. The game forces you to repeat story chapters and progression is blocked by tedious objectives.

The music is light and fun without being sticky and memorable, but the graphics could have been a lot better. The last Switch game I reviewed was Princess Peach Showtime and that was a pretty game.

Endless Ocean would have really benefitted from a bit more polish. Sure, some of the mythical creatures were impressive but never to the point of being overwhelming or commanding any level of awe.

It’s difficult to recommend from a value for money perspective as this is a full price title. Had it come in at under R300 I would be a lot more forgiving. At over R1000, there are many other games to enjoy instead with very little in this game being unique, especially if all you want is a relaxing, zen experience.