![]() Together with fellow scientists André and Irina, you are part of a three-person team launching an online Ocean Sense Network to study, record, and even livestream underwater ecosystems. Mirai Soto, the lone diver aboard a submersible in the Western Pacific. The game puts players in the flippers of Dr. ![]() Still, with its superb production values, a slight but ongoing narrative with surprising emotional weight, and a number of educational extras to boot, it’s well worth taking the plunge for anyone with an interest in aquatic life. There are no puzzles and only the most rudimentary of objectives to complete throughout its short three-hour playtime, so it’s more of a simulation than an adventure game proper, which makes for a rather single-minded experience. Which is good, because here’s the rub: Beyond Blue isn’t really much of a game. As much as I enjoyed 2016’s ABZÛ, and as similar as the two titles are in many respects, that game was a more artistic take on marine exploration, whereas this one is more focused on realism and even education. Real divers might take exception to that description, of course, but without the benefit of firsthand comparison, I can safely say that Beyond Blue is the nearest I’ve ever felt to exploring the ocean’s depths. Or at least, I did until games like E-Line Media’s Beyond Blue came along and made me feel like I was actually there. To venture any deeper than that, I need to live vicariously through brilliant underwater TV features like the BBC’s Blue Planet series. I mean, really, what’s a Wookiee or a Klingon got on a bottom-dwelling anglerfish, giant squid, devil ray or a Benjamin Button-like de-aging jellyfish for weirdness? Alas, being more than a little claustrophobic (elevators: fine, submarines at a thousand meters down: out!), the closest I’ll ever come is a whale watching boat tour or a coral reef snorkel. It doesn’t have the exhilarating freedom of movement, memorable score and eye-catching artistic direction of Abzû, 2016’s excellent tribute to ocean life and mythology, but Beyond Blue hews closer to reality, encouraging learning and reflection on the planet’s last unexplored frontier.As a lifelong fan of oceans, I’d love nothing more than to do a deep-sea dive to explore a world-within-our-world that’s far more fascinating and imaginative than any sci-fi planet ever conceived. Video clips featuring footage from Blue Planet II and insights from real marine scientists are more interesting, but, especially for curious children, this could have been a better repository of sea-life knowledge. Strangely, even though I spent most of my time in Beyond Blue obediently scanning wildlife, the in-game encyclopedia contains few facts about the many different species you encounter. The effort might perhaps have been better spent on interesting ways to deliver more information about the ocean creatures that take centre stage. None of these is particularly well developed. Beyond Blue layers a few different plot lines over the ocean exploration: a grandmother with Alzheimer’s disease, a fractious sibling relationship, unauthorised mining and sea pollution. ![]() ![]() In between dives, on the small submarine that serves as home, phone calls between our diver and her family and colleagues add a superfluous touch of human drama. Inevitably for a game informed by the actual state of our oceans, there’s a touch of sadness here.Įncourages learning and reflection. Nonetheless, do not expect an entirely chill time beneath the waves. You can admire the impressively realistic sea life at leisure, panning drones around creatures to record their songs and examine their markings. Attempts to swim directly into the gaping mouth of a humpback or provoke a hammerhead shark yield nothing but the odd visual glitch. Futuristic technology enables our marine scientist to scan creatures, track whale calls and withstand the crushing pressures of the deep ocean as she follows a pod of sperm whales through seascapes taken from the BBC’s Blue Planet II, from shallows to open ocean to the toxic deep-sea brine pool that gave me nightmares for weeks after seeing it on TV.Ītmospheric though these watery places are, there’s no peril in this version of deep-sea diving, even when you try to manufacture it. A mellow and overtly educational game about marine wildlife, Beyond Blue is an opportunity to submerge yourself in the expansive beauty of the Western Pacific. ![]()
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