Forever Blue

» In the now loading screen, an energetic dolphin swims in an undulating manner in the lower left corner of the screen.

» Start a NEW GAME and you're prompted to enter your name on an identification card. You're a professional diver with three stars and your number is: LTU ARK P2 0000. After selecting a save-game file, the game starts and the following text appears:

Manaurai Sea
The western sea off Manaurai Island abounds with unspoiled beauty and natural resources.

» Your onscreen protagonist appears underwater in a scuba outfit and is audibly breathing from an air tank. Point the Wii in the directions indicated on the screen and then swim forwards by pressing and holding the B button. The Wii Remote is used to move the scuba diver and the direction of movement is indicated by a blue targeting cursor that appears on screen. To perform a barrel roll, shake the Wii Remote to the left or right two times in quick succession. If you swim directly ahead, you'll eventually reach a miniature coral reef which is the locus of life in the current location. The fish all congregate near the reef and you may interact with them with the Wii Remote.

» The first area that you dive around in looks pretty good and the colors are muted to convey the illusion of really being underwater. The reef that you can explore looks a little stiff however but is still attractive. We describe it as stiff because the anemones don't move with the water currents and the underwater flora looks more like plastic decorations instead of the living things that they're supposed to represent. While hanging around below, the fish will swim by and ignore you unless you engage them. At one point when we were testing the game this morning, there was a stingray that passed by which you can follow and swim alongside. To interact with the fish, move the cursor over them until it turns yellow and press the "A" button. A finger will appear which appears to tickle the fish. One fish we tickled hung around as if our diver was a big mammalian friend.

» To access a menu of options when underwater, hit the d-pad on the Wii Remote and partial wheel appears on the bottom of the screen with various commands including one where you can resurface back aboard your ship, feed the fish, and toggle game option modifiers. When feeding the fish, a yellowish cloud of food is released into the water and the fish dart in and eat what you've dispersed.

» Your ship is called "Gabbiano" and the game describes it as, "Your small but steady vessel. Gabbiano means "seagull" in Italian."

» There is no spoken speech in the game and the dialogue between your onscreen persona and the female shipmate is represented by text only. When you first surface, you'll have a conversation where a little background information is disseminated. If you dive again and resurface, she can be seen making friends with a penguin that has climbed aboard the Gabbiano. The penguin proceeds to hang around and becomes a mascot of sorts.

» During dives, the fish and other animals that you encounter can be saved to a book that's in your ship's quarters. For example, after our second dive, we had about six fish identified and added to the book with their scientific names and photos. Fish and animals that have not been encountered yet are shown as shadowed silhouettes on the pages of the book.

» New Zealand native Hayley Westenra sings the song "Prayer" in the introduction to the game.

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