Endless Ocean 2 is still a month away from release for the rest of the world outside Japan, and we will reserve our final judgement closer to release, but for now we’ll give you a quick run of what we’ve played so far and provide some video from the game. When a Endless Ocean sequel was announced, I was truly surprised, not because it wasn’t a decent enough game, but because we didn’t think it sold too well. Unperturbed, Nintendo and Arika have again teamed up for another dip in the Endless Ocean.

The first thing you’ll notice about Endless Ocean 2 over its predecessor is that it’s a much more polished affair this time around. Not only have the graphics been taken up a notch but the interface and story presentation are much better this time around. The graphical presentation of the game during the underwater dive sequences is amazing, with most of the on-land graphics looking a bit awkward. Underwater, there are plenty of ’wow’ moments that are great not only for how they look but for the scale of the game.

The first time you see a giant whale swim across, you will say ’wow’. Endless Ocean 2 offers more plenty more places to dive with places ranging from the tropics, a murky South American river and even the Antarctic and the Arctic.

The control scheme for Endless Ocean 2 largely remains the same as the original, however Arika have added in Classic Controller support this time around as well. While it does work for the most part, it doesn’t work the way most other games work, and instead remaps the Wii Remote’s controls to the Classic Controller, with the left stick simply becoming the equivalent of the Wii Remote’s pointer. The game’s music is better, too, with original music and licenced music providing the atmosphere, and the lack of a custom soundtrack option this time around matters not as the music in the game works better this time around.

So far, we’re about 7 hours into the game and the story line is so far entertaining and driving the purpose of the game pretty well. There is no voice acting again and the character models look a little dead, but the game is all about the action under the water and that’s where it shines.

Endless Ocean 2 has a ton of things on the side to do as well, which continue well beyond the game’s story mode. There is plenty to collect and see in this game and collecting it all will no doubt take players a while.

The game also returns with Wi-Fi Connection play with friends but there is also Wii Speak support which makes the whole diving-with-a-friend mode actually worth it.

The game is not one of action, so don’t expect a fast-paced underwater game. It’s a slow game and it is a relaxing and beautiful experience. Look for our full review of the game before the game’s release next month on the 25th of February.