Inspired by the documentary series Blue Planet II BBC Beyond Blue invites players to transform into aquanauts and to explore the depths underwater, to explore the rich and mysterious life is.
The oceans cover 70% of the surface of the globe, and Beyond Blueexperience developed in collaboration with oceanographers, marine biologists and documentary makers from the BBC Earth invites us to discover (and interact) with this vast underwater world. At once didactic and entertaining, the game puts us in the skin of Mirai, a scientist passionate about the diving and the majestic creatures living in this kingdom of the seas, in order to perform a series of live broadcasts for the account of OceanX, a real organization whose mission is to explore, and to reveal the secrets of this universe as mysterious as it is magical.
Taking place among the atolls of the central Pacific and western, each dive in Beyond Blue contains a series of specific objectives to complete, such as collecting samples of coral, identify the species that live there, save the singing of humpback whales in order to try to communicate with them, collect rings and tracing lost, and to ask new, meet the information compiled by the tags sub-marine, or even study the impact of drilling, mining at these depths. Some dives even give the player the choice between two distinct missions to accomplish.
Picture from the game
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Because controls are convoluted, the games are taking place under the water have long had a bad reputation, but the commands of Beyond Blue are instinctive, and the movements are performed with ease and grace. It accelerates its swimming by pressing the analog stick to the left of the thumb, while the two trigger buttons are used to move up or down. The button portion of the left activates the scanner, and the right one allows you to shoot different species evolving under the surface. The sharks did not threaten to attack, and our dives are not limited by an amount of oxygen restricted, which creates an experience that is peaceful and relaxing, which is good in this period of generalized anxiety.
Beyond Blue reproduced with accuracy a varied fauna (ray, sperm whale, humpback whale, dolphin, octopus, barracuda, starfish, killer whales, jellyfish), and the more one scans représecannnntants of the same species, the more we get information about it (size, behavior, natural habitat, etc). You unlock also of short videos, focusing on the marine biologists, the technology facilitates the observation and collection of data, or collaboration, sometimes unusual, between the different species. Filmed by documentary makers for the BBC Earth, these sequences are absolutely beautiful, and contain a quantity of images is breathtaking.
If you have been fascinated by the presence of a fin whale in the St. Lawrence river at the height of Montreal, you will be seduced by Beyond Bluea unique experience that, for twenty dollars, you will learn more about the creatures living under the water, and swim with them.
7/10
Beyond Blue
Developer & publisher : E-Line Media
Platforms : PS4, Switch, Windows and Xbox One (tested on Xbox One)
Game available in French (text only)
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