Beyond Blue from E-Line Media is a great looking and relaxing 3D underwater exploration game on PS4. Learn more about it in our Beyond Blue review!
Beyond Blue is a new PlayStation 4 game from the same team that brought us the great Never Alone – a game that you should add to your PS4 collection. It’s a relaxing and fun 3D underwater exploration game that will have you admiring and scanning the many sea creatures you will find during your journey. The first thing I thought about after booting up the game was Endless Ocean from Nintendo on the Nintendo Wii, which also had you diving into the ocean as you made new sea friends.
In the world of Beyond Blue, you will take on a journey through the eyes of deep-sea explorer and scientist Doctor Mirai Soto who, in the near future, is part of a research team that is using new technological advances that makes it possible to explore the oceans in a whole new way. She and her team stream from beneath the ocean, showcasing the wonders of the sea. You will learn a lot about sea life as you play Beyond Blue, all in a very relaxing gaming experience that will keep you glued to the screen from start to finish.
You’ll swim with the left analog stick, looking around you with the right analog stick. If you press down on the left analog stick, you’ll be able to swim faster. You can also swim directly below or above by using the L2 and R2 buttons. You’ll find buoys that you can interact with by pressing the X button so that you can move the right analog stick to target and record the sounds emitted by the specimen you’re doing research on. You’ll sometimes have to crawl into narrow caves, so once you press the X button, you’ll slowly swim crawl into position.
Your main objective during each of the dives will be to scan all of the sea life you’ll find in each location, which is done by opening up your scanner with the L1 button, so that you can scan each specimen with the R1 button. As you scan each specimen type – and eventually tag them – they will be added to your log so that you can later review their nam3 classification, scientific name, overall size, as well as check out a detailed image of said specimen. The more of each specimen that you can, the better it will be for your investigation!
As you explore each area, be sure to pause the game so that you can access the map tab. You can also open up the map right away by pressing the Touchpad on your DualShock 4. The map will be very useful since it will allow you to learn what each area looks like so that you can plan your dive, as well as how many specimens have yet to be scanned. You can zoom in and out with the L2 and R2 buttons. You do need to know that the grey dots on the map that represent each specimen will not tell you if that creature is out in the open at the top of the ocean, if it’s swimming closer to the seafloor, or if it’s actually located inside of a cave in that area.
Beyond Blue has a full trophy list with a Platinum trophy, and the good news is that there are no missable trophies for the game! You can complete each of the dives in the game’s story, and once you’ve completed them, you’ll get to repeat the dives so that you can search for any of the specimens you still need to scan. I do suggest that you scan everything during each of your initial dives, but being able to go back and do some cleanup is definitely a good thing. There are trophies for completing each of the story dives, trophies for scanning all creatures in each area, and trophies for watching all of the ocean insight videos. These work as a series of mini-documentaries that will give you a lot of valuable information on sea life and the different scientists who dedicate their life to learning more and more about what the ocean has to offer.
Beyond Blue is a very relaxing underwater experience that was a lot of fun to review. As soon as I started on my first dive, I was hooked and continued to play non-stop, going from dive to dive, scanning all of the wonderful creatures around me. Getting close to a giant squid was definitely something I was not expecting to do in this game. Beyond Blue is out now on PlayStation 4 for $19.99, and it’s a game I highly recommend you add it to your collection.
Disclaimer
This Beyond Blue review is based on a PlayStation 4 copy provided by E-Line Media.
