#BEYOND BLUE SWITCH REVIEW FULL#

No, this didnвЂ™t kill the experience, but it was incredibly noticeable, even to someone who can usually tolerate a lower frame rate.Д«eyond Blue touts in its marketing that it has a soundtrack featuring music from Miles Davis, The Flaming Lips, The Edisons, and more. One of the last missions is particularly bad in this regard as it takes place in the darkest parts of the ocean, meaning thereвЂ™s next to nothing but darkness on screen, but you are chugging along.

Sometimes this drop in frame rate doesnвЂ™t even make sense as nothing is happening on screen. Sure, it seems to stay steady for the majority of the experience, but it drops significantly many times during the main story. The frame rate in Beyond Blue is a whole beast of its own. Maybe IвЂ™m a bit harsh on the game, but those uncanny valley eyes are going to haunt me. When she gets out of the suit in the submarine, however, her face is seriously the stuff of nightmares. While diving, Mirai looks pretty good in her swimsuit. Perhaps the worst aspect of Beyond BlueвЂ™s graphics is its one human character model.

There also an addedВ feature that lets you look at the models of creatures youвЂ™ve discovered freely, zooming in on them and watching them perform different вЂњbehaviors.вЂќ This would be a great idea if this were a graphical marvel, but, sadly, this feature only makes the graphical flaws more apparent. Textures are all incredibly muddy, something that is terribly noticeable the further you progress in the game. While things might look fine most of the time, from afar, the visuals tend to fall apart whenever you get too close to objects. What really holds Beyond Blue back from greatness are its graphics and presentation. The 16 videos all range between one to three minutes in length, so donвЂ™t expect a feature-length documentary, but it felt like a nice little reward for trudging through the plot. Outside of the fish facts, players unlock short videos featuring real sea creatures and scientists.

#BEYOND BLUE SWITCH REVIEW FULL#

Seeing as how the popular docu-series Blue Planet II inspires beyond Blue, itвЂ™s no surprise that the game is full of interesting information. If reading up about barracudas or sperm whales doesnвЂ™t sound like a fun time for you, there really isnвЂ™t much reason for you to play this game. If you happen to be someone, like myself, who has a deep fascination with the ocean and wants to learn more about it and its inhabitants, unlocking facts is enough of a reward to warrant the grind of scanning everything in sight. It reminds me of No ManвЂ™s Sky at launch lots of things to scan and look at, but not really much to do. Scanning creatures isnвЂ™t particularly fun, per se, but it is satisfying. Once you scan enough of each creature, youвЂ™ll be able to recognize them without scanning, which unlocks some interesting facts. Most of the runtime is spent swimming around the dive areas scanning fish, whales, and other sea creatures. The bulk of Beyond Blue has a very chill, relaxing vibe.

If thatвЂ™s the case, youвЂ™re in luck, at least if youвЂ™re seeking a serene underwater experience. When the game would slip into the melodrama about deep-sea mining or MiraiвЂ™s elderly grandmother (yes, that somehow makes it into this game), I was bored out of my mind.Д¬hances are, however, that Beyond Blue probably caught your attention for its gameplay rather than its story. Almost all of my time with Beyond Blue was spent listening to characters talk, which was far more interesting than the actual story. Though itвЂ™s clear that the folks over at E-Line Media wanted to make a pulse-pounding narrative to give players a reason to care about the dives, they werenвЂ™t very successful. This plot synopsis makes Beyond Blue sound much more thrilling than it actually is. Using ground-breaking technology, Mirai and her team of scientists must do all they can to save the whales before its too late. As she yearns to learn more about the animals she loves so much, an illegal drilling operation threatens the sperm whaleвЂ™s ecosystem. Beyond Blue is a deep-sea exploration game following Mirai, a scientist studying a family of sperm whales.

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