We don’t know what it is, but there’s something enchanting about games that have you cleaning up. It might be the most repetitive, menial task in the world, but picking up litter in a video game really does soothe the soul. And Dolphin Spirit: Ocean Mission is just teeming with it.
Aimed at a younger audience, Dolphin Spirit: Ocean Mission takes you to the fictional island of Maupiroa. As the newest recruit to the local environmentalist group, you’ll spend time both on land and in water, responding to various environmental disasters. Recently, a lot of litter has washed up on and around the island, so picking that up is a good place to start. You’ll also have to help animals in distress, clear nets from the oceans, and more.
You won’t have access to the entirety of Maupiroa right away: new areas unlock as you progress through the game, which keeps things nicely paced. However, once a new area unlocks you can’t necessarily interact with its missions until you’ve specifically been told to: we wandered into an area filled with oil-covered birds, but couldn’t do anything because we hadn’t unlocked the mission yet. It breaks the immersion somewhat to just have to… leave them there. But hey, video games.
The gameplay of Dolphin Spirit: Ocean Mission is rather repetitive but there’s something very relaxing and engaging about it. Tasks are simple: press X to pick up litter, press X to help a dolphin tangled up in a net, press X to free a bird stuck in plastic. Each area has a number of litter items to pick up, and so cleaning up becomes a checklist activity of ticking everything off. Yes, it couldn’t be more prescriptive, but there’s still a sweet joy to be found in fully cleaning up an area.
It’s not all for naught, either. Once an area has been fully cleaned, a new species of animal will make its way to the island (or ocean, depending where you are). You’ll also often be rewarded with a fact sheet to go in your in-game journal: there’s a lot of interesting real-world educational information here, teaching children (and the rest of us) about the environmental impact of things like overfishing.
Your character in Dolphin Spirit: Ocean Mission is also equipped with a camera. While you’ll occasionally need to photograph your environment to progress through the story, you’ll mostly be using it to take photos of the different species dotted around Maupiroa. Again it’s another checklist activity, but keeping an eye out for new animals you’ve not yet captured is enjoyable.
With a range of characters to meet, mysteries to uncover and plenty of cleaning up and rescuing to be done, there’s a lot of fun to be had with Dolphin Spirit: Ocean Mission. Sure, its gameplay may be simple, but when it’s this engaging it doesn’t matter. For the young and young-at-heart, restoring the island of Maupiroa to its former glory is a task worth undertaking.
Dolphin Spirit: Ocean Mission Review – GameSpew’s Score
This review of Dolphin Spirit: Ocean Mission is based on the PS5 version of the game, via a code provided by the publisher. It’s available on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Switch and PC.
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