There are many fish and getting them cataloged for an encyclopedia doesn't involve much, some food and petting will earn you their name and info. You have one crew mate on your boat and she wears a life jacket all the time, I find that a weird combo with her short shorts and she points in you in directions of interest. She can't swim.
There's also a message system where you can get request to lead dives, the divers will meet you and hope to see a certain type of fish. You are rated after each dive and if you score good you get new equipment, I'm hoping for a new tank to go deeper.
You have control of the boats navigation so you can choose where to dive. The map is large and the terrain is intricate and detailed nicely. Everything is done with the wiimote and that is good and bad, not all the commands can be done one handed.
One thing I am interested in is the wifi feature what is diving from someone elses boat like, can you listen to each others music while visiting, is there different terrain?
That song is really annoying. Really.
After playing for a a little while I asked myself if I had been suckered into getting a fished up Nintendog, if the gameplay includes rubbing animals for friend points- I've never played Nintendogs- then yes, maybe I have. But I'm not upset, very bothered. I could be very critical of the game in that yes it works great when underwater, the experience is great, but once your on land in the boat there are a load of issues.
The human characters look and act very stiff, you aren't addressed by your name and you can't view the map. That's right you can't view the map while above water and I think that will make keeping track of favorite places sort of difficult. Is it worth 30 usd, though? That's what you want to know. I was prepared to shell 50 for it and I was glad it wasn't because I would have been upset. The game doesn't go over the top with graphics or music, the controls are very good. If there is a sequel I would like to see more personality in the characters, the lack of adventure is a nice way to spend leisure time on the console, but I can't wait for No More Heroes tomorrow. :)