PixlBit

I return from my E3 break with a fishing game, which, unfortunately, is no more exciting than a never-ending press conference.

There are certain concepts which simply don't work well as a videogame, and fishing is one of those. I'm not into fishing myself, but I can see the appeal in it. It can be just you, out on a boat in the middle of a lake on a beautiful day, sitting back with your feet up, fresh air all around, no one around to bother you, all your troubles forgotten. When you're playing a fishing videogame, then it's just you, on a couch in the middle of an ugly living room decorated by your roommate who has bad taste, sitting back with your feet resting on a pile of empty pizza boxes, hot, stuffy air all around, and your troubles are just one phone ring away. The experience isn't one which can be replicated by a videogame.

Starting it up, I was greeted by a bland title screen which quickly faded into a save file select screen, so the pressing of start wasn't necessary. Surprisingly, this game saves to the cartridge, which seems a bit strange for an obvious low-budget title. There are two characters to choose from, a generic, nameless guy or girl. There are two modes of play, Tournament and Fish For Fun. The former has you playing for a certain score based on the fish you catch within the time limit, and the latter lets you pick a lake and stay as long as you want.

Since there is no in-game explanation and I lack the manual, I had to figure out the controls all on my own. Casting is simple, just use up and down on the stick to select the strength and press A to cast. There are three different cast types, but they all seem to function in the same way. After tossing the line into the water, I waited. And waited. Reeled in a bit more. And waited. Reel. Waited. Spun stick rapidly just to watch the character dizzy herself in an attempt to somehow amuse myself. Finally found a fish through some stroke of luck. I held A to reel it in, but it wasn't doing much, and the fish eventually got away. Great. Do you know how long that took? Eesh. Threw the line back in, and after more waiting and stick-spinning, got another one. This time I thought to pull back on the stick as I reeled it in, which seemed to work. There is a meter on the side of the screen that I have no idea what it does. It is green on the bottom and red on the top. It was half full, and as I moved the stick from side to side, the meter was moving up and down. It seemed random, so I have no clue what it means. In any case, I caught the puny 2lb bass. Now let's eat it. Wait, it's a videogame. Drat.

Graphics are passable but nothing special. The water looks decent enough and has some subtle ripple effects, though the land graphics consist mostly of blurry sprites for trees. The animation of your character is very choppy, though the fishing line is somewhat smooth. Music is non-existent outside of menus, so you'll be listening to nothing but the sound of birds chirping and the reeling of the rod.

It's a fishing videogame, what does one expect from it? I've no idea if this would actually appeal to a fishing enthusiast, as I doubt it contains much of anything that one looks for in the real hobby. You don't even get to cook the fish you catch.