Nancy L. Johnson:

I got this game for my husband for Christmas because he had said he wanted a hunting or fishing game and after looking at the others, figured I would give it a chance. Well my husband does like it but my daughter and I have played it more than him. It is best as a family game; certainly makes for some good ‘ol competition. Both he and I would do the multiplayer versus or try the Tournament co-op. There are several different ways to play and the variety of fish is pretty big. There are some that are supposed to be surprise fish. Which in some cases I wouldn’t call them “fish” (example is one of my ‘catches’ was a plate of sushi). I haven’t made it thru the whole game yet, the higher you go the more challenging it is. You can get faster boats and lots different lures for different fish you catch. They have 5 different characters to play on the Tournament Mode, all but one are boys so the only girl character, Emily, is the one that gets most played in our house. The fish are not too challenging to catch most of the time, even when I am not using the right lure I can normally get them to bite. They just bite faster when it is the right one. You can tell that when their eyes bug out of their head when they see the lure. When it shows questions marks over the fish’s head it is the wrong lure.

When you begin the Tournament Mode you only have one class you can start with (Beaver) but as you move along and score first place at the different locations you will unlock more of the classes (there are 6) and each of the classes have 4 different locations you can go to. The different classes are:

1 Star: Beaver Class

2 Stars: Fur Seal Class

3 Stars: Sea Lion Class

4 Stars: Dolphin Class

5 Stars: Orca Class

6 Stars: Whale Class

As I said each Class has 4 different locations, some of them are repeated in different classes but are more challenging to get thru, as well as they have them at different times of the day or different weather conditions. For example, Beaver Class locations are The Pacific Northwest, Florida Keys, The Nile River and The Amazon River. In Fur Seal Class the locations are The River Thames, The Mediterranean Sea, The Amazon River and The Pacific Northwest. The Amazon River might be a sunny afternoon in one or a rainy morning in the other.

You start the race in the Safe Harbor and it is usually a race to see who can catch the most fish, in either pounds or number. Using the co-op mode helps because you use two players instead of one and all the fish you catch is added together. You have a map to tell you where the fish are but I have plenty of times just been riding around and see a fish on the surface where there are no indicators that fish are there. The areas highlighted on the map also have these bubble areas in the game so you know that is where you need to fish. You will also find temporary bubble areas that are not on your side map that usually have some fish hiding in there. One of the other great things about the game is that you can catch more than one fish at a time. It is not all the time but if you have hooked a small fish, occasionally a bigger one might come along and eat it, to which you have to hook that one too and then reel it in. But when dropping it off at the safe harbor it will count as two fish.

There are several different ‘power-ups’ during game play. You find them in the shape of presents on the water with these large glowing balloons above them. Usually these come in the form of Seagulls (steals opponents fish), Porcupine Fish (3 bombs), Duck Missiles (send after opponents and blows up their boat), Dolphins (protection) and a Whale (blows opponents out of the water). None of them completely take out a opponent, just immobilizes them a bit or they lose their catch, which can mean a lot if it comes down to you or them racing to the finish. The power-ups all have different uses but can take a little bit of time to get the hang of them. I had a lot of fun using them against my husband when we played against each other (he didn’t find it too fair lol). There are more powerful versions of the power-ups too but you have to get higher up in levels to see them.

I would say there are a few cons to the game. I don’t particularly like using the nunchuk for reeling because the cord can get in the way and it is not stationary but after you pretty much get use to the controls it isn’t all that hard. I found that when choosing the type of boat, I prefer balance over speed, there is a third boat option but I haven’t gotten that far in the game yet. Speed is nice but it is REALLY hard to steer the boat. You have a regular speed (B button) and a Turbo Dash (A button) in any mode so using the speed mode for a tournament player is not really necessary. Sometimes the screen has gone funny on me if I back up into a wall or object, usually it will point your view skyward so you can’t see anything, it is a pain but just pulling forward a bit fixes it.

Overall I enjoy the game very much, it is a challenge for us and I can play it with my children. I wouldn’t recommend it for serious fishermen because it is cartoonish but as a family game it is wonderful.

Rating: 4 / 5

Jiggs:

The game is fun but it gets boring after a couple of hours. Not worth the money. If you liked the wii bowling and you have a lot of money this game’s for you.
Rating: 3 / 5