Customer Reviews

Deadliest Catch: Alaskan Storm

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Let me preface this review by saying that I am a huge fan of the Discovery Channel series....

After long-awaited anticipation, I can't even tell you how excited I was to pop this into my XBOX, however, I have been sorely disappointed and this game has not lived up to my expectations. Here are my thoughts:

- Unless you have a considerably large television, you will struggle to play this game. The text is impossibly small to read and even with a 40" HDTV, I sometimes have problems seeing what is going on. I originally tried playing this game on a much smaller screen and found that I had to be within inches of the surface to read both the menus or the tips that sometimes pop up.

- There is a very sharp learning curve... even after reading the manual and doing the tutorials (twice, I might add), I'm finding it difficult to negotiate the career mode. Luckily, there are many online gamer forums that I have been able to help me figure out the parts that I missed somehow... (thank you thank you!)

- Time... To be honest, the main reason that I've already lost interest in the game is the slow pace of play. When setting a string of pots there is no way to speed up time, so basically you putter along until the crew has prepared the next pot to be dropped... which takes almost a minute. If you're like me, and looking for a game that is going to capture your attention- this is not for you. I actually ended up doing dishes while setting a string of pots last night, hitting the drop the pot button in-between each plate because I could not bear to sit and just stare at the screen while the crew loaded the pot with bait... Luckily, there are parts where you can speed up time but not many as you cannot whenever there is a pot on deck (i.e. dropping or picking up pots).

- The software also does not seem to be that smart... there are sometimes where I try to set the boat on autopilot so I can speed up the game (or travel to a predetermined point) where it won't let me because the boat is "too close to land," forcing you to negotiate whatever chunk of land you're near, which may or may not be anywhere close to your final destination (again... forcing you to just sit there and kill time...).

I will say in the game's defense, the sea simulator is fantastic- the game mimics accurately the undulations of the ocean and during rough storms you can almost feel yourself rising and falling with each wave. As a huge fan of the series, it is also fun to see some of the series favorites as game characters.

Other than that... I'd say play this game if you're looking to kill a lot of time and have infinite amounts of patience.

Look, I'll be honest. This isn't the most graphically advanced game in the world (in fact, it's been likened to that of a PS2 game) and it's not the most action packed.

BUT, if you would like to play a game that's accurate to the Discovery Channel show and the lives of the men who are on it then this is the game for you! :)

Sure, the game play is slow and it takes a long time to finish a season, but guess what, so does the real thing. This is more of a simulator like The Sims where the game play is slow but it's the simulation that makes it fun. If you're looking for action packed high seas adventure, you might want to just pick up a copy of Pirates of the Caribbean on DVD.

The IGN review said it best in that it is what it is. This is the best Crab Fishing game available and is true to the show and the crab fishing industry.

Overall, as a fan of the show and a gamer, I've enjoyed the game a lot! If you're going to buy this game, just don't expect it to be something it's not.

This is the most disappointing game to come along in a LONG TIME - I simply don't understand the other reviews giving this a recommendation. When Game Informer magazine gets ahold of this, I'm predicting they give it a 2 out of 10. And that's being generous. Where to begin?

There's a semblance of fun when you pick your crew and the kid says, "Capt, I've got a girl in my bunk and my girlfriends headed this way, can you stall her?" You can either help or not. What you decided to do has absolutely ZERO influence in the game. The question itself gives you hope that there's interaction and decisions to be made in the game....WRONG. After that, the game spirals down to the most BORING game ever created quickly. And, yes, I am a fan of the TV show so the disappointment is magnified.

So you pick your boat, slap your own name on it, and paint it to your liking. That sounds like a big thing but it really isn't as you hardly ever pan around to the front of the boat (no need to) to see your custom name.

OK, back to picking your crew. First off, it's a short list and you can't create your own. I picked my crew and before I even dropped my first pot, the girl gave herself a hernia. The appointed "medic" gives me the report that "He's got a hernia, we should probably drop him off next time we're in port." HE'S got a hernia?! What is the guy, gender-retarded?!

Moving on, you only have 1 question for the crew "How are you doing?" and they've only got 1 response "Doing great!" Occasionally as they begin to get tired they'll give you 1 or 2 complaints like "I need a break" or "You can't work with cold hands." But that's it, there's absolutely no real-time interaction. There's also ZERO interaction down in the galley. As in, you tell someone to cook a meal and they disappear off the deck. Why couldn't they have made an achievement around cooking a satisfactory meal on the rocking boat? You're either in the boat house or looking down on the deck. There's nothing in between.

You can call the other ships in the area. Again, only 1 question. "How's the fishing?" They'll give you 1 of 3 answers. Again, whatever response they give - or you give them when they call you - has ZERO influence in the game.

You can call the Coast Guard with only 1 question - I need a tow. What happened to the Coast Guard helping with injured crew members?

As for piloting the boat, it takes - literally - 5 minutes to go a few hundred yards, you'll get a taste of this on the VERY FIRST thing you do which is to pilot your boat in a straight line into port. Who considers this riveting fun???

It almost feels like you're playing the game in REAL TIME. It's is AGONIZINGLY SLOW. You decide to drop a pot: The crane picks up a pot, swings it around, lowers it to the deck. The guy unhooks the cable and takes out the buoys. Another guy crawls in with the bait then closes the latch. This whole exchange takes a minute or more. You have to do this over and over and over again - all the while to the sound of loud seagulls. No dialogue on deck, no music, just the sound of seagulls. Eventually you'll come back to pick up the pots. ZERO response from the crew when the pot if full. ZERO response from the crew when the pot is empty. You may get a dialogue box to pop up where a guy says, "I hope they're all like this" but that's it. There's ZERO animation. And the crab itself? 2-D??? What happened to technology in the 21st century??? It's embarrassing. The crab comes out of the pot in 2 Dimension then slowly melts away.

It took all my patience and then some to go through a season of King and a season of Opillio fishing just so I could say I gave the game a chance. It doesn't eventually get better.

And I've been playing strategy games for 20 years (starting with Link & Final Fantasy for the Nintendo - more recently playing the demo for Sid Meier's Civ Revolution which is EXTREMELY fun). This game is hardly a strategy game, it's a game with so many shortcomings - so many opportunities to make it good but they didn't - it's a total flop.

I give it star for the Bon Jovi song on the main title. Once you hit the "start" button, your spiral has begun.

My husband is a commercial fisherman, and we have been anxiously awaiting this game for some time. We shouldn't have wasted our time. The graphics are good, sounds are realistic, but it is the most boring game in the history of video games. Not to mention it doesn't work properly. The crew goes to sleep and NEVER wakes up again NO matter WHAT you do.

So if you decide to purchase it anyway...good luck

I baught this game a few days ago and have been playing it off and on. This is a very interesting sim, and something original. I was looking for a fishing type game but this is so much more. Having complete control over where you fish, baiting, your crew, areas to fish... It can be overwhelming at first if you are person that is not used to sim-type games where there is alot of micromanagement.

Overall this game is very solid in regards to what it aims to do. It presents the challenge of being the captain of a fishing ship on the high seas and this definately does that.

The graphics are good, albeit not "cutting edge" for what some people look for. But I wasn't looking for eye candy when I got this. I was looking for something new and interesting to play and it is just that.

As you progress through the game it becomes more difficult as you have to traverse stormy weather, new prey, and disgruntled crew members.

Great game!!!

The game is fun to play if you are a fan of the show. However, there are some things in need of improvement.

I like the season simulation. It's fun to make our way to your pots and pick your locations. Dealing with weather, injuries, and equipment malfunctions can be fun.

Don't try to play this game on a small television. A lot of the fonts used are too small to read and are blurry even on my HD TV. Some of the controls are hard to use. Setting the engine to a slow speed/low RPM can be frustrating as well. The engine tends to just go to stop rather than let you run at a low speed.

Ok, so I finally broke down and ordered Alaskan storm on amazon. After reading the reviews, I have to say I was a little wary ordering the game, and I'm a HUGE fan.

So I ordered it, and after going through the training and starting my career, I've noticed that this game is everything I expected or wanted. I FEEL LIKE I'M CRAB FISHING, not in an arcade. Sure, the graphics are not that great, and the crew doesn't chatter away the whole time. But what did everybody expect? This is a sim-u-lation. This is the closest you and I will EVER get to steering a crab boat through a king or opi season. People complain about not being able to speed up time as much as they would like, but what do you expect? This isn't an arcade game. This is a good honest look at what you would experience in real life. Setting pots takes time, and this isn't TV. You can't edit all that out in real life. Yeah, the season is long...it is in real life too.

If you want a serious look at a crab fishing simulation game, this be it. Maybe it's me, but I love the game. I started playing last night around 10pm, and the next thing i knew, it was 4am and the King season had just wrapped up. So yes, it does take a little time to complete a season. However, if your a big fan of Deadliest Catch, it may be worth your while to check this out.

My husband and son love the show so I thought I'd buy them the game. It's much harder than I thought it would be. I myself have never played it (they hog the xbox 360 all the time) but my husband said it's too hard for even him to play. He's read the directions but still can't play it well. For us it doesn't meet our expectations but it might meet or even exceed the next persons.

I see the complaints on here about "Deadliest Catch" being slow....and they are right. "Alaskan Storm" gameplay can be pretty repetitive and slow. When setting your pots to fish, it seems like it takes forever! (If this happened on the show Capt. Phil Harris would be pitching a fit!!)Most likely I'm spoiled by the TV show and the magic of editing. I'm sure setting the pots is a much more drawn out process than what we see on the TV show, and I guess the game kind of captures that. And while the gameplay is a bit slow...it can be kind of addictive. (As an old-school gamer I kind of relate it to Intellivision's "Utopia"...God am I old!!) Depending on the weather, setting pots can be kind of tough, as you want to make them easily retrievable, or as close to a straight line as possible. In storms you will be battling huge waves, currents and other boats in the area, so there is some challenge....just very slow paced. So, while the gameplay can be slow at times, it's still fun.

The other main complaint is the amount of miniscule text you have to read while playing. I agree completely with this complaint. There is simply too much to read during gameplay. For the XBOX 360 you would expect sound bites, and like "Dead Rising", the amount of text does affect the gameplay, and to make it worse, the text is soooooo small as to make it almost unreadable! If a sequel ever comes out for "Deadliest Catch" that is the one big thing I would change.

Still, if you like your games to flow at a slower pace, you may want to give "Deadliest Catch" a chance. If nothing else, the graphics are fantastic, and the ocean simulation is beautiful.....well I better go have Edgar start chipping away at the ice on deck before I capsize.

Wow..all the points I wanted to make except one have been covered so I won't restate them...the one I do want to say is:

DO NOT get this game if you have a regualar TV, they must have only tested it on a HDTV because you can't even read the numbers or text on a regular TV.