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11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great for the off season, March 22, 2000
By A Customer
Durability:5.0 out of 5 stars Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars Educational:5.0 out of 5 stars
Graphics Overall, the graphics are great. The fish movement is very realistic; fish lunge towards the surface to pick off bugs floating around, and they dive down to the bottom to suck up crayfish. It's as though you're watching a nature show that shows them in their natural habitat; they interact with their environment so well. Sometimes though, there are some minor clipping problems. One time I was fishing at the Palace, when a fish disappeared under the sandy bottom. A few moments later he came out of the sand like one of the monsters in Tremors and grabbed my lure; I couldn't help but laugh. Sometimes, though, the fish get stuck on an obstacle such as a wall or a pole and can't get around it. The graphics are great though, especially in the ending.Sound The sound is pretty good, with a good announcer. When you get a bite, it yells out "Hit!", prompting you to set the hook. Once you accomplish this, it announces, "Fish!". As you reel the fish in, the announcer tells you which way to move the rod to ease tension ("Turn the rod left", "Lower the rod", etc.) Once you bring the fish in, the announcer judges it with such as phrases as: "Aww, small one" or "This one's huge!". The sound is great; the music, on the other hand, is overall mediocre and seems for the most part out of place. Some of the music should never be anywhere near a fishing game, but there is one track of music that is great (I think it is from the Cave or the Falls). Gameplay The gameplay pretty much consists of selecting a spot, casting, and reeling it in. To catch fish, though, you must work a little harder; you have to find where the fish are hiding and present the lure to them correctly. If you don't do it right, they won't bite it. This is all easy though, if not too easy. Overall, the underwater camera is great for allowing you to see the fish, but sometimes you get a bad angle; for example, sometimes it shows a side view and you can't see behind the lure, sometimes the camera goes overhead even when there are no fish below you, and sometimes the camera shows the surface of the water even though you aren't using a topwater lure, and you can't see underwater. Control The input is excellent in this game. The standard controller works perfectly well (especially with the analog trigger buttons), but the fishing controller is even better. The lure responds to your touch so well that you might think you are actually out on the lake fishing. Great control seems to be a trend in all the Dreamcast games I've played. I hope it keeps up. Replay Value This category is the only place the game lacks. Sure there are three modes: Arcade, Original (tournament), and Practice, but they all have virtually the same objective. Arcade mode pits you agains the clock; you try to catch a certain amount of total pounds within the given time. If you don't though, you have unlimited continues and you resume right where the time ran out. You even keep the fish you caught before time ran out. It's impossible not to beat Arcade mode unless you don't continue or you quit. Original mode is slightly more challenging. You are ranked by total pounds against computer opponents in up to five stages for four tournaments. As you progress, you get new lures but the game gets harder. In each stage, there is a morning, noon, and evening time period in which you fish for four hours game time (about 5 minutes realtime). Sometimes it can be very hard to catch fish in such a short time, but once you learn the stages and know where the fish lie, you should have no trouble beating the computer. The tournaments get progressively harder by having a minimum size or allowing you to keep only a certain number of fish. One of the cool things thrown in is the secret lure you get once you reach the final tournament. I'm not going to give it away here, but way to go Sega! The ending is great, with excellent graphics, but beating the game leaves you wishing there was something else to do, such as a new mode. The main thing that hurts the replay value is a lack of multiplayer. It would be great to do a tournament against your friends. It wouldn't have to be split-screen; instead, you could switch off. There could even be a mode like Mario Golf's slot mode where you get only three random lures to use against your friends. A multiplayer mode would definitely be a great enhancement for this game. Overall I must say that I am somewhat biased because I am an avid fisherman. I recommend this game for all fishermen, and it can be fun for everyone else too, but others might want to give it a rent first because it doesn't have good lasting value unless you really like it. If you buy it, definitely consider the fishing controller; it is slightly expensive, but it is worth it if you plan to play it a lot.
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