This game surprised me. I didn’t think it would be so bloody addictive, and it’s quite possibly one of the more simplest games I’ve ever played as far as concept. It even has a story. When you start the game these two cute little … things … are doing whatever, but then the boy’s island starts moving away. So the girl snatches up a fishing rod and goes fishing to get him back.
Yes, it sounds stupid, but it works well for the game.
And it’s maddeningly addictive. After I went through the trial and unlocked the game I must have sat there for at least an hour just messing around. And it didn’t even feel like an hour, this is one of THOSE games. You reel the girls’ boyfriend back in, and you’re just like “okay, just one more”. And the game’s 10 minute time limit (which can be turned off) is perfect for stuff like that because you can easily play this just to kill a little time, and you can also play it for an hour or two and never get bored.
Graphically, even though it’s pretty simple, it fits perfectly not trying to do anything that doesn’t fit. Put simply, they’re gorgeous for what it is. The stage looks great, the fish look great and have their own cutesy style personalities and everything. Everything works and it works extremely well.
The sound is perfectly suited to this game. There is no music in the game, all you have is the sound of water and waves and whatnot which really lends itself to just how calming the game really is. The sound effects are just as minimal, but it doesn’t need loads of sound effects. What’s there fits perfectly.
The gameplay … you literally use 2 buttons in the entire game. You hold down A to charge up your initial cast, and you hold down A again to reel in your line. With the bigger fish, you have to tap A to reel it in. And it’s not the annoying furious tapping, you just tap the button. You aim for the orange floating balls in the water, and you can use money you’ve gotten from catching fish to get different lures to catch bigger fish and better rods where you can cast out further eventually snagging the island for the boyfriend and reeling IT in to reunite them. And you hit the B button to switch between your different types of lures.
Granted, it’s not much. But there are also badges in the game that you can collect for doing various things. Like buying each of the items from the store, or collecting so much money or catching each type of fish which really extends the gameplay quite a bit.
8.5 – This is a beautifully well done game that deserves your 80 points. That’s all there is to it.
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#1 by Jigsaw hc on September 20, 2009 - 12:16 am
Quite possibly the best $1 I’ve spent in weeks. This game rocks!