Sega Bass Fishing

Sega Bass Fishing - (Wii)
Developer: Cavia
Format: Wii
Genre: Fishing


Something fishy going on?



Dreamcast diehards will have to prepare themselves for a big trip down memory lane with Bass Fishing. Building on the success of that game back in the 90s, and with the Wii's controls and remotes crying out for the arm-flapping shenanigans of a decent fishing game, it was only a matter of time before its release.

So here you have classic Sega; a race against the clock, the stylised, slightly cartoon graphics, plenty of loud sound and music and a frantic and colourful pace. Chuck in a few modified AI fish, some challenging weather and boat conditions and the ever-ticking countdown clock and you have what's at first a great angle for your rod. With its emphasis on the arcade fun, this is also really easy to jump straight into. There's also a Nature Trip Mode that gives a more realistic angle to the baiting procedures but the sense that this is for die-hard Bass-heads creeps in quickly.

After a short while and well before your boat is overloaded with the slippery critters, the interest curve falls sharply. There seems to have been little improvement in terms of gameplay, glitches and graphical prowess and the retro feel is high.

True, the race against the clock to get your hook back into the action will have you making split weather, bait, temperature and depth decisions after you land a fish; but the frantic clock-fighting pace does get repetitive really quickly.

The main beef with all this, there's no multiplayer. The game is crying out for one, crying out for a late night two-player head to head and the like but alas no.

It's just you on your own and your tales of the ones that got away.