Games for Lunch: Rapala Fishing Frenzy 2009
In a nutshell: Just as boring as I imagine real fishing is.
9/16/2008 6:36 PM | 1 Comments | Page 1 of 3
Developer: Sand Grain Studios
Publisher: Activision
Release Date: Sept. 2, 2008
Systems: PS3 (reviewed), Xbox 360, Wii
ESRB Rating: E
Official Web site
0:00 I've never been fishing in real life, and the last fishing game I played was the mildly intriguing
Super Black Bass on the SNES. But that didn't have Sixaxis motion controls!
0:01 Water washes over the Sand Grain logo. Some loading, then straight to a title screen with a picture of a fish chasing a lure and some twangy fiddle music.
0:02 During another, longer loading screen, the game scrolls some text about the surprising amount of bass below the Woodrow Wilson bridge in DC. Who knew?!
0:03 I start a new game, and two creepy-looking generic characters sit under a beach umbrella: a guy and a girl, both in breezy summer wear. I choose the guy. MALE PRIDE!
0:05 I've turned on the "Tutorial" option, so I dive into some "Open Fishing" on Lake Wylie at 6 a.m. Here's hoping the game will teach me how to fish.
0:06 Wylie is a "river-type lake." So ... is it a river or a lake? Anyway, a quick flick of the controller sends the lure out 73 feet into the water. No need to swing it over my shoulder like a real rod and reel -- just a flick is all that's asked of me.
0:08 A bunch of photorealistic fish swim about under the water. The light is refracted beautifully -- it really looks like an underwater scene. Top-notch visual effects. My lure's just floating there, though ... I can't figure out how to reel it in.
0:09 Before I can figure it out, a bass comes up and grabs on to the hook. "Sure bite!" my guy says -- confusing, as the games beep and the screen tells me to tilt the controller backwards. I do, but the fish lets go quickly. "Next time!" says my unnamed character, slightly depressed.
0:10 Randomly, the game transitions into "Attract" mode, where I have to flick the controller up and down to "attract" a fish. I do, and it does. It seems the game doesn't recognize my flicks unless I do them really quickly and sharply.
0:11 So a fish comes up, and this time I flick the controller back hard and get him on. A tutorial pops up telling me about line tension and the "fish energy bar." Basically: Tilt the controller to keep the bar in the green.
0:12 Peppy music plays as I tilt the controller. Got to keep the bar in the green center. The meter seems to slowly center, then violently shifts to one side. Still, pretty easy overall. The camera zooms out to show my guy picking up the fish from the water. I take a picture of the momentous catch with the R2 button. The fish is a 2.5-star (out of 5) largemouth bass. 4.19 pounds, 14 inches long. Not bad!
0:13 Then it's unceremoniously back to fishing. I decide to move to a new spot. The motorboat has some zip to it, and tilting the controller to steer is kind of neat. I keep driving until some fish show up on the radar finder in the corner.
