Kyle Orland writes:
"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."
Square-Go:
"The back of the box promises "100's (sic) of hotspots on the world's top angling waters." What this actually equates to is severely truncated sections of 7 North American lakes, which to the untrained eye look suspiciously alike. Each session is bizarrely limited to 30 minutes for no obvious reason, and whilst you can explore the lakes in your (unresponsive and sluggish) boat there is, as previously mentioned, no reason to do so.
In conclusion then, although briefly fun and unexpectedly engaging, Rapala Fishing Frenzy 2009 quickly becomes repetitive and loses its appeal. If you're really jonesing for a fishing fix (and I'm guessing someone out there must be) it might be worth a rental. Me, I'm waiting for the inevitable EA Sports Big version - Fishing Frenzy Street."
Ace Gamez writes: "It's said that a lot of people only skim read the first and last paragraphs of reviews, after they've looked at the overall score that the game has been given. If that's really the case then don't ever buy this game, it's awful. Seriously, even if you love fishing with a passion bordering on the obssessive, don't buy it. Don't even look at it. Don't even think, "oh, maybe that reviewer just doesn't like or understand fishing games, maybe he's just bitter and mean." I am bitter and mean, but I have the softest of soft spots for fishing games and this one took advantage of that, digging its badness deep into my soul."
GamesRadar writes: "A slow-mo spume of watery froth erupts upon the screen as a digitized bass is yanked from the water. For a second it is caught in a moment of balletic glory – like a dancer impaled on a shiny metal hook. It's all the fun of The Matrix's bullet time but without a second of philosophizing about the meaning of trout. Then you're back to earth with a bump. Well, a splash."
You'll love
* Hundreds of scaled beasts
* Plastic shell controls work
* Competent mechanics
You'll hate
* Catch one = catch all
* Unmemorable music
* Ludicrous bullet-time
