Fishing Off The Hook

Angling has long been a passion for almost all boys and their dads for as long as there have been hooks, rods and fishing nets.

Unfortunately it’s not always possible to go deep sea fishing let alone wade knee high in the river trying to land the biggest catch of your life. So, for those of us out there who prefer staying warm, not fancying hooking live bait and only coming home with a minnow rather than Moby Dick, there’s Fishing off the Hook.

This game lets you take a more exciting aspect to the normally tranquil pastime. Rather than simply casting off and waiting for a bite, you go head to head in an international battle for fishing supremacy. In Tournament mode you get to pick your national country to represent, from the UK to USA, Australia to Brazil – there’s sixteen sides to choose from. After choosing your flag, you are presented with the option of playing within the amateur, professional or elite championships. The amateur level has three rounds, professional nine and elite places you in 15 rounds. Each round is timed and will typically take only a couple of minutes – but actually when you’re engrossed in the game, this will whiz by.

Casting off is a case of flicking your wrist at the right time to gauge the distance. By getting the timing right, you’ll manage to propel your hook far off into the distance, and by flicking at other times you’ll only be dropping the line off the back of your boat.

In quick game mode you get to launch straight into the action and should you capture more than 65lbs of fish, you’ll be visited by a rather rare inhabitant of the waters.

The game offers a fantastic array of marine life with some lovingly digitised fish for you to try your best in capturing.

This game makes fishing look easy and compared to the real thing, it’s more like shooting rats in a barrel. However, this doesn’t take away from the overall challenge this game provides. To make the game a little more competitive and improving your chances for success in the later stages, for every round you beat your opponent, you get a star to improve your throw, your line or your bait’s attraction. By distributing these stars, you will develop your skills – meaning you can capture the bigger fish which usually lay temptingly just out of reach, and when you do manage to capture one, you have to be careful not to snap your line!

In the end then this game offers a fantastically entertaining package. For the true fishermen out there who like to admire their catch, you can review your fish within the fish gallery. The motion control to cast off and to reel in is pretty good although at times a little unpredictable. On the whole though you’ll be challenged, entertained and thoroughly hooked by this title.

Ratings 93%

Positives

Great graphics

Highly competitive and entertaining

Plenty of fish and action

A game of luck and skill

You can view your statistics

Negatives

The flicking of your wrist will possibly cause cramp after a while (or cause someone nearby a black eye)

Quite repetitive