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IGN Review of Rapala Fishing Frenzy 2009
It's tough to translate the joys of lake fishing into something that can be experienced with a controller in your living room. The peacefulness of being surrounded by quiet nature contrasted with the primal thrill of hooking a catch creates an undeniable allure. It's only natural that fisherman would want to take that fun and bottle it up for electronic entertainment consumption. Rapala Fishing Frenzy 2009 does not capture that feeling. Far from it.
Even for a budget title, Fishing Frenzy feels like a videogame fossil. The only online option is leaderboards, and even these are bare bones and tough to navigate. Forget about fishing with a friend, online tournaments (or even offline multiplayer tournaments for that matter) or sharing the photos you can snap of your catches. There is no create-a-character option. In fact, there are only two characters to choose from, a male and a female, and they have a static appearance from start to finish.
Even the features directly related to fishing are almost entirely lacking. Fishing Frenzy 2009 only offers up around 30 lures to use in seven lakes. I guess you don't need many lure options when there are only 21 fish to go after and the area you can explore in each of the lakes is just a fraction of their real life counterparts. You can unlock a couple of extra rods along the way, but things like selecting lines, switching reels or even swapping boats is completely absent. There are no tutorials, no bonus live action videos and no background information on the fish you're going after. Compare this to past Rapala games and you'll see that just about everything has been completely scrapped. This is one of the poorest uses of a license I've ever seen.
Then there are the technical problems. This is undoubtedly the best looking Rapala game yet with some nice looking underwater backdrops and detailed fish models. Yet, nothing runs with any semblance of stability. The framerate varies wildly causing everything to look a bit like an old-timey movie. The camera is a disaster, sometimes spinning crazily around the lure as your reel it in. Other times it will zoom way out preventing you from seeing what, if any, fish is thinking about biting. And the clipping issues, where objects pass through each other, that past Rapala titles have suffered from still rear their ugly head and kill the fantasy of being out on a lake.
Once you're done lamenting the total lack of features and programming missteps, it's time to get down to fishing. On PlayStation 3, this is done mostly with SixAxis controls. Make a casting motion to send out your lure, and then begin reeling it in with the left trigger. It's just about impossible to cast your line and not come back with something. To hook the fish, you'll have to follow a series of prompts to raise or lower the controller to activate power-ups that make catching the fish easier and reward you with points. In between jerking the controller around to match the on-screen directives, you'll have to tilt the controller back and forth to keep a tension bar in the green. Motion controls could make this feel more like fishing, but they don't. And you can't turn the SixAxis controls off. To make matters worse, the only difference in behavior you'll notice between each fish once it is hooked comes with its size. Bigger fish will fight longer, but different species all behave largely the same.
You can take this experience into three modes: tournament fishing, open fishing, and quick challenge. Tournament fishing is a series of challenges to progress through with specific objectives. Here you'll do things like catch 25 pounds of fish in 15 minutes or catch five largemouth bass in 20 minutes. They get harder as you go and are the key to unlocking new lakes and tackle for your box. Open fishing allows you to visit any lake you've already unlocked for thirty minutes. Why there's a time limit here is beyond me. Quick challenges are just the same as tournaments, but without any set structure or bonuses.
©2008-09-05, IGN Entertainment, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Even for a budget title, Fishing Frenzy feels like a videogame fossil. The only online option is leaderboards, and even these are bare bones and tough to navigate. Forget about fishing with a friend, online tournaments (or even offline multiplayer tournaments for that matter) or sharing the photos you can snap of your catches. There is no create-a-character option. In fact, there are only two characters to choose from, a male and a female, and they have a static appearance from start to finish.
Even the features directly related to fishing are almost entirely lacking. Fishing Frenzy 2009 only offers up around 30 lures to use in seven lakes. I guess you don't need many lure options when there are only 21 fish to go after and the area you can explore in each of the lakes is just a fraction of their real life counterparts. You can unlock a couple of extra rods along the way, but things like selecting lines, switching reels or even swapping boats is completely absent. There are no tutorials, no bonus live action videos and no background information on the fish you're going after. Compare this to past Rapala games and you'll see that just about everything has been completely scrapped. This is one of the poorest uses of a license I've ever seen.
Then there are the technical problems. This is undoubtedly the best looking Rapala game yet with some nice looking underwater backdrops and detailed fish models. Yet, nothing runs with any semblance of stability. The framerate varies wildly causing everything to look a bit like an old-timey movie. The camera is a disaster, sometimes spinning crazily around the lure as your reel it in. Other times it will zoom way out preventing you from seeing what, if any, fish is thinking about biting. And the clipping issues, where objects pass through each other, that past Rapala titles have suffered from still rear their ugly head and kill the fantasy of being out on a lake.
Once you're done lamenting the total lack of features and programming missteps, it's time to get down to fishing. On PlayStation 3, this is done mostly with SixAxis controls. Make a casting motion to send out your lure, and then begin reeling it in with the left trigger. It's just about impossible to cast your line and not come back with something. To hook the fish, you'll have to follow a series of prompts to raise or lower the controller to activate power-ups that make catching the fish easier and reward you with points. In between jerking the controller around to match the on-screen directives, you'll have to tilt the controller back and forth to keep a tension bar in the green. Motion controls could make this feel more like fishing, but they don't. And you can't turn the SixAxis controls off. To make matters worse, the only difference in behavior you'll notice between each fish once it is hooked comes with its size. Bigger fish will fight longer, but different species all behave largely the same.
You can take this experience into three modes: tournament fishing, open fishing, and quick challenge. Tournament fishing is a series of challenges to progress through with specific objectives. Here you'll do things like catch 25 pounds of fish in 15 minutes or catch five largemouth bass in 20 minutes. They get harder as you go and are the key to unlocking new lakes and tackle for your box. Open fishing allows you to visit any lake you've already unlocked for thirty minutes. Why there's a time limit here is beyond me. Quick challenges are just the same as tournaments, but without any set structure or bonuses.
©2008-09-05, IGN Entertainment, Inc. All Rights Reserved