SEGA Bass Fishing Hands-on Preview

Some activities are unfairly mocked. Let’s take cricket as an example. The sport is far more entertaining to play and watch than the majority of people give it credit for. But fishing, well, fishing is just as boring as it looks – although not without its merits. I spent many an early Sunday morning down the local lake as a young lad, eating sandwiches, drinking coffee and shouting at the ducks. What I didn’t spend much time doing was catching fish. You see, you can go a whole day without even a nibble if you’re unlucky. So how has SEGA managed to create an entertaining game that doesn’t include the aforementioned sandwiches and coffee?

SEGA Bass Fishing started life in the arcades before arriving on the Dreamcast, complete with a wonderful fishing rod peripheral. Given that the Wii is the console of choice for motion controlled games, it seems like a perfect fit for the rod flinging no-holds-barred action of fishing. It’s easy to mock, but you might just be surprised by how entertaining catching fish can be.

We haven’t been able to test the water of every game mode yet, but we did spend a sizable chunk of time getting to grips with the Wii game’s control system. SEGA has tried to model the controls on actions as life-like as possible and it pays off, making Bass Fishing so easy to pick up, even Nick and Simon from the VideoGamer.com video department were able to land a few big ones.

Firstly you need to pick your lure. The game includes quite a few, but essentially you need to decide if you want a floater or a sinker. With that out of the way you use the Nunchuck to position a marker and then act out casting your line with the Wii Remote. With the hook and lure in the water it’s time to catch yourself some fish. In the Arcade mode you’re given a weight target that needs to be achieved before the time runs out. As with all classic arcade games, this starts out pretty easy, but soon becomes a lot trickier.

Once your hook is floating it’s time to entice the fish. You can jig the lure about by nudging the Wii Remote or drag the lure along the rocks at the bottom by winding the line in. This is handled by the Nunchuck, with you having to act out a winding motion, as if the Nunchuck itself is the winding reel. Do enough and you’ll get a bite. At this point you’ve got to strike quickly by abruptly raising the Wii Remote, and then the fight begins. Is the fish going to break the line or will you manage to reel it in?

You have a line tension gauge on the right of the screen. As you reel the line in the tension increases, rising to the top of the gauge. If it remains near the top for an extended period you’ll lose the fish, so it’s essential that you give the line some slack by lowering the Wii Remote. Once the gauge is back down the bottom you can quickly reel in some more, repeating the process until you’ve got the fish in your hands.

The whole process is strangely addictive and exciting. Visually don’t expect anything to blow you away, but it looks tranquil enough and is certainly above some of the dredge that’s hit the Wii in recent months. Our major concern is how much longevity the game will have. While the 30 minutes or so we spent with the in-development version whizzed by, it’s hard to tell if the game will have the legs to stand up to days, weeks and months of play. Look for a review next month.