When I was a kid my dad took me fishing a time or two, but we didn’t actually catch any fish. I recall sitting there, line dangling in the water, waiting in vain for something to nibble. Alas, my worm was of no interest to any fish, assuming there were any fish in that lake at all.
I don’t know why it was so difficult; in Fishing Master: World Tour, I can land a flying fish or an eel in about 30 seconds.
How You Play It
In World Tour, the player wanders from lake to river to port to open ocean in search of a multiplicity of fish. With bait ranging from earthworms to prawns to dough balls to baseball mitts, you can catch pretty much anything.
The basics of World Tour fishing are simple. To cast the line, you simply lift your remote up then snap it forward. In most places the water is crystal clear, allowing you to see where the fish are and to watch them swim towards your hook. When one takes the bait, you give the remote a tug to anchor the hook.
Then you battle your fish. A meter indicates line tension. If it is loose then you must reel in your line, which can be done by rotating the nunchuk in the air or by pressing a button. I went for the kinetic approach, even though this is somewhat more difficult.
If the line is taut then reeling it in will snap it. Instead, you must wait until the line relaxes or until the fish is pulling hard so hard to one side that you can snap your rod in the opposite direction with a flick of the remote to stun it. Once stunned, you’ll have perhaps half a second to reel in the line unchallenged before the fish awakens from its swoon starts fighting again.
Different fish have different styles. Some fight furiously, while others, like the lazy Scorpionfish, virtually jump onshore on their own accord. You generally will have a pretty good idea of what sort of fish you’ve caught before you haul it out of the water. You also will know when you’ve snagged a soda can or a tire, as they require little effort to reel in.
Fish from Minnow to Monstrous
Each fish caught earns you points used to purchase bait or better poles. A sea captain who ferries you around the world will also ask you to catch particular fish for him at particular spots, earning you bonus points. Some fish can only be caught in certain seasons, and it’s rather annoying when in springtime the captain asks you to catch a fish that won’t be available until the fall.
Fortunately, it doesn’t take long for the seasons to change. Players fish from morning to night, but each minute of game time passes in a second of real time, and seasons seem to change in perhaps 10 days or so.
The scenery is quite attractive, and there are nice touches like dolphins that swim in your wake as you ride a boat around Hawaii.
Occasionally you will see pink fish in the water; these are worth more points if you can catch them. They require special bait; for example, a magnet is used to catch the metal fish that inhabit a lake in Detroit.
There are a fair number of places to fish – new ones open up as you achieve certain goals – and a tremendous number of fish to catch, including fairly exotic ones like stingrays or bizarre fictional ones like the aforementioned metal fish.
The Easy but Unfilling Way to Fish
Fishing is fun, at least in small doses, but there’s not a lot to the game. The basic mechanics are simple and soon become repetitive, and the more exciting battles are interspersed with dull struggles with Scorpionfish and tin cans. Even though your ultimate goal is to be crowned a fishing world master, which involves winning in fishing tourneys and catching all varieties of fish, there is never a strong sense of purpose to World Tour. The player is mainly just concerned with trying to figure out the proper bait to catch every fish in every location, and the game will appeal most to completist gamers.
My impatience may be what separates me from true fisherman; perhaps you are supposed to sit by the lake for two hours and not mind it. If so, fishing enthusiasts may object to the quick pace of World Tour, where a fish will bite down on your hook within a few seconds of it entering the water.
That’s the way I like it. In fact, if fishing were that easy, I’d go out and catch some real fish for dinner tonight. Instead, I’ll spend this evening in Detroit, catching some a few metal ones.
