The game allows you to "Free fish" or get competitive with some Tournament play. I always opt for the practice stuff, first. Free fishing gives you more lures and options of play. Tournament, like the real thing, allows a set number of varied lures and other restrictions. By being successful, you can "win" more things as you progress. The better the gear, the better the trophy (fish).
You get a great boat and an annoying chatterbox of a fishing buddy to start with. "Wow... you're gonna have to get it out there farther if you want to catch one" type stuff... over and over. Driving the boat is done via the right and left triggers, forward and back, respectively. Just for kicks, I drove the boat-- a lot. Once you get to your lucky spot, "Y" will start the fishing mode. You can select an Easy mode for your casting, in which you have the too-easy task of dropping an arrow on your chosen spot and cast to it. It magically lands just where you want it. More like reality, setting it to "Easy Cast Off" makes it a totally different experience. Here, I spent a long time trying to get down the timing of pulling back the rod, depressing the "reel" button ("L"), releasing the rod (watching the meter!) and letting the lure fly. That is a lot of tricky coordination. That was also a monumental learning curve. Once learned, it added to the realism, but I can't emphasize enough how tricky it is to do it right. You can also "flip-cast", which is handy for getting the lure under cover such as low branches and etc. If you just want to get out there and start with the action, go right for Easy Cast.
Would you recommend the product? Yes |
Price you paid?: None indicated
| Rating: 8
Pros:
great game play
Cons:
load time
First of all, Rapala Pro Fishing is an expansive game. There are a lot of lakes and a lot of lures. A LOT of lures. In all, with various sizes and color schemes for each, there are close to 800 lure combinations. I played a great deal of them, but never even got close to using 100 at best. But, having that arsenal to pick from is quite nice. I should be so lucky in real life.
The game allows you to "Free fish" or get competitive with some Tournament play. I always opt for the practice stuff, first. Free fishing gives you more lures and options of play. Tournament, like the real thing, allows a set number of varied lures and other restrictions. By being successful, you can "win" more things as you progress. The better the gear, the better the trophy (fish).
You get a great boat and an annoying chatterbox of a fishing buddy to start with. "Wow... you're gonna have to get it out there farther if you want to catch one" type stuff... over and over. Driving the boat is done via the right and left triggers, forward and back, respectively. Just for kicks, I drove the boat-- a lot. Once you get to your lucky spot, "Y" will start the fishing mode. You can select an Easy mode for your casting, in which you have the too-easy task of dropping an arrow on your chosen spot and cast to it. It magically lands just where you want it. More like reality, setting it to "Easy Cast Off" makes it a totally different experience. Here, I spent a long time trying to get down the timing of pulling back the rod, depressing the "reel" button ("L"), releasing the rod (watching the meter!) and letting the lure fly. That is a lot of tricky coordination. That was also a monumental learning curve. Once learned, it added to the realism, but I can't emphasize enough how tricky it is to do it right. You can also "flip-cast", which is handy for getting the lure under cover such as low branches and etc. If you just want to get out there and start with the action, go right for Easy Cast.
Gameplay Modes:
Free fishing – Free fishing allows gamers to go to any location which has been unlocked in Tournament mode and fish non-competitively. Things such as time of day (which greatly affects fish activity), weather, and the location can be tweaked, along with the difficulty level. Upgraded gear can also be sampled in Free Fishing.
Tournament – Those that have mastered the technique necessary to catch fish worthy of a wall mount will want to give Tournament Mode a try. Gamers start out with simple gear and must do the best they can in order to unlock better equipment. By winning a series of tournaments, better lures, rods and line will be available to make catching trophy fish a much easier task. The tour will progress and take gamers all throughout the U.S., and even to the Amazon for a little Peacock Bass fishing.
Graphics
Graphically, Rapala Pro Fishing blows Pro Fishing Challenge right out of the brackish, especially when taking advantage of the 480p HDTV support. Pro Fishing is a pretty game to watch both above and below the water due to some nice post-production touches and unique camera views. Boating mode sports some water splash effects on the “lens” and also shows off the absolutely great looking water effects. Whether boating or using the out-of-water view, the colors of the water constantly change color and are different for each fishing hole. The surroundings are also impressive, with excellent weather effects and a realistic look on surrounding foliage. The anglers look just okay but the animations are very well done. Moving the thumbstick around pre-cast will show the various animations used for the different pitching techniques, which look rather realistic.
