Shimano Xtreme Fishing (Wii) Review
Posted by Mark Salmela on 11.03.2009
Up on the shore they work all day, out in the sun they slave away, while we devotin’, full time to floatin’, under the sea!
Title: Shimano Xtreme Fishing
Publisher: Mastiff
Developer: Mastiff
Genre: Fishing
Players: 1 - 4
Rated: T for Teen
Fishing games on the Wii are a dime a dozen. Fishing games in general are a dime a dozen. You can get fishing games on your TI calculator. Hell, some of them may have better graphics than some of the Wii fishing games. But it’s not too often that you see a fishing game come out that claims to be as extreme as Shimano Xtreme Fishing. The box art has a picture of a guy with a crossbow along with a guy holding a spear gun. This game isn’t messing around, and if Shimano Xtreme Fishing isn’t messing around than neither am I. Let’s get on with the review.
Graphics
I’m hooked on you fish.
It’s hard to say that a Wii game has good graphics without a particular art style. Muramasa looks good because it has a great art style. Shimano does not have an art style. It’s realistic, and while it doesn’t look anything like Gears of War or Modern Warfare, it does manage to look appealing. It’s not HD, but it’s not muddy, and I’m surprised to say that Shimano holds up pretty well for a Wii game. It definitely helps that there’s not a whole lot going on in Shimano, and at times it can be relabeled as an on-rails shooter, but the game doesn’t look bad by any means.
Gameplay
Are you excited? Are you excited about how extreme this game is?
Shimano Xtreme Fishing is broken up into three gameplay modes. There is rod fishing, bow fishing, and spear fishing. Rod fishing is your traditional fishing. You drive a boat out to a spot in a lake, you cast your line, and hope a fish bites onto it. There’s nothing extreme about the traditional rod fishing. You can choose to either use just the Wiimote or use the Wiimote plus nun chuck. The nun chuck allows you to actually try to hook a fish and real it in. If you don’t have a nun chuck you press the B button repeatedly to real it in. Occasionally you will be asked to jerk the Wiimote in a particular position up, down, left, or right. You’d think this would be easy but you better be dead accurate with your motion, anything other than a perfect jerk (ha) and that line is broken.
The other two gameplay modes are the reason to actually try this game. Yes, they are in fact “xtreme”. Bow fishing is exactly what you’d imagine it’d be. You’re holding a giant hunting crossbow, and every fish that crosses your path is screwed. You can play bow fishing with friends and it gets even more hectic. You have unlimited bows and there are hundreds of fish. I don’t think I’ve ever played a round of bow fishing or spear fishing without killing enough fish to make me PETA’s largest enemy. I’m pretty sure I’m classified as a walking natural disaster. One big thing that I need to clarify is that when you play bow fishing or spear fishing multiplayer the game turns into an on-rail shooter. You travel along a pre-determined path with fish going out of their way to jump right into your path so you can shoot it.
Spear fishing is basically the same thing as bow fishing except you’re underwater. Well you’re underwater most of the time. Once again in multiplayer mode the game is an on-rail shooter and sometimes you’ll just fly out of the water and hover over the level. I’m not quite sure what technology is based off of but I’m not aware of any underwater helicopters, not to mention invisible and silent underwater helicopters that make no motion when underwater. If you plan on taking Xtreme Fishing seriously, just stop now.
When playing the multiplayer the player with the most points wins. The amount of points you get is determined by the size of the fish and the distance that the fish is when you kill it. Well, at least that’s how it works in theory. There will be times where you will snipe a fish on the other end of the lake to gain “85 points” while another player can shoot a fish ten feet in front of you for an “extreme distance” kill of over 350 points. The same thing applies with the size of the fish. Perspective be dammed. You’re better off shooting at every fish you see and hope that you get more points than your opponent. There is a multiplier for hitting fish consecutively, but there are collision issues with the fish. You can shoot your bow or spear directly through the fish and it won’t be counted. It’s not an occasional problem either. You’ll shoot nearly 100 fish each round, and it’s not uncommon to have at least 10 separate occasions where you’ll hit a fish with your spear or crossbow but it won’t count.
Sound
Bring it on!
What sound? Well during the load times there is some generic metal music, but it does nothing for the actual game other than to dig the “extreme” gimmick further into your brain. Your crossbow and spear do make some generic shooting noise, but it’s nothing to write home about. Once again if you’re expecting some sort of musical masterpiece just stop reading right now.
Lasting Appeal
Shimano Xtreme Fishing isn’t going to be something you’ll come back to again and again. You’ll play it once or twice by yourself, and if you have friends you’ll probably play it with your friends once or twice for laughs and bragging rights at a broken game, but after that you’ll be done. There are plenty of lakes and levels to play in, but trust me you will have no desire to play them. For example the first level I played was the abandoned nuclear power plant, and there was nowhere to go but down from there. Oh and for anyone wondering the level isn’t that special, but I do appreciate them trying to put you into “extreme” fishing locations.
Fun Factor
Don’t get me wrong, Shimano Xtreme Fishing is a broken game with little to no lasting appeal. But the little time that you will want to spend with the game will be fun. It’s just an experience that doesn’t hold up after the first time or two. You are an angry fisherman who hates fish. You hate wild-life and you have over-the-top professional hunting weapons meant for killing creatures much bigger and more threatening than fish. Well, to the game’s credit you can kill sharks and alligators, but it’s a pretty rare occurrence compared to the hundreds of fish you’ll be slaughtering for points.
The 411
No! I spilled my fruit punch! My tasty and delicious punch!
Shimano Xtreme Fishing is made up of two core gameplay types. You can do traditional fishing with a bow that is no different than the hundreds of other fishing games that came before it. The other gameplay type is an on-rails shooter that is no different and adds nothing that the hundreds of other rail-shooters that came before it already do. So do you want to kill fish? Do you want to kill lots of fish with questionable collision detection? Do you mind buying a game with little to no lasting appeal? If you answered yes to all of these questions than give Shimano Xtreme Fishing a look. It was nice for a fishing game to try being extreme for a change, but trust me, it isn’t very well executed. If you’re really angry at nature and want to kill lots of animals on the Wii, try out another one of Mastiff’s games called Deer Drive. It’s the same game but with deer.
Graphics
7.5
For a Wii game the graphics are not that bad. They are not incredible, but they get the job done.
Gameplay
5.0
There are 3 different gameplay modes, and each one has issues. Collision detection ruins a lot of the fun for spear and bow fishing.
Sound
3.0
What sound?
Lasting Appeal
4.0
Unless you are some sort of completionist you have no desire to play this game after an hour.
Fun Factor
7.0
There is fun to be had especially if you do not take this game seriously, but it does get boring after a while.
