Big Fish (Fishing) review

StormEye Studio’s Big Fish is a bright and quirky fishing game for the iPhone and iPod touch with outstanding graphics and fun, upbeat music that will have you hooked as you perfect your fishing skills to go up against the Big One. With eight unique fishing spots, a variety of gaming fish to catch, and single player and multi-player modes, Big Fish will entertain you for quite some time.

Tap on GO to start the tutorial and learn how to fish. If you don’t want to go through a tutorial, tap on Information and then How to Play. Tap on Single Player to get started. There are three different ways to play: Career, Quick Fishing and Versus Computer. Career allows you to start building your reputation as a fierce fisher. Choose from three different characters: Brendan the Prodigy, Ariel the Hunter or Joe the Law; each comes with their own strengths and weaknesses. Then pick an assistant to give you tips and encourage you throughout the game. If you’re the type who performs better under gentle suggestions, go for Al the grizzly bear. If a little fear is what gets you to the top of your game, choose Electra, a whip-wielding demon dominatrix who will blow you kisses when you’re good but whip you hard when you’re bad.

After picking out your pair, tap on the little fish icon on the bottom right hand corner. This will bring you to a new page allowing you to select a mode, either Arcade or Simulation. As a beginner, Arcade would be your best choice. When you’ve polished your skills, or if you think you’re hot stuff already from reading the instructions or going through the tutorial, choose Simulation for more of a challenge. From there start your career as a big game fisher.

The world map in the Big Fish app is reminiscent of the Super Nintendo days of Donkey Kong or Super Mario Bros. Volcanoes, waterfalls and other island features are scattered around the map, hinting at fun and interesting fishing spots to check out as you make your way through the game. The detail put into the art and graphics of Big Fish is very impressive, and the music fun and engaging. Animals and people unobtrusively move in the background while you’re playing, adding to the feeling that you’re truly fishing in the big outdoors. Gameplay itself is very smooth, with no stutters or lags as you fish; tilting your device does not become an Olympic sport in your seat. Big Fish mimics real fishing as much as possible without making it boring for the average player.

For someone who has never fished before playing this game, I did not find Big Fish to require any sort of prerequisite knowledge about the nuances of fishing to enjoy myself. I quickly found myself eager to unlock more fishing spots in my pursuit of snagging the Big One. The game is currently free on iTunes, but at $1.99, Big Fish is well worth the money.

Here is a video demo of the Big Fish (Fishing) app on the iPhone

AppSafari Rating: 3.5/5

AppSafari review of Big Fish (Fishing) was written by Julie Guan on March 21st, 2011 and categorized under App Store, Free, Fun, Games, Physics Based, Strategy. Page viewed 8442 times, 1 so far today. Need help on using these apps? Please read the Help Page.