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GB Review: Sega Bass Fishing (Wii)Posted 11:53pm Wed Apr 23, 2008 by Eric Jonathan Smith Tags: Sega Bass Fishing, review, Sega, fishing, sports, Nintendo Wii
4


Ahh - looks, feels, and smells like 1999. Now that's bad fish.


Sega Bass Fishing for the Nintendo Wii is a port of the arcade and Dreamcast title of the same name, only with the obvious addition of Wii Remote controls. The game wears its arcade heritage on its sleeve with the relative simplicity of the gameplay and its non-simulation style. But more obvious than its roots are the flaws made apparent by plucking this fish out of its 1999 waters and dumping it upstream onto a current game console in 2008.

score: 2 out of 5

Click here for an explanation of our review and scoring format.

Sega Bass Fishing services Wii anglers with a standard variety of modes. Arcade mode naturally features arcade style stage by stage play – catch a bass of a minimum size within a certain period of time or you're out of luck. Tournament mode plays somewhat differently, requiring prolonged competition with other anglers. Nature trip mode loses the restraints of other modes and allows you to fish at your own pace. Actually catching a fish is surprisingly simple and within a minute or two in any mode you'll be able to reel in a bass, even though it might not be the big one.



The fish you're dying not to catch.

Unfortunately you'll quickly discover that catching fish is not the deepest of activities; you just cast, wait, and reel in, ad nauseam. While the audio cues of the announcer can add some unintended humor and immediate urgency to the action of reeling in a bass, the game's dated presentation with its smarmy textures and simple environments reeks of a shoddy Dreamcast port that Sega didn't feel the need to update for this Wii release. While some parts of the presentation are period turn-of-the-century Sega including the aforementioned overly joyous announcer and some rather out of place female vocals in the options music, any points gained by this quaintness are easily negated by its sloppy visuals.

Controlling the game with the Wii Remote may seem like an intuitive setup at first. The Wii Remote acts as the fishing rod, which you can flick back and forth to cast the line and tug it left or right while in the water; conversely, the Nunchuk reels in the line. The truth of the matter is that these motion controls were essentially ported over wholesale from the game's previous analog scheme, so waggling the Wii Remote or Nunchuk in any direction will have the same effect as pressing a button. That being said, the game does not control poorly, but seems gimmicky.

Some good can be said of Sega Bass Fishing, primarily its lower price-point, which may actually be $10 more than it warrants in light of its pre-twenty-first century origins. If the Wii Remote controls were incorporated more appropriately it would deserve a better recommendation, but its nostalgic Sega presentation can't hide its relative mediocrity.


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