Fell Off the Hook

The makers of Train Sim are dipping their toe in the fishing sim pond once again with Fishing Sim World.  Euro Fishing was released in 2015 and now Fishing Sim World seems to be the sequel of sorts although not limited to Europe.

For a game with Sim in the title there is a noticeable lack of options and depth. The character creator, the first thing the player must do, has so few selection options it is a wonder why it was included at all.  But really, who cares right?  This is a fishing game after all so focusing on fishing, not what your avatar looks like, is what is most important. Unfortunately, fishing isn’t so fun.  In time, the player will gain access to additional rods, bobbers, bait and even boats, but the actual act of fishing isn’t very exciting. Gameplay-wise, Fishing Sim World puts a major emphasis on how to cast and reel in the line. Some casts require the reel button to the held down, some require it to be feathered, some need the line to sink a bit.  A red and green highlight indicates how well the player is casting.  The more green on the indicator means a better chance of catching a bite. Then it is a matter of setting the hook and fighting the fish, aka fighting a meter, to pull it back into the boat.  Finding fish can also be an annoyingly random crapshoot without using the sonar system.

Unlike Ultimate Fishing Simulator, a recently released fishing sim game we also covered, there is too much technicality and not enough arcadeyness here to be fun. At least Ultimate Fishing Sim overloaded the player with unlockable options RPG-style and even had a fish-cam mode so you can actually see the fish bite the hook from underwater.  Here, the player will only be able to look at the back of the creepy looking avatar.  The player is also forced to look at the soulless and blank stare of the avatar after every catch.

Perhaps the worst part is the tutorial system.  Instead of teaching the player through short interactive bursts, the only way the player can learn is by watching several 3-minute Youtube-style videos.  Not only are the videos boring, they also assume the player has at least some knowledge of fishing as technical terms are used right out of the gate without a point of reference. Honestly, the best part of this fishing sim is just simply driving the boat.  For some reason, the boat controls very accurately, which is very not boat like, but is cool just to float around the large maps.  Unfortunately, the online component is also pointless as there is no way to interact with other players; not even sure why this was even included as it is so half assed.

It seems like there is a new fishing sim released every other week so the quest to catch the biggest lunker has never been higher (Legendary Fishing was also just released on Switch this past week).  Unfortunately, Fishing Sim World is like fishing for minnows knowing there are honkers out there.

Not As Good As: Sega Bass Fishing
Also Try: fishing in most 3D Zelda games
Wait For It: a new Legend of River King

By: Zachary Gasiorowski, Editor in Chief myGamer.com
Twitter: @ZackGaz