Rapala has
always been a major brand in the fishing world, and is now becoming a staple in
video-games. Rapala has a number of fishing titles across many different
platforms with the most recent hitting the Wii in the form of Rapala: We Fish.
In We Fish, you
will take control of the ready-made characters available and are immediately be
thrown into a tournament. This mode has a number of different difficulties
landing you in different lakes in which you must be the first player to complete
each goal. Each lake has a different goal and in order to win, you will be asked
to those tasks such as be the first person to get 20 lbs. of fish or be the
first to catch five fish.
We Fish’s charm
comes from the whacky fish, characters and environment. This is what worked
well. The character and fish were very original and fun. This is a step in the
right direction for similar titles on the Wii. The lakes are also themed. It
offers some generic lakes but most of them are themed such as a Niles lake in
which it is appropriately themed after Egyptian history with sphinxes occupying
the side of the lake.
Unfortunately,
We Fish falls short of really taking the fishing genre to a new level. Many
problems will plague your experience and will ultimately end up as a frustrating
experience.
One problem
centers with the controls. Controlling your boat as well as fishing is done
using the Wii-mote’s motion sensors; the boat controls are especially cumbersome
as the boat will get stuck when trying to turn around. As We Fish relies on
being quick and turning in your fish as fast as possible, the controls will
factor in to a lot of your losses.
Overall, Rapala
We Fish could have been a breath of fresh air for the fishing genre, but it just
didn’t up developing that way. Controls will end up too frustrating for kids to
actually enjoy the game as much as they could have.
Gameplay: 4.0
It had potential to be a ton of fun, but controls will take away from the
fun that is supposed to be there.
Graphics: 7.0
The
graphics were whacky, and they were quirky. It was just a fun environment to be
in, and the only thing that could make it better if it would have had less
blurry visuals in some environments.
Sound: 6.0
Some
filler music and quirky sound effects made for an "ok" audio experience.
Difficulty: Easy
Concept: 6.0
We Fish’s
problems really destroyed what they really wanted to do with this game. Bringing
wackiness and fun to a title like this is very new, but it just wasn’t perfected
this time around.
Overall: 5.5
Rapala: We
Fish had the potential to be great. Players will find it fun before encountering
the frustration of the game. For the average retail price of $30, you can find
better quality titles for the Nintendo Wii to better occupy your video-game
needs.
