Fishing games have been around for a while. I remember at the arcade playing what you see above where you actually had the reel and you tried to catch the fish. For its time it was fun and it added to the experience as it was the closest you could get to fishing without actually going out to the lake, putting on the bait and waiting and trying to catch the fish. But what Snowball Games have done is taken this one step further. By putting on the PlayStation VR headset, grabbing the Move controller and allowing you to be in the open air with the calm sounds so you can be the Fishing Master you have always wanted to be.
I am going to say this from the start. You will only need one Move Controller. Even though while you are playing you will see two hands. It is strange and I would have been able to reel in the line with the other hand, but the game automatically does it for you. This should not discourage you from playing Fishing Master, but maybe this will get patched at a later date. But with that said, let’s get to some fishing.
In Fishing Master you have a tutorial that shows you the different options. As you progress you are allowed to upgrade your equipment which is nice and adds some variety to the mix, which I really like. As you cast your line you will start to feel the tension that you would need to move the Move Controller in the opposite direction as this will lessen the stamina of the fish and as you pull your reel back at the right time, the fish will leap on to your boat.
Having a different fish leap at you that you have not seen before is exciting and I had to move out of the way a couple of times as it looked like the fish was going to hit me in the face. That’s how immersive Fishing Master is and I had to really laugh at myself for falling for it on many occasions. But seeing the fish hit the boat and it’s moving right next to you, really adds to the experience.
Location…Location…Location. Fishing Master has three different locations, The Alps (with the mountains in the background), San Francisco Bay (having the bridge really adds to this location) and the Arctic Ocean (let it snow…let it snow) with three different variations. Having these extra details on the scenes really brings something special to the game that made me just want to admire my surroundings. And when you add the ability to upgrade your equipment along with the immersion of PlayStation VR, smiles are sure to be had.
Fishing Master does what it strives to do, adding a fishing experience in VR in your own home when you want to be able to do it with an arcade tone to it. The visuals are good and are not striving to have photo-realistic scenes to it and it doesn’t need to and doesn’t have to show how fun it can be. Sound-wise, it’s what I expect. Hearing the water to hearing the fish jump out of the water, it’s here. The music can seem repetitive to some but does get more intense when you start having to struggle to try and catch the fish. And trying to fish at night while fireworks are going off or fishing by the Northern Lights is something that really needs to be experienced.
And like I have mentioned before, VR can take us to wonderful places and allow us to do things at times when we just not be able to do them when we would like to and just getaway. And Snowball Games has taken a positive and promising approach to allow us to do just that.
Fishing Master is out now on PlayStation VR. A review code was provided.
To learn more about Snowball Games, like them on Facebook, follow them on Twitter, and subscribe to their YouTube channel.
In case you missed the trailer, please enjoy. Until next time, I have some more fish to try to catch and reel in.
Mr. PSVR, October 24, 2017, theplaystationbrahs.com
