REAL GAMES - BASSIN'S BLACK BASS WITH HANK PARKER

Wow!  A fishing game with Hank Parker!!  That would probably be awesome if I had any idea who the hell Hank Parker was.

Bassin's Black Bass is a fishing game like no other.  At least, none that I have played before.  From start to finish, this game does not feel like your typical fishing sport type of game.  In fact, it actually feels more like a RPG than anything else. An RPG based on fishing...who comes up with this crap?

The intro for this game is really weird.  RPG music with a detailed story on how your one true goal is to become the best fisherman alive and how nothing will stop you.  Then you get to create your own fisherman (or fisherlady), complete with name and character design.  When you finally get past all of the dialog, you have the option of taking a guide with you.  Don't do it.  The guide doesn't help you at all.  His only purpose is to sit there and call you a dumb ass for not knowing how to fish.  It gets old real damn quick.

Real men are born already skilled at fishing, dumbass.

The controls are awkward, every button does something or brings up menus with even more somethings...ugh.  A fishing game shouldn't require 30 buttons.  Also, the boat controls for this game are stiff and non-responsive, so enjoy bouncing off of rocks.

The music is really good, but it doesn't fit with the theme of the game.  I'm playing a fishing game while listening to music one would expect to find in an RPG.  I guess I can't complain too much though, as it is better than the last couple of games I've played.

I have no clue what is going on in this picture, but this is what the music makes me think of.

Graphics are so-so.  The character sprites are decent, while the fishing stage designs are mediocre.  The stage designs actually make the fishing more difficult, but I'm pretty sure that was intended.  Pretty much what one would expect from a fishing game.

The gameplay for Bassin's is a lot different than the previous two fishing games.  Instead of underwater cam, it sticks with an overhead view for a more realistic fishing style.  Both styles of fishing have their own pros and cons, but I personally prefer the underwater cam style.  If I want realism, I have a fishing pole and a lake just a couple of miles from where I live.  I play games to have fun, not to substitute actual activities.  Other than my nitpicking, there isn't a lot to complain about other than how boring this and every other fishing game I have played has been.

So how did Bassin's Black Bass compare with the other fishing games?  Well, I'm giving it 2 soul-less announcers out of 5.  I feel that it belongs right in the middle of the previous fishing games.  Not my kind of gameplay, but awesome (albeit out of place) music.

Master-Baiter is the supreme fishing champion.