For the cubical dwellers and desk jockeys who can’t get out into nature enough, Dovetail Games has come out with another installment of Euro Fishing!
Hands On:
This is a game genre that not everybody understands and a lot of that has to do with the environment you live in. The United States has fishing areas in city parks, sometimes with competitions in little ponds as well as lakes. Then there are those who live in rural areas where nature is just very accessible and so don’t know what it is like to live in a busy city where the only fish you might see on a regular basis are Koi. With this in mind, fishing games like Euro Fishing 2015 wind up being hugely successful and heavily scrutinized for quality, mechanics and realism.
When it comes to styles of play Euro Fishing 2015 gives you a vast variety with different lakes, fish, rods, reels, bait, tackle, and even boss fish. You can have more than one pole in play and can even “chum” the water by casting a rocket which dumps bait in the area. You can play on your own in a casual manner or you can compete with people around the world in multiplayer tournaments. When it comes to mechanics you actually pull back on the mouse then push it forward releasing a button to cast your line and you have to watch line tension to keep from losing the fish through slack or tension. I used to fish for steelhead in rivers and trout in lakes most of my life and without having a controller shaped like a fishing pole this is about as realistic as you can get. The game supports a regular video game controller but to me that actually gets further from the feel of fishing rather than closer.
So there is a nice variety of gameplay and the mechanics are about as good as you can hope for on a keyboard and properly complicated. That brings us to visual and audio quality. Audio wise the game really does sound like you are out in nature and the sound of line going out and being reeled in is spot on. The graphics could be a little better, the fish are well rendered but the people look like 3D models, particularly when it comes to the eyes. They are solid where it really counts though on the rod, tackle, reel and fish so the slightly creepy models can be overlooked, especially with such great audio.
Multiplayer play can be hit and miss when it comes to population, though a pretty decent crowd tends to show up for tournaments because few people can resist competition, even if it is landing carp. This is something else to keep in mind, if you are used to playing deep sea big game fish games don’t expect to be landing marlins. These are freshwater lake fish and though they have fight in them it is an entirely different kind of experience. If you forget that, you are likely to lose your lure in some reeds or weeds.
Last Cast:
Euro Fishing 2015 is a solid title in the lake sports fishing field and liable to keep pulling in players to their multiplayer tournaments right up until Euro Fishing 2016 comes out. So take a break from the paper shuffle, pull up a reel or two, put on your headsets and enjoy some nature and fishing for a while. (Editor’s Note: I would love to see a VR fishing title)
[easyreview title=”Euro Fishing 2015 Review Score” cat1title=”Overall Score (out of 5)” cat1detail=”” cat1rating=”4″ ]
