Sega Bass Fishing
- January 01, 2000 00:00 AM PST
Quiet the cynic in you and listen up -- this is a fishing game, and it's very, very cool. Yes, it's hard to believe, but Sega Bass Fishing will turn even the hardest hearts among you into a hardcore Dreamcast armchair angler. It's that good.
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Get Some Bass
Sega Bass Fishing, also known in some circles as Get Bass, made a splash at the arcades some time back. The home version, with its pumping music and dazzling graphics, will lure gamers to your TV like fish to a tasty minnow. Most will come over to see what you're doing, and some will make jokes and sneer at the fact that you're just fishing� but give them one cast and they're hooked. Sega Bass Fishing is amazingly easy to play and incredibly easy to like.
Against other bass fishing games (of which there are quite a few), Sega Bass Fishing snags the big one by making fishing easy and exciting. Sega stripped away the more annoying bits of realism and implemented the underwater fish-cam, so that you can see "The One That Got Away" before it gets away.
Fishin' Ain't Easy
As you progress in the game's Arcade or Original modes, you'll unlock new and more difficult lures, each of which requires different skills to hook fish. You'll only fish in one lake, Lake Paradise, but the lake is divided into inlets and lodges and coves, each requiring different strategies to win.
Even with the different lures and strategies, the actual fishing is very fun and very simple. You aim, cast, and reel. When you hook a fish, tense music rises from the background and the controller rumbles and vibrates as you fight the fish. Of course, that's only if you have a fishing controller� but you wouldn't try to play Sega Bass without a fishing controller, would you?
Sega makes bass fishing exciting by giving you some of the best graphics ever seen in a game, not just in a fishing sim. The water reflects the backdrop, the almost-real fish swim in realistic patterns and the time-of-day and weather settings are very realistic. Soundwise, you'll fish to some funky background tunes and a pulse-pounding fight song that pops up when you snag a fish, and there's a funky voice that coaches you on how to bring in your bass. Control is a snap; you cast, reel, cast and reel. It's a very mellow experience, something you can do while you enjoy a frosty beverage and chat with your friends. It's just fun.
The Real Dream Cast
You might not believe it, but chances are you'll like Sega Bass Fishing. Play it with a fishing controller, play it with a friend. Play the Arcade or Original modes just enough to unlock new areas and lures, then turn on Practice mode and just fish the day away. It's just like a real fishing trip, except that it's really fun.
