Rapala Pro Fishing Preview

Fishing has come a long way from the image of the little boy with a willow pole lounging under a tree along the bank of some lazy river.

Nowadays the sport has come down to the science of matching pole with line, picking the most appealing lure for the target, then finding the prime spots where fish are likely to lurk.

Activision Value and Sand Grain Studios have attempted to bring the technicality of the sport to the PlayStation 2 while ladling in the fun. Have they accomplished it? GameZone.com received a preview build of Rapala’s Pro Fishing, jumped into the boat and headed out to the ole fishin’ hole.

The game features nine prebuilt avatars (with no discernible differences between the sexes as far as ability was concerned), six states with several locations in each of the states (Alaska, California, Florida, Arkansas, Texas and Minnesota), and a variety of lures, poles and lines. There are two major ways of playing the game – free fishing and tournament. There are also three difficulty levels.

The tournament is a progressive event. You begin by heading out to Lake Castaic for the 36-hour event. The goal is to catch as many largemouth bass over 5 lbs. 8 ounces as possible within the time frame. And don’t worry – for the sake of the game, each hour is translated into minutes. So you hop in the boat, head to what looks like a prime location and pray you have found the right spot. Boat time can be costly.

The control elements are not overly convoluted. The thumbsticks control the rod and the direction the avatar faces during casting. The L2 button control reeling in the line, the L1 is the hold/release line; R1 lets you look in your livewell; you can modify your drag with the square and circle buttons, while the triangle will switch between the boat and fishing modes.

The game does have a solid options package that will allow players to reconfigure the way they play the game.

The sound can be a little annoying in the music department, but the game otherwise uses the sound to support the action. There is a guide that will aid younger/inexperienced players with comments about the location of casts, or how to fight a fish.

The graphics contain some minor clipping problems, but otherwise the three-dimensional look of this game is quite solid. You are afforded a couple of views during the game. You start from the third-person view of the angler, and then cut to the lure underwater. As the lure dances in the water, you will occasionally see a fish swimming up to investigate. All in all, the game graphics are quite well done.

The game itself sounds simple – combine the right lure with the right rod and reel, and hit the right spot and you will get a strike. Fighting the fish can be a source of pride and frustration. You need to set the hook, and then the battle really begins. Knowing when to reel in, when to set the line, when to feed it out and moving it from side-to-side to track the fish all comes into play.

Rapala’s Pro Fishing is the type of game that is geared for someone with patience. This is a game where intelligence comes into play, as well as a little luck.

This game will release on the PlayStation 2, Xbox and PC.