Ever since the PlayStation 2 was released on October 26th, 2000, game developers have flooded the system with games from every genre -- except fishing. Although not as popular as action, fighting or role-playing games, fishing is a niche genre, one that has a loyal legion of fans that shouldn't be ignore. It took a while, but developers are starting to bring fishing games to the PlayStation 2. One of the first, Bass Strike, comes from one of the world's leading game publishers, THQ.

Bass Strike includes four different play modes -- Arcade, Tournament, Practice and Time Trial. Arcade mode isn't as basic as the one featured in Sega Bass Fishing. You have a time limit of five minutes and the controls are very familiar (the left analog stick is used to adjust the casting cursor and you move the right stick in a constant circular position to reel in the fish). Instead of battling the clock though, you battle another angler. Be prepared to catch a lot of fish, or at least a few large fish, as the winner is chosen by who catches the most (measured by weight). Before you head for the lake, you are able to select the angler you wish to play as. Only Michael is available at first though, so you'll have to beat the other anglers at five different locations each to acquire them. Michael is pretty well-rounded, but the other anglers have specialized traits that help them perform better in certain conditions. Each of the anglers has a brief profile that tells you who the character is and what he or she is like, but this isn't an RPG, so the information is trivial. Once you've unlocked a new angler, he/she becomes selectable in the Tournament, Practice and Time Trial modes.

The Tournament mode is much more complex than the other modes in the game. Choose your angler (only Michael will be available if you haven't unlocked any in Arcade mode yet), hop in the boat and get ready to compete in four two-day events. The object of the Tournament mode is to place in the top 25 anglers at the end of the four tournaments and qualify for BASS Masters Classic. Points are determined by how many pounds of fish you've caught, but don't think you can just catch a ton of fish and make your way to the top. Strict tournament rules make things even harder -- if you don't weigh in on time, you'll receive a one pound penalty. That could kill your chances of success if it's a close game. Your final ranking is determined by the total weight of your ten largest bass, do don't panic if the only fish you catch at first are the size of the puny one Tom Hanks ate in Cast Away. However, if that's all you catch, you should definitely panic.

Practice mode is exactly what it sounds like: a mode for practicing. You have unlimited fishing until 6:30pm, but you can always start another game when the time runs out. Time Trial is geared towards the expert anglers who want to show off their mad-skills to their friends, but is also good for newcomers looking to improve their speed performance. Catching fish as quickly as possible is an integral part of the game. If you take ten years to reel something in, how will you ever manage to take home a trophy?

The lure variety is impressive, to say the least. From the Shallow Diving Crankbait and Oversized Spinnerbait, to the softer Curly Tail Worm and Crawdad, you won't have to worry about a lack of lures in Bass Strike.

Bass Strike is somewhat of an acquired taste. If you don't like fishing and have zero interest in fishing games, this isn't going to suddenly make you a fan of the sport. But if you dislike the sport, yet loved Sega Bass Fishing and/or the fishing mini-game in The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time, you'll probably enjoy Bass Strike. It's not as approachable as Sega's fishing games since there isn't a fishing rod available for the PlayStation 2 and the difficulty is significantly harder. However, Bass Strike won't set up back $80, giving gamers on a budget yet another reason to look here for the fishing needs instead. Once you've conquered Sega Bass Fishing, there isn't much else to do except trying to beat your own high score, but you'll have to beat Bass Strike multiple times to unlock all of the characters and win all of the trophies.

Graphics: 5.5 
It's not that Bass Strike looks bad, but when your lure is dragged across the bottom of the lake, it's hard to ignore the 2D puffs of dirt that follow. The flat grass and overall fuzzy look of the backgrounds is really disappointing. Quite frankly, Sega Bass Fishing looks a lot better than Bass Strike, and it was released on an inferior game console.

Sound: 7
Determining what a fishing game should sound like has got to be one of the toughest jobs a sound programmer could have. Other than chirping birds and the occasional splash from a fish, there aren't too many sounds to be heard while fishing. There isn't any fishing music in the real world, so the developers were forced to come up with their own. The result is an odd mix of up-beat tunes that sound nothing like you'd expect, which is probably why it worked.

Concept: 6 
Fishing games aren't exactly a new concept, but the developers must be given some credit for putting so much into one fishing game. Four game modes may not sound like much to you, but to a fishing enthusiast, it's the next best thing to spending a weekend at the lake. The split screen is an excellent addition, one that I wish more fishing games would adopt. This is a game, after all, and seeing the fish before you cast is a lot easier than guessing where the fish are (except on Professional mode, where the split screen camera is disabled).

Overall: 7
If you like fishing, Bass Strike should lure you in. If you don't...it just might lure you in anyway. I've been intrigued by fishing games ever since I first saw Sega Bass Fishing (known as Get Bass in Japan) at GameWorks. I didn't want to spend any money on it, but eventually I caved and played the game. Other than Sega Bass Fishing and it's sequel, there haven't been any fishing games that really sucked me in. Finally though, there's one worth playing on the PlayStation 2.