Let’s find out together, in this short review of Fishing Adventure, to whom we could recommend the precarious title of Ultimate Games in this hot asphyxiating summer
If, in this scorching summer of pandemic, you are tired of looking for deep sea fish in Animal Crossing: New Horizons or directly the (very rare, damned!) Fishing spots in Hades, don’t hang the rod. Ultimate Games tries to come to your rescue, fishing lovers, with Fishing Adventure. After Ultimate Fishing Simulator, which according to the words of many is not an “ultimate” experience, let alone a “simulative” experience, the guys of the Polish team try again with a new title dedicated to one of the sports that are most based on patience, on waiting and knowing how to manage it.
Arrived on PC, Xbox Series X | S, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch for a few days, Fishing Adventure puts a fishing rod and a few pieces of bread in your hand and sends you to different locations, around the world, to fish gradually larger preys, overcome challenges and level up. From the first images and the first trailers, it seemed to us a definitely low-budget title aimed at an audience that is an understatement to define a niche. Yes, but we didn’t think so much. Welcome to our Fishing Adventure review!
A simple experience
Putting on the boots and taking the fishing rod, Fishing Adventure sends us in immediately Poland, the first setting available to lay the foundations of our adventure. There is no type of tutorial, but we admit that even if we are not used to fishing games, to understand the mechanics of the title of Ultimate Games it took us and no five minutes. To get started, just approach any body of water, press X and cast the line. Once the fish has taken the bite, you will need to withdraw the hook by pressing the right trigger. That’s all.
Obviously some fish will be a little tougher to take than others and you will need to balance the pulling force of the rod and the reel, but we assure you that in the several hours spent in Fishing Adventure, we have never lost a prey ( and therefore we do not really know if it is possible). Fishing will allow you to earn both experience points and money, both essential for progression in Fishing Adventure. Specifically, once you have collected the hook, you can decide what to do with your winnings. If you decide to sell the fish, you will acquire a greater amount of money, if instead you free it, the experience points will be increased.
… And repetitive… – Fishing Adventure Review
And so far all quite interesting, you say. Although it is true that, played in small doses, Fishing Adventure can also be a rather relaxing pastime, to continue the adventure you will need a level of decidedly unexpected grinding, as well as irritating. Consider that, net of the several hours spent in the game, the maximum money we could get with a fish was around 35 coins. A license to unlock a new game area costs 4000. Same thing for experience points, which are obtained with the dropper also freeing the prey.
An exasperating grinding, therefore, and which definitely makes you lose that bit of fun that games of the genre can arouse in non-fans of the reference sport. The sense of progression will in fact be very slow, not very satisfying and definitely not entertaining. Similar games should definitely point to that drop of addiction which pushes the player to waste hours and hours of their existence looking for a certain fish, in a certain body of water, to unlock the strongest piece of equipment.
Grind, grind, grind! – Review Fishing Adventure
There is nothing like it in Fishing Adventure, considering that you will never have the opportunity to search for specific fish and it will often be all about chance, except the favor that the baits will do to reduce the species they are most coveted. Upgrading your equipment will be a simple one linear progression, from the least expensive to the most expensive, with no interest in the player in varying a minimum between one fishing session and the next. And be careful: in the various settings, you will not be able to do anything but fish. There will be nothing to interact with, live or material. Nothing.
Even the interesting presence of the fishing licenses, which we will have to obtain in order to continue in the various locations, is frustrated by the fact that, in any case, to go to the next setting we will have to be of a certain level. And away with grinding, in short. The only relief to the situation is given by the fishing challenges present in Fishing Adventure. These are simple mandates that will be given to us for each setting, specifically five each, and that if completed all five will allow us to unlock the fishing license for the area without paying a single coin.
Vetusto – Fishing Adventure Review
From a technical point of view, Fishing Adventure is a bad game of the PlayStation 3 era. Although the settings are quite evocative, we must admit, the polygonal models of everything that composes them, as well as that of our protagonist’s arm (which seems to be taken and glued from an early Doom) are really awful to see, especially on larger screens. Non-existent shadows at best, poor lighting effects and graphical glitches of various kinds complete a really poor picture from an aesthetic point of view.
Adding some small bugs, which necessarily wanted to fit the feet of our protagonist on the shore of the water without the possibility of letting us go other than to return to the main menu, and a practically non-existent soundtrack except for some ambient sounds, you will understand well why we cannot recommend Fishing Adventure even to lovers of real sport. A great pity, because actually there are very few simulation titles on such niche sports, especially in Italy.
Asphyxiation
Ultimately, to conclude this quick review of Fishing Adventure, the title of Ultimate Games will turn out to be a poor experience from every point of view, both for sports fans and for novices. Leaving aside a technical sector that defining old-fashioned is a compliment, the game offers simple and intuitive mechanics, but which must be repeated too many times to lead to a real progression of the character. In short, a truly suffocating Grinding Adventure at a time when the heat was enough!
We remind you that Fishing Adventure is available on PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S and Nintendo Switch. Let us know what you think of the Ultimate Games title below in the comments, we will continue to keep you up to date with all the news, guides and reviews about gaming and tech! And if you are interested in game keys at affordable prices, we recommend that you take a look at the InstantGaming catalog!
Points in favor
- Simple and intuitive game mechanics
Points against
- The party of wild grinding
- After an hour playing it will be irritating
- Technically more than insufficient