Rapala Pro Bass Fishing. Does it set the hook?

How Cool is this! Wireless too!

I remember the days living on Lake Wylie.  Spending my summers at the Marina digging fresh water clams out of the sand because I couldn't afford the worms, and reeling in the Bream (Sunfish) one after another.  But the most fun was trying out our luck to catch the king of the lake: the Largemouth Bass!

So I get excited when a fishing game comes along that looks awesome with a super cool peripheral like they have with Rapala Pro bass Fishing!  Just look at it, it's awesome and wireless!

The game starts you out letting you customize your angler, and in another area even customize your boat which is cool.  After that you really only have a few options to start fishing.  The modes are Tournament mode, Two players, and Free Fishing.  What's fishing without a little competition right? So lets jump into a tournament.

Tournament mode has three seasons: Rookie, Pro, and Legendary.  In each of the seasons you have three tiers with tier one having three events (walleye, crappie, and white bass for rookie).  In tier 2 there are 2 events and tier three 1 event.  Wrapping up the rookie season there is one final event after tier 3 if you are at least 5th in the standings.  Each event lasts around 15 minutes each, but does allow you to weight in early if you are strapped for time.  However that could lead you to losing the event of course.  All in all the rookie events were very easy and I feel like the game just gives away too much information in general. It really takes the trial and error out of fishing which is so important to the sport.  The game really gives you everything you need to succeed  including a fish-o-pedia which tells you which lures, lines, etc work to catch what fish.  Not to mention they even give you tips on where the fish are, such as where birds are flocking or under the hot air balloons (WTF?).  As if the fish finder on your boat isn't enough as it shows you where the fish are and even color codes the fish in blue that you are targeting for your tournament.  To make matters worse they even tell you the weight of the fish and the type you have on the hook while reeling in leaving out all the suspense of actually catching a fish!  I looked for an option to turn this off, but there is not one.

The free fishing mode allows you to just head out to the lake (7 lakes in all) and just cast away.  There are challenges in the lake highlighted in red that you can try your luck at that will unlock lures, reels, etc.

The two person mode allows you to enter the boat with a friend and both fish at the same time.  It's basically the free fishing mode with 2 people in the boat.  One player can use the 360 controller just fine.

Notice I haven't talked about online mode yet?  There is a reason.  The reason is because there isn't one!  I was really dumbfounded by this.  I could have sworn I read a preview somewhere that stated online tournaments with your friends. This was a big let down, and one that really takes the game down hard.  I mean some of the short comings would all be forgotten if we could have created a small tournament fishing with our friends at Grown Up Gamers.

With all the shortcomings I mentioned there is still something fun about sitting on the couch with a cool fishing rod peripheral catching a northern pike. However that's where the fun ends and the game sinks to the bottom of the lake.  This game can be fun with the family and friends over but don't expect much out of it in the single player or non-existent online play.

Overall I would give the game a minnow.  Well to give it a number value perhaps a 5 out of 10 and only because of the cool fishing rod!