AR Games: Fishing (Nintendo 3DS) Review

Once the process of booting up the Augmented Reality in-built code has been completed and AR Games: Fishing has been selected, up pops a little instructional image that informs players that to commence they must tap the ‘A’ button in order to cast the fishing line, complete with a hand-drawn sketch of someone holding a 3DS with a virtual reel coming out of its upper screen and the bait dangling into a pool of water on the surface of a table, with fish circling around. It continues by informing how the fishing rod must be slowly moved left and right through the rippling water (by moving the 3DS) until one of the various fish grab hold of the tackle. After a couple of nibbles, once the main bite has been made, the Nintendo 3DS must be flicked in an upwards motion in order to snatch the catch. Generally, for smaller marine life, moving too quickly will let them break free, whilst the opposite is true for heavier fish, with slow reactions resulting in players missing out.

Following the instructions for AR Games: Fishing, a time limit of two minutes is set and it is a case of trying to grab as many fish as possible, preferably of differing varieties (something that is dependent on coloured backgrounds or the in-game time of day, which changes very quickly). Each type collected is given a points rating that relates to how rare it is and its size, and at the tail end of the time limit, the end-of-game dragon appears. Starting off under the water, it then blasts out to start spitting water towards the screen in order to block your vision and hamper your task of capturing it. The player must then quickly use bombs attached to the end of the fishing line to subdue the monster as quickly as possible before finally dragging its heavy carcass out of the depths to accrue a tasty 200 Points, with the total score totted up after the finale, incorporating whatever was gained from collecting other fish in the time allotted.