[Early Access- Phase 1]
I understand the game is in early access, but I just think it is lacking in too many aspects, and I think the developers should have waited a bit before releasing it to the public and accepting your money.
What you get to see in this early access is basically a few tutorials and trials, so you can get a feel for how the game and the mechanics are going to be implemented. This is fine, it is content-wise what they claimed it to be. I would be satisfied with this amount of content, if it wasn't because of the bare basics of the game not being very well implemented at all yet. For a dedicated fishing simulator, it doesn't do a very good job at simulating what real fishing feels like. On top of that the mechanics felt clunky, the visuals didn't feel right and the main point of the game (fishing) felt really awkward, unreal and unresponsive.
Problems with the visuals:
- The fishing line looks thicker than the pole itself, and I know it has to be easy to see on screen but there has to be a better way. The line also seems a lot heavier than an actual line (which is as light as a snowflake flowing in the wind), when you look at how it reacts with the physics currently in the game.
- The fishing pole looks way too rubbery/elastic compared to a real pole. Very wobly :). Like if you shake your hand a bit, it might go all bananes.
- The tension on the fishing line is the worst part about the visual issues. Very immersion breaking. When I have a fish on the line, the string tension is very unrealistic. It doesn't matter if the fish is 40 yards away or 10 yards, if I'm reeling in or being idle, the string looks all the same. I get no real feel for how far away the fish is, how hard it is pulling and so on - other than the numbers I see on the screen. I found this to be very immersion breaking, it didn't feel at all like I was having a hook!
Problems with the game (fishing).
- When I'm reeling in I have no idea what is going on underneath the water. Sometimes I was reeling in for a long long while, but the yard indicator stayed the same, and there was no other visual feedback. I didn't know if the game had glitched out and my reeling didn't do anything, or if the fish had managed to extend my line by another 100 yeards underneath the water for me to reel in afterwards. I think it would be nice to get some sort of idea of how long your line is, and not just how far away the fish is. Because this just felt so weird when I couldn't feel the force in my pole, and just stood there reeling in for minutes from a minor hook.
- The fish (1 kind in this early alpha) is very athletic, it goes from one end of the lake and back in a matter of seconds. It does this for a while, then suddenly stops. Like it spend all of its energy traveling so fast from one end of the lake to the other and then suddenly colapses. It also bites the hook very frequently, so the food must me scarse around this lake. :)
- As mentioned earlier you get almost no visual feedback or cues from the fishing pole, the string or the fishing guy. When you get a hook the pole, string, and the guy - they all just act as if there was no force pulling in the other end of the line. In contrast to this, the fish is going crazy underneath the water as I mentioned earlier. It just feels so unrealistic and weird. This would be okay as a side game in GTA or something like that, but this coming from a dedicated fishing simulator was disappointing.
Problems with the controls:
- Something feels really awkward about the controls, I have a hard time pointing out exactly what is causing this.
- I think one part is the mouse sensitivity. You turn very slowly while the pole is very wobly and when you throw the line out into the water I almost have to move my hand all across the desk to get a good shot.
- The throwing part does not feel consistent. Sometimes I get a really nice shot, but the next time I do the eactly same movement (with minor differences ofc), the bait may end up only 11 yards away and in another direction. It just didn't feel right.
All in all, I think the basic features should have been better implemented when releasing a paid early access of a dedicated fishing game with this amount of content. I don't see a point for anyone to get it yet, UNLESS you are very interested in fishing and can't wait to get a glimpse of what this new game will look like.
I also have some positive things to say about the game. The throwing system is based on a great idea, and it would have been great if it worked more smoothly. I see a lot of potential in the game, but based on the current experience there is still a long long way to get there. I liked the overall visuals if you look past the issues I wrote in my review. I also appreciate the company making a new fishing sim.
I will be sure to check out every new update while this title is in development, and I really hope the game will become awesome in the end.
Bonus: I found that when you turn your pole quickly from one side to the other it engages propeller mode :) I posted a video of me consistently reproducing the glitch here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DfirVzeQBFcEDIT 07/11 2014:
Since some people don't like that I actually took the time to sit down and explain what I don't like about the game, I decided to add this little paragraph to try and explain how I felt:
Lets say I made a driving simulator, and branded it as the next big thing in driving simulation. Very early in the development process, I decide (for whatever reason) that I want to release a paid early access version of the game. The features currently available is a car, but you can't turn the steering wheel and the brakes are faulty. The scenery is the same road repeting itself over and over. You can raise or lower the speed while driving on this now somewhat familiar road but thats it. The graphics are okay but not spectacular. The speed/fuel panel in the car is unresponsive, and your car is able to drive 1000 mph if you keep the speeder pushed for long enough. This is far from what you would expect from a dedicated driving simulator, even in a paid early access. If I only accept positive reviews, and get angry when people point out the stuff they could see improved - then there is no point at all to this.
Loading reviews... 
Steam News 
