Legendary Fishing

Genre: Sports (Fishing)

Players: 1-4 Competitive (Local Split-Screen)

Game Company Bad Behavior Profile Page: UbiSoft

.

Review:

Legendary Fishing is a Fishing game released on the Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4 in 2018, and while it touts multiple game modes, perhaps one of the more unique features it brings to the genre is its split-screen 4-player mode, something that seems pretty uncommon in fishing games.

Graphically, Legendary Fishing looks decent, but isn’t going to impress anyone. The water and fish look nice, and the scenery looks like a fair approximation of the various locales you’re fishing in, but there’s nothing especially extraordinary going on here. At the very least both the framerate and resolution are solid, and this seems to continue to be the case even when playing the game in 4-player split-screen, although I did notice the resolution drop some when doing so, resulting in a bit more aliasing. Still, it’s a fairly respectable performance with four players.

I do have to mention the game’s sound, which pairs some calm, relaxing music with faster-paced music when reeling in a catch, and also a… well, a really goofy announcer saying things like “he fell for it!” and “that’s my fish!”. It’s very silly, but you can mostly ignore it.

In terms of the gameplay, players are given a few different control options to play the game, though playing in multiplayer restricts players to one – a single Joy-Con turned sideways. In single-player, players can also make use of a pair of Joy-Cons, or use their single Joy-Con with motion control. I should note that a Pro Controller will not work with this game – it’s Joy-Cons or bust.

As for how well the controls work, let’s start with the motion controls, which work fine, but feel a bit gimmicky. This is perhaps due to the game’s very arcadey-feeling gameplay, which seems like a strange pairing with controls that try to loosely recreate the actual motions of casting a rod and reeling in a fish. While this works well enough, I honestly found myself preferring standard controls.

In regards to that gameplay, this is… kinda’ a weird entry in the genre. Players seem to be floating above the water and shifting around their casting location to select where to cast, but have no control over how far to cast or what direction to face. You’re basically choosing where on an invisible line in the water to cast. Once you hook a fish, you’ll be playing what essentially feels like a minigame, where you’re using the control stick (or motion controls) to keep the fish centered on your screen while using a button (or if using the motion controls, rotating the stick) to reel in the fish, keeping an eye on a meter indicating how tense or slack the line is, stopping your pull on the line when it gets red and picking it up when it gets blue. This works well enough, I suppose, and it has its charms, though it feels a bit simplistic and doesn’t feel like it accurately represents the sport. On the bright side though, this simplicity and the four-player support makes this a pretty good Party game for those looking for something simple and… er… fishing-themed… to play with friends.

In the end, Legendary Fishing feels a bit shallow and arcadey for a Fishing game, but might be worth a look if you’re wanting something simple and arcadey to play with others. The motion control here is a bit gimmicky, but the core gameplay is fun, although it may not hold your attention for too long. Overall, those looking for something simple in the Fishing genre might find this to their liking.

tl;dr – Legendary Fishing is a Fishing game that supports decent but gimmicky motion control, as well as 4-player splitscreen play. The gameplay here is decent enough if a bit simple, and that simplicity combined with the 4-player splitscreen might make this a decent fishing-themed Party game, but the mechanics aren’t deep enough for those looking for a simulation of the sport, or something with lasting power.

Grade: C

^{You can support eShopperReviews on Patreon! Please click HERE to become a Sponsor!}