3D Arcade Fishing

Genre: Sports (Fishing) / Arcade

Players: 1

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Review:

3D Arcade Fishing, released on Nintendo Switch in 2021 and ported to PlayStation 4 in 2024, is a Fishing game that largely strips the sport down to a single button-press – after you select a spot, tap A to toss out the line and press A in time with a bar to determine accuracy, then tap A again when a fish bites, holding A to reel the fish in, releasing it to give some slack on the line. There’s different equipment and bait to buy, but that really is the core gameplay in a nutshell.

The thing is, even this simple gameplay is not done very well. It seems entirely random when a fish will take interest in your hook, and there’s little nuance to reeling them in beyond letting up when the line is too tight or the fish is fighting back. The result is gameplay that’s a total snooze-fest.

And yet it gets worse. This game’s 3D visuals are pretty terrible, with ugly, lifeless character models, fish that move in a straight line and frequently teleport into and out of existence, and apart from splashing sounds and awful energetic music, the main sound that dominates this game is the ridiculous announcer’s voice shouting “Throw!” every time you cast your line, and then quietly commenting when a fish takes the bait.

It gets even worse than that – this game’s $14 price is an absolute insult. I don’t know why anyone would ever pay $15 for this poorly-made game (even getting this on sale for $2 I feel robbed), especially when you could spend $10 and get the passable Fishing Universe Simulator. Or, if you have your heart set on an accessible, Arcade-style experience, you could get what I believe to be the best Fishing game on Nintendo Switch, Fishing Star World Tour. With better options like these, there’s just no reason to get 3D Arcade Fishing, an overpriced joke of a Fishing game.

tl;dr – 3D Arcade Fishing is a Fishing game so simple it’s outright boring, poorly-made and ugly, and overpriced to boot. You have multiple better options than this on Nintendo Switch.

Grade: F

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