Review: Bassmaster Fishing 2022
Dovetail Games tempt me back to the waters once again (see my review of The Catch: Carp and Coarse), and after 2 weeks with Bassmaster Fishing 2022 (and almost 1000 fish caught), I can unequivocally say that this is my favourite so far.
Of course the basic gameplay is the same: catching fish, but the extra features in this make all the difference for me.
Set in the world of American professional bass fishing (something which I admittedly know nothing about), complete with real life anglers and equipment, you jump into your boat and set out into the waters of various locations to catch those elusive big bites.
The games menu system is clearly laid out and caused me no confusion, with separate sections for if you just want to fish for pleasure, dip into a career mode, take on challenges, or jump online and test your skills against other players.
With various challenges and competitions tasking you with catching specific fish, your choice of rod, line, lure, reel etc can make a big difference to your success, as can the time of day and also the location where you decide to stop your boat and cast (once again giving you the choice of a simple “double click” method of casting, or a more difficult, but more precise, way). You can also set your boat to move independently while you fish, giving you a wider area to try your luck in with each cast.
If you find a particular favourite ‘hot spot’ for fish, you can place colour coded and named markers onto the map, so that next time you take your boat out onto that particular lake, you can go straight to it again.
Bassmaster Royale mode makes for some tension while playing online, and while all other ‘Battle Royale” type modes in games don’t interest me, this one had me hooked…pun most definitely intended.
The big addition for me is the introduction of an underwater camera when you cast (which can be toggled on or off, depending on your preference). I absolutely love seeing everything happening as my lure is in the water, with a variety of fish swimming by as I hope one of them (particularly a large one) takes the bait. The underwater sounds are also very relaxing while playing too, especially while wearing headphones.
The thrill of catching a fish and then reeling it in successfully is still as strong as ever, and made that little bit more difficult as you can also snag your line after casting and lose your lure if you’re not too careful.
There is plenty of equipment to choose from and buy with the points accumulated as you play, as well as lots of progression to be made across the various modes, which all adds up to a lot of gameplay and challenges for your money.
Dovetail have already addressed some early issues with the game in patch #1, with more incoming as they listen to the community…one hopefully being the ability to create private lobbies.
As I mentioned in my review of The Catch: Carp and Course; you might not like fishing in real life, you may even think you’d have no interest in doing it in video game form, but these games have a certain quality to them that can unexpectedly reel you in (final fishing pun, I promise).
Bassmaster Fishing 2022 is something which I will keep returning to on a regular basis, and I look forward to hopefully seeing some of you out there on the waters with me.
Review by Dave from an Xbox code kindly supplied by Dovetail games.
