Nice Day For Fishing
Review
Viva la fisherman
by William Thompson
reviewed on PC
Epic NPC Man
I'll admit it, I'm a big fan of the Viva La Dirt League team and their gaming and Techtown videos which take hilarious aim at some of the gaming cliches. Of course, the series based around Azerim and the folks of Honeywood are a particular favourite, as they take many of the gaming tropes and add their brand of humour to each scenario, and it is this series that Nice Day for Fishing is based.
In Nice Day for Fishing, players take on the role of Baelin, the town's mild mannered NPC fisherman, who through a strange coincidence has been thrust into becoming an adventurer. It is up to you to rescue the citizens of Honeywood and restore the town of Honeywood to its former glory. All your favourite characters from the Azerim series make an appearance. There's Greg the garlic seller, Bodger the blacksmith, Baradun the 'all-powerful' wizard, a frightened Eugene and even the dimwitted muggers Charles and Bernard. But I have to admit, the banter between Fred and his ‘loving’ wife Freda are a highlight.
Getting Hooked
Being cast (see what I did there) in the role of Baelin, the game centres around his major skill - fishing. The bulk of the game will have players catching different variations of fish, each of which will require players to source the correct bait. Players will send down their line with the bait and wait until the fish bites. At this point the game becomes somewhat of a button mashing experience as players 'attack' the fish. That is until the fish turns around, at which point players must defend. Attacking during this phase will cause your line to snap. As the game goes on, the fish become tougher to catch. Luckily, Baelin can upgrade his abilities and his gear so that capturing these tougher creatures is easier. Each time Baelin catches an underwater creature, players gain experience points which leads to Baelin levelling up, further boosting his stats.
Players will complete quests given to them by the various inhabitants of Honeywood, which continues the main storyline. The story is typically quest based, requiring players to travel back and forth across a variety of locales, collecting a plethora of items to help the citizens. As you’d expect, most of the items can be sourced from within the water.
In deep water
The fishing is quite simple, but guiding your line towards the right fish or item can be troublesome at times. As players get deeper into the water, currents will cause your hook to move left or right depending on the flow of the current. This gives the game somewhat of a puzzle element, as you'll need to guide your hook to its desired objective.
The game features a pixel-art visual style that has a Super Mario Bros vibe...so much so that I almost expected to see some of the flying fish from Mario's underwater worlds as one of the available fish to catch. That fish isn't there, but other popular games have received some references in this game. A take on the Magikarp of Pokemon fame rears its head during the game, as do Worms from the Team17 series. As you'd expect, the Worms feature as one of the forms of bait. Indeed, similarly to the Viva La Dirt League videos, the game is full to the brim with pop culture and gaming stereotypes.
Lovely jaunty music plays in the background, with each area featuring its own tune. Indeed, the music in the tropical island area had me reminiscing of Monkey Island. Although the dialogue is mostly written, each character does feature several sound bites, a reminder of who you're speaking to.
Grinding, without the grind
Although the fishing mechanics don't change much over the course of the game, I didn't find it a grind. The challenge of catching each and every type of fish, as well as slowly building the town to its former glory kept the game as fresh as Baelin's catch. The comedic dialogue and the pop culture references just add the experience. Nice Day for Fishing is a simple game with a simple premise - one that will keep players entertained for many hours.
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7.7
fun score
Pros
Story is fun, dialogue is humorous.
Cons
Lots of repetition
