Console Catch-Up - July Monthly Recap

It has been a busy month this month, and I haven't completed much gaming. I did at least finish off the DLC for Ghost of Tsushima and started up Rise of the Tomb Raider. I'll get through it eventually when I can find the time for it. At least, in the meantime, I did complete the first game in my new cycle - Adam's Venture Chronicles - and I am making steady headway in BioShock Remastered.

I did finish at least one game this month on the PS5, which is:

Name: Legendary Fishing Date Completed: 13/07/2024

Now, before I get into this one, there is a little backstory.

For the longest time, I could not understand the fascination behind sports games. Football; Basketball; Golf; Hockey - it made no sense to me why someone would buy several of the same genre, let alone play them. In my mind, they were the same game with better graphics and maybe better mechanics. Myself, maybe I have one title and most likely it was given to me or it was part of a bundle.

Then one day, back on the PSX, I came across Fisherman's Bait. Now I could not honestly say why I picked it up, as I hadn't played any fishing games at the time; but I know I bought it and it wasn't given to me. My only explanation is, back then I loved to bloat my video game library and it was probably on sale, so I figured "Eh fuck it." I don't think I tried it straight away, but I did get around to it, and needless to say, I was hooked. I enjoyed the calming environments and the thrills of hooking and landing a fish. It got to the point that even if a game had a fishing minigame, I would spend an inordinate amount of time on it. It then became a trend that with any console or computer setup I had, I would have to christen it with a fishing game.

PS Vita? Let's Fish: Hooked on! PS3? Flick Fishing and Reel Fishing. Oculus? Bait! and Real Fishing VR. Wii? Sega Bass Fishing. PC? Ultimate Fishing Simulator. And the list goes on.

So it came time to christen the PS5.

Now, this is actually the second fishing game I played on the PS5. The first game I played was Reel Fishing: Road Trip Adventure but had not been completed in time before it was removed from the PSN catalogue. Down the line, I may buy a copy for myself and finish it off, but we shall see.

Legendary Fishing was the first that I completed and I enjoyed it all. What stood out for me the most compared to other fishing games, was that it did not focus on tournaments and it was more arcade than actual fishing. Basically, you would select a fishing spot and you would have a list of missions (2 per season). After selecting one, you would have up to 5 minutes (depending on the mission) to complete the required task, which varied between catching several fish; several specific fish; a fish of a certain weight; or a total weight catch. As you complete missions you would unlock better gear, different lures, and new locations, and there wasn't any specific order to completing the missions so you could pick and choose which you wanted to tackle.

It made the game easy to pick up and play, especially if I only had a few minutes to spare because one session rarely took more than 5 minutes, and I am talking from booting up the PS5 to completing the mission.

The game even had a coop mode, which was an interesting surprise. Admittedly, the second player doesn't fish (unless playing the correct mode) but instead can throw additional bait; make the lure more attractive and help reel the fish in faster. I played a few of the missions with my 8-year-old daughter, which pretty much opened the gateway for her. The game was easy enough for her to understand the controls and before she knew it, she was landing her own fish. She is without a doubt, her father's daughter.

I figured for this month I wouldn't add some of the previous completions and leave you with my obsession. At least, I can safely say I now have an understanding of the fascination of sports games.

Hopefully, at the end of August, I will have some more to add to the completion list.