Dynamite Fishing Review

Anannya Sen’s Review

A comical way to catch fish.

Handy Games have always managed to put a humourous spin on most of their titles and this is no exception. I remember playing Sega fishing ("Bite!!" ... "Fish!!") with it's comedy voices yet serious demeanour on the art of fishing itself. Dynamite fishing turns this concept on its head as you play the part of a redneck who likes to catch fish by throwing dynamite in the water. Yep, dynamite.

When playing the game, you realise that this is really a glorified web game that has been well adapted to the mobile format. Essentially you navigate your boat left or right and press the main button o 5 to throw dynamite. The length of the press determines how far you throw it. After the kablooey, any dead fish float to the surface for you to pick them up. It sounds like it could be a yetisports game, but Handy Games have added enough polish to make this very enjoyable.

For starters the graphics are great. This is no 3D cutting edge technology, but a great cartoon style for the characters and the fish. The graphics are bright and full of colour and really suit the mood of the game. The animation of the fish, the boat and even the main character is well presented, with the fish swimming smoothly, the boat having a decent weight to it, and humourous expressions abound when you catch fish as well as between levels.

Sound is good too, there are a few lazy redneck tunes which suit the mood. As with all Handy Games you can have a choice of background music or sound effects. The latter consist of some watery noises, explosions and the ker-ching when you get some big bucks. For a fishing game, the sound has been well catered for.

Controls are simple, use the D or keypad to move the boat around and you can throw dynamite by pressing 5 or fire. Depress it and a bar appears which will determine the length of the throw. By holding a direction then pressing the opposite you will brake, and you can throw dynamite too while doing this. Up and down switch between your items and there's a quick shot option for the birds, press and hold 1 or 3 and a target comes up. When the bird is in your sights release to fire and make turkeys out of them!

The game is immensely fun to play as on top of the fishing itself, there's a lot to do. There's a redneck story how you are courting a girl and need money for that as well as a whole host of other comical things. You can buy equipment which consists of different types of dynamite, to more exotic stuff like the smelly shoe (the smell knocks out fish in the area). So there's quite a bit of variety. Also, with the money you make you can upgrade your boat in terms of speed, capacity, brakes etc. And when you do all these things you can upgrade to a new boat.

The actual fishing part can be quite tough at first, but there's a handy tutorial to get you used to it. Once you are in full swing, you start to appreciate getting shoals with one shot as you see the comments of Gill massacre and the like appear as they float to the surface. There are plenty of treasure chests, either containing money or useful items, so these are good to hit too. The time limit is quite tough and this is further compounded by birds flying about picking up dead fish you haven't collected yet. Luckily you can fire at them with your shotgun. Also on each level, in addition to the main scoring for fish, there's usually one special fish or quest you have to perform. The way the scoring works, you really need to nail this in order to complete the level. Unless of course, you're a whizz with the dynamite and hit a large shoal with every shot.

There are a few different modes too, the story will allow you to see some of the stranger things that appear in the oceans and then there's freestyle massacre where you have to get as many fish within the time limit. Finally is a very strange mode, which is called Aquarium. This just allows you to watch fish swimming around. If you get bored you can blow them up. Surprisingly I found this more fun than watching them! The game sounds a little silly but it's meant to be that way. Once you get the hang of controlling your boat and throwing the dynamite it becomes quite addictive. I thought that the difficulty level was too high at first, as I kep replaying the first level. But once you realise that you have to finish the quest and also wait for shoals of fish to be your target you begin to really enjoy seeing the words fish massacre.

A really simple and fun game to play with a lot of humourous elements combined with decent longevity. Another Handy Games classic. And you should definitely read the warning when the game loads!!