![]() There aren?t any challenges that are too hard for even young players, but the game seems to get easier as it goes along instead of harder. All of the handful of characters are voice acted, and though the voices are cheesy, they?re not bad.Īside from being shorter than John Wayne Bobbitt before reconstructive surgery, the only complaint comes from the slightly skewed difficulty curve. ![]() Underwater distortion effects add a touch of realism, and the reflections on the surface of the water are notable, but most striking is the detail in the environments and creatures Finny meets up with. Length is the only real complaint, as the game is interesting enough that ten or fifteen hours would have been enjoyable.įinny the Fish doesn?t break new technical ground, but the graphics are impressive and the sound is accomplished. Collecting all the prey will take another five hours or so, and getting all the lures relies on luck as much as skill. Playing to the end without trying to collect all the prey and lures will take only five hours or so, about half the length of the serious gamer?s average Halo 2 session. That makes this a great game for that type of player, but the rest of us might feel that Finny comes up a bit short. There are one hundred lures and even more types of prey, and the completist will want to try for every one. The line can be snapped and the lure stolen, and this is part of the collection aspect of the game. Some of the morsels Finny chases down are actually cleverly disguised lures, and he?ll be hooked if he tries to take a bite. If being chased by giant piranhas and eels isn?t enough, there are anglers to worry about too. They must be avoided or fought into tasty submission. As any Discovery Channel viewer can tell you, sometimes the predator becomes the prey, and larger fish are out to make Finny an instant hors d’oeuvre. Some prey can be swallowed in one gulp, but others require epileptic movements of the analog sticks. Swimming and leaping out of the water are tiring prospects for our hero, who happily chows down to keep up his stamina. The lakes, rivers, and streams that make up the seven areas are teeming with other fish as well as crustaceans, amphibians, and insects. No fish can survive on an empty stomach, and if Finny is good at anything it’s eating. Finny is extremely easy to control but young children may get frustrated at barriers that require extremely precise inputs, another reason this is not a kiddie game. ![]() Some are logic puzzles, while others add a platformer feel. The quests for each of these statues are where the puzzle solving comes into play most of these are simple fetch quests, but the obstacles Finny has to overcome are varied enough to prevent boredom. There are six main areas plus an area for the final battle (thus the Seven Waters), and in each of these six is a master from whom Finny must retrieve a statue. Underwater puzzles dominate the game, accompanied by some collection and a few fishy fights. ![]() ![]() Filled with colorful characters, Finny the Fish includes a disturbingly happy frog with some gender identification issues and a possibly semi-lobotomized bird who says “dude” way too much, among others. Even the game’s ending fails to explain these seemingly intentional ambiguities, but this is an action driven game, not a story driven one. In a ‘Matrix’ meets ‘Finding Nemo’ twist, Finny is told he’s the chosen one and must find the source of this disturbance. The thin, vague story suggests some lurking evil overtaking the waters that Finny and his soon to be sushi friends inhabit. Being the result of a wild, alcohol heavy and contraception light night between Sega’s fishing titles and Ecco the Dolphin, there’s something here for anyone who likes those games as well as those who find themselves addicted to any game with collection aspects. While parents won’t feel guilty for letting Finny the Fish baby-sit their child while they desperately try to recapture their own failed youth through badly scripted sitcoms, it may actually be a bit too challenging for youngsters. The surprise inside the box is that Finny the Fish is designed for an older crowd even though the appearance and content suggest otherwise. The title makes it sound like a kid’s game when it’s not, but that isn’t the game’s main problem the problem is that it’s unfairly destined to obscurity. Teaming up with Harvest Moon developers Natsume could only produce something like Finny the Fish and the Seven Waters, an underwater adventure starring an unlikely and reluctant ichthyoidal hero. In terms of offbeat games, Sega is undoubtedly a market leader. ![]()
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