SEGA's Wii Showcase First Impressions

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SEGA Bass Fishing

According to the press release, this is the latest instalment in "one of the most successful fishing game franchises of all time". Just one of, mark you. It's the first in the series for Wii and it's out on, yep, 28th March.

SEGA Bass Fishing features more than 20 types of lure, 15 lakes to murder fish in and four types of freshwater bass to catch. More excitingly, you use the remote and nunchuk to fish.

But first you must select your lure. There are shallow cranks and paddle tails, tubes and spinner baits, green ones and yellow ones. They differ as to whether they're suitable for use in top, shallow, middle or deep water.

Then it's time to choose where to sling your hook. This involves spotting fish silhouettes under the surface of the water. The visuals are rather basic and rough around the edges, so in practice this means using the analogue stick to aim at the big dark blobs.

Flicking the Wii remote to cast the line is highly satisfying. Waiting for a fish to bite (the camera view switches to underwater so you can see when this occurs) is a bit boring. Then it's all action as you reel Flipper in, tilting the remote up or down to change the line tension. Too taut and it'll break, too slack and the fish will escape.

If it was the nineties we'd make an amusing reference to J.R. Hartley but kids today probably don't even know what a Yellow Pages is.

It's a pretty simple mechanism, once you get the hang of it. However, to catch enough fish to meet your targets you'll need to choose your fishing gear carefully, and consider factors such as time-of-day and season. Even so, there doesn't seem to be a great deal of depth to SEGA Bass Fishing. And while the countdown clock does add pressure to the proceedings, the action is hardly fast-paced.

Neither is actual fishing though, of course. It's supposed to be a relaxing activity, and a solitary one - which might explain why there's no multiplayer mode in SEGA Bass Fishing. You do get Arcade, Tournament and Practice modes though. And something called Nature Trip, where you get more options for determining the conditions in which you fish. It's designed to make the game more of a fishing sim than an arcade experience.

Which ought to please keen anglers, as should SEGA Bass Fishing generally. Fans of the old Dreamcast version might be disappointed you no longer play with an actual fishing reel peripheral, but the remote and nunchuk do the job.

In this instance GBP 30 seems a little steep considering you're only getting one game and there's no multiplayer. Not to mention the shonky visuals. Could be there's more to the game than what's being shown today, however - best wait for the full review. After all, we're waiting for a Wii version of Jambo Safari anyway. Have you signed up yet? Come on, online petitions always work.