Guest review by Ryan Byers
Obscure Games and Consoles
Ace Angler Fishing Spirits was developed and published by BNE Entertainment and is a sequel to their first game Ace Angler.
Story:
The story of Ace Angler Fishing Spirits is that you have to catch various marine life such as fish and crustaceans to help save them from the pollution in the world’s waterways. This is achieved by fishing for them and putting them into a series of tanks at your aquarium.
Gameplay:
The game is broken up into several different areas/modes which are Marine Medal Mania, Ace Angler Plus, Legend of the Poisoned Seas, Ace Angler Party, Shark Fever, and Online Ultimate Angler Competition. Marine Medal Mania is the hub area where you can interact with various marine characters to answer trivia questions to earn medals, spin the lucky wheel, visit the aquarium to see the fish you have caught so far, or to select a game mode to play. Ace Angler Plus is an arcade mode where you earn medals by catching fish and then spend those medals on customizing rods and upgrading the Ace Angler machine. Legend of the Poisoned Seas is the game’s story mode. In this mode, you learn about fish and the environment while clearing various stages as quickly as you can. In addition to clearing stages to earn medals and gcha tickets, you can play daily challenges which will also help you to earn tickets and medals. Depending on how well you do with the challenges and clearing the stages, determines how many tickets and medals you get which will help you upgrade equipment and catch fish to add to your aquarium.
Ace Angler Party is a multiplayer party mode which allows you to play either solo or with up to four players. This mode features five competition modes that have you catching marine life/sushi/food, snatching the most bottles, and the fifth competition is to stun and catch the most fish. The aim of all these modes is to get the most points. In addition to the competitions, you have a series of mini-games you can play based on fish and marine life which can be played against either up to four friends or CPU players. Shark Fever is a medal-pushing game that is similar to coin-pusher arcade games. Your goal being to shoot medals against the wall and have the pusher push them down the play area in an attempt to earn additional medals or shark balls which will trigger shark battles. The shark battles have you catching large fish and sharks to earn gacha tickets or medals which can be used to collect fish for the aquarium.
The Last game mode the game features is Online Ultimate Angler Competition. As the name implies, you can compete against other anglers online to rise to the top of the leader boards and earn stars which in turn will help level up your character to be a better Angler.
The game can support a variety of control options. These include both a single joy-con, two joy-cons, or with a pro controller. If you’re playing with two joy-cons, you can mimic using a fishing rod by using one joy-con upright and the other sideways as if you’re reeling a reel. Single Joycon support is with either a Joycon by itself or using the single Joycon with the fishing rod accessory.
Graphics and Performance:
The hub world is pretty open and allows you to walk around in a 3D environment. Each game mode is represented by a building along with the aquarium. I am glad they went with a 3D hub area instead of either relying on a 2D plane or having it just be a menu system. The character you play looks very similar to the character in Animal Crossing and I am surprised that they could get away with it. Marine life that you interact with, fish, and sharks all look really good. I was rather surprised by how well they are animated, personality, behaviors, and the overall presentation.
As for the performance, the game is rather fast-paced when it comes to the fishing and even with all that’s going on, the game doesn’t appear to slow down at all while either playing in handheld mode or while docked. While in the hub area, there has been some slight slowdown when a building is approached but it’s very subtle. Loading each game mode is pretty quick along with the loading of the game itself. Loading the aquarium areas both when first entering the building and going between the tank areas is a bit more lengthy than the other times the game loads, but isn’t unexpected given the platform the game is running on.
Sound:
The music in the game fits the game well. It mixes arcade-style music with life simulation-style music. For the majority of the game, it features upbeat arcade-style music but when in the hub world the music will at times become mellow and make you feel like you’re playing something like the Sims rather than playing an arcade-style fishing game. The sound effects for all fishing aspects and the expressions of the marine life characters and your own main character are well done and don’t wear out their welcome. Some of the announcer’s voiceovers can become repetitive and rather annoying. This is especially true when playing the Shark Fever game mode, but it’s not too bad in every other game mode.
Conclusion:
Ace Angler Fishing Spirits offers a surprising number of game modes for an arcade-style fishing game with unique and varying control methods. With support for up to four players, an educational aspect, and online play, it makes for a really fun and enjoyable party game. Maybe you want an educational game for a family member, a game with competitive multiplayer, a party game that isn’t Mario Party, a sports game, or even an arcade game. This game has all of those things and is a huge bang for your buck! I would recommend this game to anyone looking for either an alternative to all of those party-style games out there or a fun arcade-style game with an educational spin.
Disclaimer: A review key was provided