Review: Reel Fishing: Days of Summer (Nintendo Switch)
The catch of the day is Reel Fishing: Days of Summer from Natsume. I haven’t reviewed a fishing game before, so it was interesting to discover there is a plethora of them out there. Days of Summer is just one in a series of Reel Fishing releases, and it’s a bit different from what you might expect. Let’s take a look, shall we?
The game tells of the last hurrah of summertime for three friends: Niell, Alice, and Sean. Like other entries in the Reel Fishing series, you will find the game has a significant story element; you will be doing plenty of reading and pressing the A button. Our three friends decide, naturally, to go on a fishing trip. They are looking for a worthy project to round out the summer, and they find it a rather unanticipated way. Don’t worry, no spoilers here.
Reel Fishing: Days of Summer isn’t just a story of three friends and some fishing action, oh, no. You get to do some cooking and some crafting. These other activities relate to the game, however—you’re not doing glitter glue and scrapbooking. The cooking part will allow you to make some energy bars and other foods to help you keep your stamina up. Fishing takes a lot out of you (at least in this game). The crafting is likewise useful; you get to craft new fishing lures to catch a variety of fish.
Not only do you cook and craft to help stay busy, there’s also the obligatory skill level-up routine and upgrades for your rod, reel, and bait. The game has several locations and over 40 types of fish you can catch. At the lodge in which you are staying, there is even an aquarium in which you can put some of your catch so you can admire the fish at your leisure.
Reel Fishing: Days of Summer provides a good tutorial to orient the player with the controls. If you take the Joy-Cons off the console, you can use them for motion control. The right controller selects a target and releases your cast, while the left controller is used to reel in the line. You will need some coordinated effort with both controllers to reel in your fish. There are also indicators to keep your eye on to make sure your character doesn’t run out of stamina and that the fishing line doesn’t break.
With all the different inputs, and only one of them haptic, it can be a challenge to watch all the indicators and still land the fish. This is where the gameplay skills come in. However, as with real world fishing, there is plenty of waiting. Unlike real world fishing, the “day” goes by in about ten minutes, so you won’t have time to get monumentally bored. Also, unlike real world fishing, there is no getting wet, freezing in the water, frying under the sun, playing with worms, getting poked with a hook, or any of the interesting smells you might encounter. I like the great outdoors, but my preferences run more toward trees and hills, not fish guts.
Reel Fishing: Days of Summer does a good job at providing some entertainment and exercise of coordination and control. The main characters make good use of the personality archetype triangle (there is always tension with honest friends who are different, which lends a bit of reality to the game).
The visuals are pretty good, too, but with one minor oddity; as you reel in your line, it leaves a uniform wake on the surface of the water, but it doesn’t align with the direction of the flow of the water. It’s no biggie, but it rubs my OCD a bit off the grain. The soundtrack is OK, but it could be better. It isn’t annoying, but it seems a bit off from the rest of the game elements.
The story seems to go on a bit at times, but it provides a good excuse for the trip and some useful information for gameplay. All things considered, Reel Fishing: Days of Summer is a good game that may be just what you need as the winter doldrums set in.
