Wii-specific gameplay that actual improves on the original, but the rest of title could use a bit more shine.

As someone who first tried a fishing game with Sega Bass Fishing on the Dreamcast, I'll be the first to admit my video game fishing skills are probably a bit rusty. I had dipped into the pool not too long ago with the first Rapala Wii release, which was Rapala Fishing Tournament, so I was curious to see what developer Fun Labs had done with the license for the newest entry, Rapala Fishing Frenzy on the Wii.

Two things I noticed right off the bat, after dipping my lure into the lake for the first time, was that it was easy to get your initial hook, and that there were a hell of lot of motion controls to reel the thing in. Seriously, the bottom of the meter on the screen is a guideline of sorts, to see if you're giving the fish too much slack or not enough, with the ideal placement of the line to end up in the middle, so as not to lose the fish or snap the line. As you're reeling one in, you need to make certain motions in tune with whatever combo pops up on the screen, and these add bonuses to your speed, allowing you to reel the fish in faster. That said if you're a little new to the experience, it's a bit of a struggle for the first couple of attempts. They toss a lot of motions at you, and it seems to take forever to reel in a fish, even if it's super-easy to actual get one hooked in the first place.

That said, once you get the hang of things, it ends up being pretty fun. You really need to get used to the motions needed, but they're easy to read on screen, and fairly easy to perform. The challenge comes in being mixed up from one to the next, but that's more of a player fault than anything the game actually does.

Also, if you're looking for a larger experience than in other Rapala fishing titles, keep in mind they seemed to scale things back a bit for this release. I honestly look at as doing a bit of streamlining for the casual players, with only 30 lures, 21 different fishes, and 7 or so lakes to choose from. The lakes themselves are large enough though, and definitely varied. You can navigate thru them easily, and you use a depth meter to figure out the best spot to catch a lot of fish. However, it does seem like you can cast just about anywhere and most likely hit something, but for the larger catches you'll need to be a bit more precise as to where you throw the line out.

Visually, Rapala isn't the prettiest game on the Wii, and I'd rank it up there with the last game, with some fairly bright and colorful scenery marred by less than beautiful human modeling and some poorly animated fish. You'll be paying a lot more attention to things like your line meter at the bottom, and the combo's displayed on screen than you will to the visuals though, so it's a minor annoyance. It would be nice to see the game spruced up a little bit, and we know that the Wii is capable of doing better things than this. Also, don't like the box art fool you into thinking there's some type of cartoon like kid design in place, everything tries to look realistic, so this isn't something that will most likely appeal to the younger gamer.

There's not a whole lot more to do outside of the main mode, but there are a few tournament selections to keep you busy, including a challenge mode if you're up for a few goal-oriented variations on the main game. It'd be really great to see a solid multiplayer mode included as well, but maybe that's something that can be worked on for a future title.

Basically, once you get the hang of Fishing Frenzy's controls, it's actually enjoyable to play, but the initial learning curve feels like a bit of a challenge. I applaud the new dev team for cutting out some of the excess of the previous title, but it'd be nice to feel like things were getting another coat of polish, or something to spruce up the over all visual and audio appeal. That said, if you've been wanting to play a new fishing game on the Wii, this is going to be your best bet currently, and there's enough in here to keep you interested for a little while.