Let’s Fish! Hooked On is developed by Wired Productions and puts the fun factor into fishing with an anime spin. Characters in the game have been designed by Poyoyon Rock. Who has famously designed other characters and animation for comics and film such as Kiki’s Delivery Service.

This is ultimately a single player game with online features such as leaderboard where you can upload your score and be ranked alongside other players in Challenge mode.

The tutorial is a must and this will show you the basics of how to play. Ultimately telling you how to catch fish rather than showing you. It is really only when implemented that you gain knowledge of what to do. Which can take a little patience but once you have the hang of it then you will be catching some fishies in no time. You can try out characters, weather conditions, different seasons and perfect your hooking skills.

Once you feel confident with the basics you can then head into the real action where you can either embark on a world tour or enter challenge mode.

The world tour is a timed mode where you have to meet specific weight targets by catching fish. You can throw your line out for some pot luck but you can also get a glimpse of what is in the water i.e. where to cast for the best catch. You can do this by zooming in and this will make some fishy silhouettes to appear.

You can cast the line in the water by moving your boat along the scenic banks of your fishing area. The landscapes are pretty and quaint. Ranging from lodges to temples and the reflections in the water add to the ambience of the particular scene. Also different weather conditions can add to the casting and catching ability.

Being a fishing game it will come as no surprise that you have to catch fish. By casting your line you can opt to cast it near or far depending on the level meter which is a bar going up and down and stopped by a timed button press.

Once in the water, the view will change to an underwater view and your lure (attraction on the end of the hook for example) will tempt some fish in but some fish will be opposed to this lure. They will be attracted but they will not bite. So this results in a lost catch.

You unlock more lures as you progress and you can change them over to attract different fish so the biguns you couldn’t catch before may well hook on.

An attracted fish that does take a bite will then be hooked on and this will involve making sure the line doesn’t break by reeling in the fish to your position, this could be a few meters or a long way away. The tussle to reel in your fish will result in a series of on screen touch action maneuvers.

Reel it in! The hooking action enables touch screen swipes in the correct direction towards the fish icon. This can be quite quick to get right and can result in losing a fish or two but the fish will sometimes hook back on so you can have another go. If you have successfully hooked until the meters deplete to your position, this will result in a successful catch. Practice makes perfect and the more you reel in the better your hooking action will be.

You can sometimes tell what sort of fish you have caught and how big they are but sometimes you reel in a fish which is smaller than expected and this can cause some disappointment when you catch a tiddler but you can try again.

In total there are 240 different lures, 44 courses and 31 trophies to unlock including a platinum.

Conclusion

The game adds over 40 hours of gameplay and has plenty of replayability / improving on scores and leaderboards. The fishing areas and characters are well designed with each character having their own story line, skills and abilities.

The collectible element and challenges will keep you interested if not a little frustrating when you fail. However these are easy to replay and you can improve your technique at catching fish and completing the challenges.

There is a sense of achievement when you catch a big fish but this sometimes comes as a surprise as they don’t look that different. Perhaps an enthusiast could tell the difference. I love the fact that a fairly boring sport, no offence, is fun. Perhaps not realistic but that certainly would be boring. It takes a matter of minutes to catch a fish not hours.

The cartoony anime style lends itself well to igniting the fun factor and the innuendo style voice overs are pretty funny, whether intentional or not. This is great for picking up and playing a challenge or to play intently to beat your own score.

Overall don’t be put off by the fishing aspect as it is not stereotypical of the real life hobby at all. Well my stereotype is a male orientated hobby where men will sit on the side of a river on a pop up seat with flasks of hot beverage.

It manages to make it fun and you want to progress. Entertaining and fun no less, plus I recognised a Rainbow Trout. So there is also a certain amount of realism even for someone like me!

The filing was originally filed by Sony Computer Entertainment America for, “Computer game software; Video game software”. There’s then a second filing by Benelux Office for Intellectual Property, listing the language as “nl”, so presumably ‘Netherlands’ so you would assume that whatever it is Guerilla are on it.

At GDC this year, Guerilla’s art director Jan-Bart van Beek has said that the studio has three games in development. One is Killzone on PS Vita, from the newly incorporated Sony Cambridge, and one is ‘continuing the franchise’ As for the third they wouldn’t give any information.

If this is going to be Guerilla’s next game, will it be on PS3 or PS4?

Deep Silver is putting the pedal to the metal with more details on the upcoming action game Ride to Hell: Route 666. In the world’s first real time tactics beat’em up, players will beef up their pack of road warriors, provide them with the right gear, and take them to the streets in a merciless battle for every mile of the legendary Route 66. The trip starts this summer, when the game is scheduled to hit the PlayStation Store, Xbox Live  and Steam.

Tactics are essential when up against a colorful cast of enemies. Players will be able to bark orders at their fearless gang members to bring them into the right formation on-the-fly with easy, accessible controls. Clever tactics will be rewarded, opening up enemy defenses and allowing you to get in on the action: as the leader of this lawless bunch, you can support your warriors at the front line or issue instructions from the back.

Pick up and play action controls allow the players to get involved in the fight at any time. You’ll also be recruiting new members to join your gang, with each one bringing their own special abilities to a fight, from big bad bruisers to sultry medics.

Ride to Hell: Route 666 is set within the Ride to Hell universe, a world of bare-knuckle violence, and rip-roaring motorcycles. Later this year the setting will be extended by two further titles featuring the unique and incomparable biker lifestyle; Ride to Hell: Retribution and Ride to Hell: Beatdown.

Scenario Mode sets each team with a series of either offensive or defensive challenges and mixes them up with the extreme and unpredictable conditions of E.D.N. III. Players can compete in both third-person on-foot action and in first-person combat using Vital Suits, a futuristic staple of the LP series.

Akrid Survival sees two teams of three players compete independently of each other in a series of encounters against waves of hostile Akrid before the teams go head to head in a final PvP elimination round.

Lost Planet 3 will be available for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC on August 27th in North America, August 30th in Europe. Expect more info in the near future.

Curve Studios announced the results of the competition to rename their frenetic stealth platform game Stealth Bastard, for its release on PS3 and PS Vita. The game will be published under the winning name of Stealth Inc. A second entry, A Clone in the Dark, was also chosen as the game’s subtitle.

The two winners were awarded PlayStation Vitas and places in the game’s credits for their efforts. The competition received a total of almost 3,500 entries.

Stealth Bastard’s creator Jonathan Biddle commented, “We’re very happy with the name Stealth Inc: A Clone in the Dark. We think it captures the essence of the game perfectly. It even includes a cheesy pun.

“It was very gratifying to get such an amazing response from our fans – we’ll certainly consider including them in our decision-making process again in future!”

Stealth Inc, which will feature updated HD graphics designed to get the most out of Sony’s powerful hardware, will arrive on PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita this summer.

Stealth Inc is a fast-paced stealth platform game, featuring brutal hazards, ruthless enemies, fiendish puzzles and red pixels galore. Armed with only your wits and a pair of top of the range Stealthing Goggles, it’s your job to sneak your way through a deadly facility that’s determined to extinguish your fragile little life. With no weapons and no armour, being seen means instant death. Only the fastest and sneakiest will make it to the exit without being mangled by the facility’s security systems. Will you be among them?

The PS4 will be the second PlayStation platform Nnooo has developed for.

“It’s exciting to be developing for a new generation of consoles,” said Nic Watt, Creative Director at Nnooo. “We’re delighted to get early access to PS4 development kits so we can get our games on the console as quickly as possible.”

Nnooo is currently developing a new game which is expected to be released across multiple platforms, including the PS4 and PS Vita.

“We’re still at an early stage of development of our new game,” said Watt. “We don’t want to announce anything until we are more advanced with the project. Hopefully we’ll be able to say something about it around the middle of the year.”

Most definitely one to keep an eye on. We will bring you more detail as they hit.

2K and 2K Marin, makers of BioShock 2, reveal The Bureau: XCOM Declassified will be released on August 20, 2013 in North America and August 23, 2013 internationally on the Xbox 360, PS3 and PC. XCOM: Enemy Unknown, developed by Firaxis Games, dazzled turn-based strategy fans and rebooted the classic franchise. Now The Bureau will deliver a new experience within the XCOM universe.

The year is 1962, JFK is President and the Cold War has the nation gripped by fear – but a far more powerful and insidious enemy than communism is threatening America. Known only to a select few, a top-secret government unit called The Bureau begins investigating and concealing a series of mysterious attacks by an otherworldly enemy.

As special agent William Carter, players call the shots, pull the trigger and lead their squad in a gripping third-person tactical shooter set within a high-stakes, covert war to protect humanity. The Bureau has been erasing the truth for decades. The time will come for the truth to be revealed.

Set in 1962 at the height of the Cold War, The Bureau tells the origin story of the clandestine XCOM organisation’s first encounter with a mysterious and devastating enemy. Originally established as America’s covert defense against the Soviet Union, The Bureau must adapt and overcome a threat unlike anything the world has faced before. As special agent William Carter, players will call the shots and pull the trigger, leading their squad of agents in the high-stakes secret war for humanity’s survival. Paramount to repelling the outside threat is The Bureau’s ability to cover-up the enemy’s existence in order to prevent worldwide panic.

“We’re thrilled about 2K Marin’s refined vision for The Bureau: XCOM Declassified,” said Christoph Hartmann, president of 2K. “The game has evolved through a creative and iterative development process, and the result is a narrative-driven experience that is smart, engaging, and challenges players to think tactically.”

“The Bureau tells the story of XCOM’s mysterious beginnings,” said Morgan Gray, creative director at 2K Marin. “We’re expanding the universe with a declassified tale of government conspiracy and heroic cover-ups told through third-person tactical gameplay.”

In the spirit of the XCOM franchise, The Bureau’s calculated combat design requires players to think and act tactically. The game’s third-person perspective gives the player a sense of spatial awareness and grants them the freedom to transition in and out Carter’s unique Battle Focus ability seamlessly – heightening the tactical shooter action. The Bureau also fully embraces the concept of permanent consequence. As our last line of defense, every command can mean the difference between life and death for Carter, his squad and mankind.

“The team has been working hard to leverage core XCOM elements like tactical decision-making and permanent death of squad mates in a purposeful way that makes this a unique tactical shooter,” added Gray. “To that end, The Bureau will challenge players unlike any other third-person tactical shooter.”

The Bureau: XCOM Declassified can be pre-ordered today at all participating retailers. Those who pre-order will receive the Codebreakers side-mission as a bonus. In this special campaign side-mission, a communications facility responsible for intercepting and interpreting the enemy’s transmissions has gone dark. Special Agent Carter and his squad must make contact with any remaining personnel and investigate the incident.

The multiplayer video gives the first view of the legendary Indianapolis Motor Speedway Circuit in-game, the iconic venue which is the world’s largest sporting spectator facility and has been the spiritual home of American motorsport for over a century.

The trailer also reveals the game’s livery editor in action, which features up to six billion different design combinations so players can stamp their own identity online. Game modes including Checkpoint racing in Paris and street racing in Chicago are shown alongside RaceNet’s extensive suite of social features in the video.

GRID 2’s multiplayer game mode will offer an entirely distinct progression system, separate from career mode, which promises to offer depth, choice and flexibility powered by RaceNet, (www.racenet.com), the free online extension for Codemasters Racing games. Players will be served regular new objectives, matched with rivals and be rewarded for progress as the best in modern online gaming comes to the racing genre. RaceNet can be accessed on a player’s desktop, tablet or mobile device and will have dedicated apps set to release around launch.

All 25 tracks are original creations from the group Power Glove, find the full list of them below:

- Rex Colt
- Blood Dragon Theme
- HELO-73
- Warzone
- Moment of Calm
- Dr Elizabeth Darling
- Power Core
- Protektor
- Sloan
- Sloan’s Assault
- Blood Scope
- Combat I
- Combat II
- Combat III
- Katana
- Omega Force
- Nest
- Rex’s Escape
- Love Theme
- Sleeping Dragon
- Warcry
- Cyber Commando
- Death of a Cyborg
- Resurrection
- Blood Dragon Theme

You can preorder the soundtrack now!

The £89.99 GBP special edition, and was widely criticised following its announcement in January. Following this the publisher quickly apologised, telling fans that “we sincerely regret this choice” and promising that “we are committed to making sure this will never happen again.”

This may have appeared to indicate that as the whole thing was a mistake that they wouldn’t proceed in selling this bundle of grotesque but that assumption would be wrong as the Zombie Bait Edition has found itself in UK and Australian shops.

Given that gaming is trying to improve its image in the general media and appeal to a wider audience, surely this type of thing going on sale is just a big mistake and the only people this will appeal to people who are happy to have dismembered bodies on display, which frankly is kinda weird.

Dead Island: Riptide goes on sale in the UK this Friday, April 26, a launch trailer dropped today.