"The little game that could"

When you think about your favorite game, nine out of ten times of you would probably think of a game from a popular franchise. Personally, my favorites have always been the dark horses, the little diamonds in the rough that no ones ever heard of, and Umihara Kawase is definitely one of these titles.

While originally released in japan, the game does not have much text (English nor Japanese) to really draw from. Simply put, Umihara Kawase is about a young girl trying to get from point A to point B with only a flexible fishing line to defend herself from various forms of marine life. While this may sound simple, the increasing difficulty of progressing levels will prove you wrong.

Visually the game is a mixed bag, while the level design and enemies (especially the bosses) look nice for Snes graphics, the main character you control simply doesn't. Also, the background for each stage is a still picture of a beach in japan, yet its colors are sort of muted and gray, which doesn't really flow with the cartoony coloring of the game.

Audio wise, its all works fine, while there really isn't any noteworthy tunes to speak of, there wasn't any that made me want to turn down the volume.

The gameplay is what truly makes this one of my favorites. Basically, the character you control has a fishing line which you can use for a number of applications. You can use this line to help you across gaps and other distances and you can also use it to reel in the enemies around you. This creates a fun and challenging experience for every single level. Also there are bosses that you meet after a certain amount of levels. Each of these bosses are different and defeating each of them is a truly unique experience. The only problem with this is that there only three bosses spanning the sum of about 50 some-odd levels, and you defeat the last one before the game is over which leaves you wanting more.

In spite of all its faults i would definitely recommend this game to any complaining about the lack of originality in games. I'd love to see this game make a comeback on the gba or even the ds. That way, maybe people wouldn't
have to dig so hard to find this little nugget of gold.

8/10

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 09/19/05