Deadliest Catch: Alaskan Storm

"The Bering Sea's Finest"

For those of you who are fans of Discovery's Deadliest Catch documentary show, then you are no stranger to the action-packed lives of the brave crab fisherman that are depicted in this game. Deadliest Catch: Alaskan Storm, a game pioneered by Captain Sig and his brothers, focuses on giving the player a reasonably realistic look at the life of a Bering fisherman. However, the execution seems to have been rather poor and definitely could have done more than being just fan service for watchers of the show.

GAMEPLAY -10-

For the main career mode, the object is to pilot your own crab boat, either choosing one of the boats from the show (Northwestern, Cornelia Maria, Bering Star, Shellfish, Sea Star) or designing your own using their boats as templates. After that, you hire a crew, buy bait, pots and fuel and then head off to the crab grounds. The controls are pretty simple and do not take much time to get used to. The left thumbstick controls both the throttle and the rudder, while the trigger buttons allow you to talk with your crew or radio other boats. Using the Y-button, you can instantly get the crew to launch pots, retrieve pots, clear ice, or rest. The wheelhouse contains a plotter that allows you to mark your strings on the map and to instantly travel to various locations. It also has a handy crab survey that gives you the general locations of crab hot spots. Using all your tools, you set your pots and hope to reel in the money by the boat loads. All in all, the gameplay is a pretty good simulation of the crab fishing experience.

The game also boasts various minigames such as Hook-throwing, skiff racing, and search and rescue operations with the Coast Guard. Also, there is the ability to play online with other human fisherman, allowing the experience to be further enriched.

CONTROLS -7-

As described above, the buttons all serve very nice and succinct purposes for the gameplay. The main beef I had with the controls was that turning the ship can be slow and cumbersome, especially when trying to line up parallel to the pots that you are retrieving. However, this is probably realistic to the actual movement of boats.

GRAPHICS -3-

This is by far the biggest problem I have with this game. While the crab boat itself and the environments are decent, there are definitely better-looking games than this one out there, especially on the XBOX 360. The graphics seem very out of place in this modern visual era. The frame rate is alright, although there is some noticeable slow-down while fishing in stormy seas. The graphics just seem very rigid and "budget" at times. For example, instead of individual crabs falling out of the crab pots, there is a sort of "crab matrix" that just fills the sorting table with a brown blob of crabs. There are no animations of crabs being dropped in the tank, just of the pile disappearing while the crew's hands wave around.

The second and most annoying problem with the graphics is that all of the text and menus are in simply microscopic sizes. Anything other than a big-screen will just make your eyes bleed trying to read the text. Also, the game is in regular screen mode that does not format to fit the TV, leaving important text like Crab and Bait counts cut off on the side of the screen. It also makes the management of supplies at the dock difficult. I feel that the game was rushed or simply not enough money was put into the graphics budget. Very disappointing.

Summary : 6/10

If you are a Deadliest Catch fan, this game is worth at least a rent for sure, possibly a buy if you are diehard. However, wait for the price to drop from its high $60 release price. All in all, this game is a good sim and provides lots of replay ability to further your crab fishing career. Give it a try if you like the show!

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 06/23/08

Game Release: Deadliest Catch: Alaskan Storm (US, 06/17/08)