Fish Dude

"A small, addicting and fun action game. The king of time wasters!"

The name of the game may make you roll your eyes, but the gameplay will addict you faster than the time it took you to roll your eyes! Fish Dude is a fast action game that will put your dexterity to the test. If you like playing games on flights and/or road trips, this is definitely for you.

Story: N/A
The story of survival in nature doesn't have to be described in detail.

Gameplay: 8
You're a medium sized fish living in the ocean. Your task is to eat all the fish smaller than you while avoiding big fish that try to eat you. There are other predators you must watch out for, such as fishermen and other various creatures, but the big fish are your main enemy.

You press and hold A to open your mouth. You swim faster when your mouth is open, but after a while your mouth will close and you'll have to press and hold it again. When you grab ahold of a small fish, you must rapidly press A to chew and swallow it. If a big fish is near, you may get caught in the middle of a meal; there is no way to stop eating once you start. To make it even harder, big fish can open their mouth for just a sliiiiightly longer amount of time before they have to rest. If you can reach the surface of the water, you can jump up out of it, something only you can do. This is a great way to avoid big fish, but you may get caught by a fisherman's ship or another air breathing predator.

It is possible to actually eat a big fish if you bite it from behind when it's off guard, but it's EXTREMELY difficult.

There are nine levels in the first part of the game. Once you beat those, you get to play nine more ''special'' levels.

This game can get quite hard. For instance, the big fish seem to know how to teleport behind you right when you least expect it. This game keeps you on your toes like nothing else.

After every three levels, your fish grows and you swim out to deeper waters. You will get to eat the fish that used to be bigger than you, but there will be other fish that will still be bigger than you.

After you beat level 3, you'll be able to return to the last level you were at with a very simple password consisting of :: drum roll :: TWO LETTERS!!

Graphics: 8
Like the gameplay, the graphics are simple but good. There is good detail on all of the animals. The animation is also decent.

Sound/Music: 7
There aren't that many sound effects, but then again, there isn't a need for many. There's only the splash heard when you jump in and out of the water, the fish swallow sound effect and the stage beginning/ending effect. They are all good quality effects. The music sounds very fitting for undersea action, but the song that plays when you die sound wierd...it almost makes it seem like it's a good thing that you died.

Control: 10
You can swim in any direction and all you have to worry about is one button to eat and dash. Nothing wrong here.

Replay Value: 5
After you beat all the levels, you will most likely want a break. If you want, you can have fun challenging friends to beat a level in shorter amounts of time than you.

Bottom Line?
This game is a great buy if you can find it for a good price used. It's simple enough for kids to enjoy it and difficult enough for anyone older to enjoy it. Whether you want a quick, fun action game or you want something to keep you occupied on a boring trip, this game will fit the bill no matter what the case may be, which is why I give it an 8.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 09/04/01, Updated 09/04/01