Fish One, Fish Two, Fish Fun, Fish You!

(written by guest author Tim Giron. follow Tim on Twitter @timgiron)

Fish-Fun-Logo-FINAL First off, let me state that I am a big fan of 99 Games. Their games WordsWorth, Wordulous and Chess Elite have been favorably reviewed here (two of them by me; like I said, a fan). So, when I heard that they had a new game out called Fish Fun, I headed over to the App Store and snapped it up on the first day (OK, in the interest of disclosure, it was on sale for free that first day to celebrate their one year anniversary in the App Store). The App Store imagery depicts a big fish going after a smaller fish, so I was ready for some fast-swimming, fish-chomping action. The actual game is way more subdued than that, though it does still have some cool elements.

You start off playing either the Dude or Queen fish, using the accelerometer to move around, avoiding the bigger fish and going after the smaller ones. There is an option to tap on the edges of the screen instead of the tilt-to-move, but I found it extremely hard to maneuver in that mode. Since the screen is oriented as a side view, I started playing with the phone oriented like I was looking into an aquarium. I noticed that the game info mentioned that it is better to hold the phone parallel to the floor; this felt awkward at first, but it is definitely easier to score that way.

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There are four power ups that enhance the game play (you start with two of them and earn the other two along the way). Speed and Scramble are available at the start of the game. With Speed, your fish moves twice as fast for a limited amount of time and with Scramble, all of the other fish move out of the way for a moment. Each is a single use to be repowered at certain point levels.

Three mini games are included for quick fun. Tap, Gulp and Loop can be accessed from the main menu and are also interspersed as bonus rounds in regular play. The most challenging one of these, Loop, is also the one I found the most fun: draw a loop around as many similar sea creatures as possible while avoiding the others.

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Kids will probably find this game highly enjoyable (especially while they search for the ever popular Clown Fish to gobble up). It takes very good hand-eye coordination to achieve the higher scores, which will unlock more fish and more types of power ups. There is an Aqua Mode that makes the display look more like water. A cool feature indeed, but on a 3G device it slows the frame rate way down.

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The developers have also included a Challenge mode to allow you to play against friends on Facebook and others in your contacts list. Online leaderboards let you compare your scores against the Fish Fun elite! At 99 cents [iTunes], the game is attractively priced.

November 7, 2009 | Filed Under Games, Guest Authors 

Comments

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  • 99Games

    Thanks a lot for another great review Tim! We're pleased to know that you enjoy our games. Yeah, Fish Fun is a fun, casual game which you can play at anytime. Besides 'Speed' and 'Scramble', the other two power ups are 'Poison' which poisons the other fishes in the pond and 'Shield' which forms a shield around the fish. Adding to the underwater fun are the Mini-games which provide you some quick points as well as a break from the main game play.

    Do let us know if you have some suggestions to improve the game. Have fun with the game!

    Cheers!!!

  • 99Games

    Thanks a lot for another great review Tim! We're pleased to know that you enjoy our games. Yeah, Fish Fun is a fun, casual game which you can play at anytime. Besides 'Speed' and 'Scramble', the other two power ups are 'Poison' which poisons the other fishes in the pond and 'Shield' which forms a shield around the fish. Adding to the underwater fun are the Mini-games which provide you some quick points as well as a break from the main game play.

    Do let us know if you have some suggestions to improve the game. Have fun with the game!

    Cheers!!!