Argh, fish be the primary source of food of all pirates. When we be tired of potatoes and meat, we often try to cast out our lines and collect some fish from mother ocean. Aye, o’ course we be limited when it comes to flavor, we’re not a spice ship after all. It is nice to have a great fish meal every blue moon, especially after a ragin’ storm on the ocean. O’ course, it got me to wonderin’ just what fish have to go through just to survive the wild ocean before them. This is probably why I be strangely charmed by Fish Party Online.
If there’s a phrase which can describe this game the best, it would be ‘the survival of the fittest’. In Fish Party Online, your task is to help your little fish survive in the hostile environments of the ocean, where deep and dark predators lurk.
The Graphics of the vast ocean
A little tidbit before starting off; water was always impossible to render during the early days of video games. However, water has come a very long way from the roots it spawned from, and now, it isn’t just about making it blue. For a great reference just check out Bethesda’s Skyrim and look at how the water reacts in that game.
On Fish Party Online though, the rendering of the water is just right. For an app game, this title seems to try to appeal to everyone it can. The little fish eats up the tinier fish with sharp teeth, without having to make it gory. Everything in the game seems to look like cel-shaded animation, which is actually a nice touch because the effect has always been pretty. If you remember the Sly Cooper series, you should have a good idea on how cel-shading works.
The Gameplay
In this game, there are two main modes you can play, but both seem a little light on substance. The first is Pacisfish, wherein you have to be clever to survive. Your aim is to avoid as many giant fish as you can while collecting a ton of items. It gets intriguing after a while, especially when they start getting faster and faster. During this mode, you aren’t allowed to fight back, so your only real choice is to survive the onslaught while being as clever as Nemo’s Dad while fighting off the sharks.
The second game mode is called Stay Alive, and the purpose is to eat as many fish as you can. It really is survival of the fittest with a little evolution spliced in. The more fishes you eat, the bigger you get, and eventually, the predators will just be another food source for you. The gameplay isn’t exactly ground breaking, and the addition of the iAS doesn’t really give you an advantage either.
The Verdict
Your kids will probably love this game because of the cute aesthetic and the simple gameplay. While it is a good pastime for a while, it probably won’t entertain you for too long. However, make sure that you don’t try the online aspect of the title because it is buggy as hell and doesn’t really connect to wherever it needs to connect. So, in short, the kids might like this game, but for adults it can get really thin very fast.
