PALGN writes: "Welcome to PALGN's WiiWare Review Round-Up. At the start of every month, this article will be dedicated to reviewing the WiiWare titles that have been released during the past month on the Wii Shop Channel and give our verdict as to whether they are worth a download or not. To access our archive of reviews for every other title available for download from the WiiWare service."
Cocoto Fishing Master on the PlayStation 2 is a much more enjoyable experience than Cocoto Fishing Master on WiiWare, as a single element of the control scheme redeems the entire package here on Sony's hardware. The game is still a simple experience without a ton of depth, as its levels and characters become repetitive as you play through Cocoto's quest – but while it's not an amazing game in the end, having a control scheme that actually works makes this budget-level fishing adventure at least worth a look.
So Cocoto Fishing Master does hold some depth, and, on a visual level, would certainly seem to be worth the relatively meager sum of seven dollars. But the control scheme kills any potential this package would have had, as the nearly unplayable implementation of Wii Remote motion control will block the vast majority of players from progressing past even the very first stage. The Wii is still waiting, then, for a truly worthwhile fishing game experience. This one's just more frustration.
Presentation - 6.5
Graphics - 6.5
Sound - 6.0
Gameplay - 3.0
Lasting Appeal - 5.5
Overall -
Cocoto's a nicely designed game visually, at least, and the characters have a little bit of charm to them, but it doesn't play as well as a minigame that launched with the Wii well over a year ago. It's best thrown back in the water. Cocoto can bore you into thinking you're having a good time, but it's a poorly executed game that's been done much better before elsewhere.
You'll love:
- First few levels pleasant enough
- Nicely designed visually
- Charming characters
You'll hate:
- Controls don't feel right
- Not even a basic tutorial
- Ponderous boat movement
