Looking at other reviews of the fishing game Bassmasters, it got a few high scores, but then IGN gave it a 3.1. Quickly reading a few of them, I think I know why: IGN had played In-Fisherman Bass Hunter 64, while the others haven’t. This feels like a very primitive game after Bass Hunter, from the graphics to how the game works.

The biggest issue with Bassmasters is finding fish, a task even more difficult than in Bass Hunters. The problem is that you can’t see them from above the water, due to the water being a mostly opaque, flat texture. The fish finder also feels useless in the game, as it would detect fish, but when using the underwater view (which you can’t use while driving the boat), there would be none in sight.

The one time I did get close to a fish, it felt entirely unresponsive. It doesn’t react to the lure, it just casually swims through it and attaches. Then it never seems to fight, there’s no pulling involved, the fish doesn’t jump out of the water, it just strangely glides towards the boat. You’ll get a much more realistic and involving fishing experience from Ocarina of Time. Oh, and the one fish I did find wasn’t a bass, so it didn’t count.

There are a few bonus modes, such as a casting minigame where you have to aim for moving rings, and one where you fish from shore. Here, there are fish nearby, but even then it’s a massive pain to aim for them (as you can’t see any of them), and they don’t move around that much or react to the lure. This would have been a poor game on its own, but after Bass Hunter 64 (and the minigame in Ocarina of Time), this is just atrocious.

Worst

Remake or remaster?

There are better fishing games.

Official Ways to get the game

There’s no official way to play Bassmasters 2000.