Ridiculous Fishing
| Ridiculous Fishing: A Tale of Redemption |
|
|---|---|
 |
|
| Developer(s) | Vlambeer |
| Publisher(s) | Vlambeer |
| Producer(s) | Rami Ismail |
| Designer(s) | Jan Willem Nijman |
| Programmer(s) | Zach Gage |
| Artist(s) | Greg Wohlwend |
| Composer(s) | Eirik Suhrke |
| Platform(s) | iOS, Android |
| Release date(s) |
iOS
|
| Genre(s) | Action, sports |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
| Aggregate score | |
|---|---|
| Aggregator | Score |
| Metacritic | 91/100 |
| Review scores | |
| Publication | Score |
| Edge | 9/10 |
| Eurogamer | 8/10 |
| IGN | 8.0/10 |
| Pocket Gamer | 9/10 |
| TouchArcade |  |
Ridiculous Fishing: A Tale of Redemption is a mobile fishing video game where players use motion and touch controls to catch fish and subsequently shoot them out of the sky for cash. The game is known for its developers' battle against a cloned version of their game released by another company. The game was developed and published by Vlambeer—Rami Ismail and Jan Willem Nijman—and released for iOS on March 13, 2013, and later that year for Android.
Players cast a fishing line into the ocean and use motion controls to avoid fish as the hook sinks and to catch as many fish as possible as the reel retracts. Players then touch the screen to shoot fish out of the sky for money that can be spent on upgrades. Nijman developed the idea during a television show about tuna fishermen. The game was first released as Flash game Radical Fishing with the same basic mechanics. A year after Vlambeer began their iOS development, Gamenauts released Ninja Fishing, a clone of the game that hurt Vlambeer morale. The team worked on other games and spoke publicly about the situation to a standing ovation at the 2012 Game Developers Conference before resolving to scrap the majority of their work and finish the game. Artist Greg Wohlwend moved in with iOS developer Zach Gage to work 14-hour days on the game.
Ridiculous Fishing received "near-universal perfect scores" at launch—what review score aggregator Metacritic describes as "universal acclaim". It won an Apple's 2013 Design Award and was their iPhone game of the year. Reviewers noted Vlambeer's struggle against the copy of their game and praised the game's balance and both visual and game design.
The player fishes in pursuit of fame as a fisherman named Billy. The game mechanics are "three tightly-woven minigames in one": casting the fishing line, catching fish, and shooting the fish in the air. The player casts the line and tilts the device to avoid the fish as the hook sinks. Upon hooking a fish, the hook ascends and the player tilts the device to catch as many fish as possible en route to the surface. Above water, the fish are launched into the air, and the player taps the screen to shoot the fish out of the sky to earn money before they fall into the water. The fish differ in characteristics including swim pattern and the number of shots required to cash in. The jellyfish shot detract from the total income. There are four stages, each with its own visual and audio theme and rare fish, and an endless mode where players can work towards the highest score. Earnings can be spent in a store towards persistent upgrades such as longer fishing line length, invulnerable drills, frivolous hats, bigger guns,chainsaw lures, a hair dryer and toaster (to zap inadvertent catches), fuel for the chainsaw, and a necktie for greater income. There is also a Fish-o-pedia in Billy's smartphone that gives gameplay hints and tracks stats such as fish caught, which is the progress for unlocking new levels. There are no in-app purchases.
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Wikipedia