The Fisherman - Fishing Planet Review

An All-in-One, complete version of the F2P original.

Four years have passed since we were introduced to the f2p classic Fishing Planet. Since it's inception Fishing Planet has added ample amounts of additional content. While new content is almost always a welcome addition, sometimes it can be hard to keep up with everything that has come out. To make sure players can enjoy all that content in one complete package, developers Fishing Planet LLC has teamed up with publisher Bigben Interactive to bring you The Fisherman - Fishing Planet. It's not just old content in a new wrapper, The Fisherman also includes a new map, new technique and 4 more additional species of fish. So whether this is your first go at Fishing Planet or you are a long time player we'll check out what you can expect and some differences between the two versions beyond just the name.

Let's start off the top with what is probably the largest change, going from f2p to a traditional style game. For Fishing Planet veterans, things like money and xp gain in The Fisherman is on par with having a permanent premium account. Free-2-Play games do often have a reputation of being a bit of a grind, with good reason, but with the increased gain rates in The Fisherman that isn't much of an issue. So that leaves one other important aspect to sort out, the included DLC. While you won't be paying any additional real money for them, you will be spending in game coins to unlock these DLC materials. It will take work though, so be prepared to do plenty of fishing to get them.

Staying with the f2p vs traditional model idea a tad longer, what in this conversion works and what may need a little fine tuning. With its roots in f2p there are ample money sinks built into the game. Equipment, travel, licenses, it all costs in game currency. Even things like gear degradation are meant help take money out of the system and maybe entice you to spend real money for more favorable earning rates. With that kind of "dilemma" removed in this stand alone edition it does make one wonder if the in game currency system is really needed at all. There already is a level system required to even be able to purchase items.

Does equipment degrade over time in real life? Sure, but not nearly at in game rates. In 40 years the only fishing equipment that ever broke on me was either during transport or storage. I fully understand why these things were included in the f2p model for Fishing Planet but with the upfront pricing of The Fisherman it doesn't make as much sense. Increasing how much money is earned does mostly ease that pain and admittedly maybe it is a nitpick on my part, but repackaging the game the way they have was also an opportunity to retool/revamp some aspects as well rather than doing things the easiest way.

It's not that only area that could have really used some improvement. Having controller support is always nice, but there is a lot left to be desired. Trying to aim your cast with a controller is mostly worthless. The aim moves with a real bluntness to it and lacks any real fine movement. Trying to buy from the shop is also more difficult than it needs to be with a controller. This comes from a lack of highlighting of which item is being selected and caused a few unintended buys before I eventually just used the mouse exclusively for the shop. Finally, not having any sort of feedback in the controller is disappointing. Not feeling any feedback for strikes or reeling in a big one makes everything seem flat. There is a lot of aspects of fishing that require feel that add to the overall experience that you may not think about till they are not there. While this may have always been the case with Fishing Planet, the repackaging/rebranding again seemed like the perfect opportunity to improve on this particular part of the game.

Now I might have sounded more negative than positive up to this point that doesn't mean that there aren't things to like about The Fisherman. While there is a ton of variety available in game, which is always a huge positive, my favorite aspect has to be the focus on trying to perform proper technique to catch fish. The gear matters as well. There isn't one lure that's going to catch them all. What it all adds up to is a feeling that what you do actually matters. You are an active participant in catching fish in a way most other games do not capture as accurately.

Overall, The Fisherman - Fishing Planet is quite a good game. My only real complaints are more wishes that they would have done a bit more to differentiate some of the systems between the two. That and of course better controller integration throughout, especially adding feedback. The game works though and if maybe the f2p model was a turn off to you before, then there is no reason not to give The Fisherman a go now. I often get asked on live streams which fishing game do I think is the best. Truth is that there is no one, best fishing game, but rather ones that maybe do certain aspects the best compared to others. For my money, The Fisherman - Fishing Planet gets the technique involved along with simply being able to locate the fish the best among it's contemporaries. It all will depend what you find more appealing but I know that I will continue to give The Fisherman plenty of play time for the foreseeable future.