Fishing games are one of the bigger portions in the routine school lunch that is the Wii library. Realistic ones, unrealistic ones, some with controller shells to add to your pile of Wii accessories… and at the tail end of the system’s life, they keep coming. XSeed’s Fishing Resort, developed by Prope (Let’s Tap) tries to spice things up by letting you do some things that aren’t just fishing, and they do add a cute Japanese touch to an otherwise bland genre, but it still has trouble standing out.
The point of Fishing Resort is to let you do whatever you want — as long as it’s related to fishing. Your customized character arrives at the Hotel Fishing Resort and, after a control tutorial, can either keep fishing, take a run down the shore, or go back to the hotel and sign up for special events. Don’t expect a Skyrim level of freedom, though — you’re bounded by all sorts of paths and walls, and you still need to keep fishing and be good at it. The game opens up bit by bit, and in a couple of in-game days, you can freely check out of the hotel and visit the neighboring resort, and many more all across the island are unlocked as you build your collection of catches.