Sportsmad.com is an internet based arcade games site where you canplay golf, boxing, fishing, cricket, football, Grand Prix racing, andtennis.
Like all the games FishingMad has a short freeplay version, or youcan pay for credits in order to be able to play the full version andget a chance to win weekly prizes. You have to register before youcan play either. They offer the freeplay versions of their games towebsites in exchange for driving traffic to them and pay a smallcommission if the players go on to the pay-to-play versions.
They have the ‘latest news’ on the site for each sport and thefishing news is dated 19th February and was taken fromAnglingtimes.com which, as we know, fell in and drowned some timeago.
Nor could I find any information about how much the credits costto allow you play the full versions. Maybe you have to registerbefore they tell you that.
Right, so what’s the fishing game all about?
It involves the basic principles and skills in fishing. Youchoose bait, select the right size of hook to go with the bait youhave chosen, and then select the strength of line you wish touse.
What do you have to do?
Well, after you have had a good look around the lake, you chooseyour swim.
You then cast to your chosen spot or to the fish you can see onthe screen. The accuracy of your cast is important and this isachieved by using your mouse or space bar, and then look at thecasting bar on the right hand side of the screen. Effective castingcan be achieved quite easily.
Now comes the difficult part, you hook your fish and you need tokeep the correct amount of tension on the line or the hooked fishwill either break the line or foul you up in one of the many weedbeds.
Try as I could, I could not get the hang of this at all. As aresult I kept losing the fish I managed to hook. (Just like reallife, I hear you say). The more I did it the more frustrated I got,again, just like the real thing.
In order to get a ‘younger perspective’ I employed the help of mytwo sons, aged 13 and 10. Surprise, surprise, they found nodifficulty at all. They selected all the big gear, cast to the bigfish and hooked and landed them successfully. This caused muchamusement with both of them giving me advice and shouting, “this isjust like when you take us fishing dad, you’re pants, you fish like aspoon and we always thrash you.”
Conclusion
A challenge for the over 40’s who do not seem able to get togrips with computer games. Younger people will soon get the feel ofthe game and so the challenge will fade quite soon. However, theneed to compete with others may create additional challenges.
