REEL FISH'N & RICH TAUBER'S BASS CHAMP
Bubba Lee! Pass me a chaw of that Red Man, and get me a DOS prompt!" "Shoot yeah, Jim Boh! Nothing like a Saturday at the lake with your favorite reel." "Unless it's a Friday afternoon at work with your favorite fishin' simulation." "Ain't the same, but I'll admit there's a couple of programs out there worth lookin' at. Jim Bob, which one do you cotton to?"
"Reel Fish'n, Bubba, no question 'bout it. It's the only one I've seen comes close lo recreating the real thing on a computer. It's got it all: plenty of lures, good graphics, and, most of all, technique."
"Don't get too highfalutin with me. But I know what you mean. You can jig, you can bottom bounce, you can control your lure pretty much like you would at a real pond."
"The thing looks good, too, Bubba. Plenty of lakes, plenty of detail on the water, plenty of good spots to look for bass."
"To tell the truth, Jim Bob, I had some trouble steerin’ the boat at first, but once I got that down it was smooth sailin’ all the way. I like findin’ the right structure or stickup—all those tree stumps, weeds lily pads. You just know there’s a lunker among ‘em."
"Those guys put some thought into this thing. The screen gives you a good view of water you’re fishin’. A smaller window shows you the depth and speed of your lure during the retrieve."
"That window’s where the bass shows up, Jim Bob."
"Or don't show up, the way I've been fishin' lately."
"Don't feel like the Lone Ranger."
"But when those fish do strike, you've got a pretty fair chance of catching 'em, Bubba Lee. The nudge and tug that a real bass gives is simulated pretty good here, with a combination of fast visual feedback and a soft clicking sound. You've got about as much time to set your software hook as you would the real thing. And they're just as hard to land."
"All this fun has a price, though, Jim Bob. You gotta pay for all that fishin'. That takes some patience in the beginning. You have to pick what days you want to work and what days you want to fish. The more you work, the more money you have to put into your fishing equipment. Like that purple worm it looks like I'm going to have to replace."
"Don't tell me you snagged my worm! Good gosh, man, where'd you learn to fish?"
"Not on Rich Tauber's Bass Champ, that's for sure. That thing's as lively as last week's bait."
"Hey, now—they had good intentions, Bubba. The folks down at Shadowfax take their fishing just as serious as them fellers down at Interstel. It's the software that lets you down."
"Yeah, you're right, Jim Bob. I guess I'm still mad at losing that lure. But you know, that Bass Champ game doesn't really have what I'd call firstclass graphics. The first time I booted it up, I couldn't tell my rod from my boat. It's more a text adventure than a simulation."
"Where they do shine is in the number of lakes they offer. 'Course, you got to pay extra for them. But, unlike Reel Fish'n, the lakes in Bass Champ are real places: Lake Mead, Toledo Bend, Truman Lake."
"I have no doubt about that, Jim Bob, but the lakes look more like the 15th level of Arkanoid than they do a natural body of water."
"The game does lack the natural feel that Reel Fish'n has, for sure, Bubba Lee. Instead of casting with your mouse, settin' your hook with a pull, reelin’ and runnin' with a twist of your wrist, you press the F key to flip your lure, the S key to set your hook, and then you wait and see if you've been lucky enough to pull in a state record."
"Yeah, it just seems you're bound by software parameters, rather than by your fishing skill."
"What it comes down to is that Reel Fish'n is interactive, and Bass Champ is passive. And bassin' ain't a passive sport."
"Nah—it just looks that way to folks on shore."
"Right. You know Bubba, I guess the Bass Champ folks just got stuck on some DOS hooks."
"Oh, that's bad, Jim Bob, But we oughta give ‘em credit for those realistic fish you see on the screen."
"Yeah. First time a fish ever talked to me."
"I for one am darned glad fish don't talk, Jim Bob."
"You're tellin' me, 'Course, you got that rooster in ReelFish'n. He sounds like the crack of dawn for sure. At least on the Amiga version."
"Yeah, but I've been playin’ the IBM version. On my game, that rooster sounds awful foul."
"I can't believe you said that, Bubba Lee."
"I owed you one, Jim Bob."
"Speaking of owing, you owe me a buck eighty-five for that worm."
"You'll get it. Just pass me a crankbait and one of them there Slim Jims. We gonna fish or cut bait?"
KEITH "JIM BOB"FERRELL AND PETER "BUBBA LEE"SCISCO
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REEL FISH'N Amiga—$44.95 Atari ST—S44.95 IBM PC and compatibles—$44.95 INTERSTEL |
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RICH TAUBER'S BASS CHAMP IBM and compatibles—$39.95 Macintosh—$49.95 Toledo Lakes disk—$14.95 Lake Mead disk—$14.95 Truman Lake disk—$14.95 All three available for $39.95. SHADOWFAX SOFTWARE 2005 W. Culver Ave. Suite 19 Orange, CA 92668 (714)937-1661 (800) 333-3225 |