Fish Tycoon Review for the Nintendo DS (NDS)

System: DS	Review Rating Legend
Dev: Big Fish Games / Last Day of Work	1.0 - 1.9 = Avoid	4.0 - 4.4 = Great
Pub: Majesco	2.0 - 2.4 = Poor	4.5 - 4.9 = Must Buy
Release: Oct. 16, 2007	2.5 - 2.9 = Average	5.0 = The Best
Players: 1	3.0 - 3.4 = Fair
ESRB Rating: Everyone	3.5 - 3.9 = Good

The two main areas players will spend most of their time with are the aquariums where you run your operation and the fish store where you try to make your business thrive. Fish Tycoon transitioned from 2D to 3D in its move to the DS, which was a good thing for the most part. None of the graphics in either section are particularly amazing, but the aquarium is easily the most visually appealing area of the game.

Fish Tycoon screenshot

Your fish will swim around happily against a watery backdrop - complete with sand, rocks, plants, bubbles, and other to-be-expected features - which can be customized with different items. The music and constant bubbling sound is soothing, and there's a Zen-like quality about the aquarium. In contrast, the store is bright and colorful, yet visually underwhelming. Customers are goofy looking and extremely pixilated. It's unfortunate you have to sit and wait around in the store until they buy all of the fish on sale.

On the whole, the menu and on-screen button presentation feels extremely cramped. Even with the information spread between both screens, a lot of selection elements had to be crammed into a limited space on the smaller screen. Having to bounce between several different screens to access all the menu items can be a pain at times when previously the bulk the controls were neatly arranged on a single screen in the PC version. The stylus controls are intuitive and simple. You'll be tapping icons, nabbing fish to move them to different tanks, and grabbing and dragging the screen around to move the view. There is a slight learning curve to grasping the mechanics of fish breeding and running the business, but you shouldn't have any problems with the controls.

It's easy to get lost in the breeding and business aspect of the game, completely forgetting the overarching goal is to discover the seven magical fish of Isola. When players do stumble upon one of the magical species, the fish will bestow benefits to the other fish in its tank depending on which one you discover. The first magical fish comes fairly quickly and increases the fertility of other fish in its tank. The others are harder to discover but bestow bonus such as increased health, a need for less food, the ability for wilder mutations, and more. Over 750 different fish species combinations are possible - almost double the amount of the PC game. A constant need to purchase improvements for your tanks, research new technologies to sustain more exotic fish, and get useful items to boost your populations gives you other goals to work towards.

The underlying gameplay in Fish Tycoon on the DS is easily as good as its PC counterpart, and the ability to take your aquarium with you on the go should make picking up the handheld version a no-brainer for anyone who enjoyed the original. A few pacing issues, visual blips, and minor quirks with the menu presentation aren't a complete killjoy considering the rest of the game is rock-solid.

By Nathan Meunier
CCC Freelance Writer

Features:

A huge assortment of decorations make your tanks look nicer and help you sell more fish.

Based on the leading online and PC game from Big Fish Games that won the 2006 iParenting Media Award and ranked in the top 10 (for 41 straight weeks) among all best-selling casual games of 2006.

Brand new 3D environments in the DS version bring your fish tanks to life. Buy Fish Tanks, Decorations, Plants, Fish Eggs, Fish Food, and Medicine to enhance the aesthetic of your tank and attract more customers.

Enhance your dish with special plant types (nutrition, fertility, (no comma) or incubation), and chemicals (i.e. one chemical causes a growth burst, another temporarily boosts health while a third causes mutations).

Extensive use of the touch screen: use it to breed and feed fish, administer medicine, make purchases, decorate tanks, and much more.

Research environment, food, and advertising techniques to discover how to keep your rare fish healthy, feed more fish per feeding, and attract additional customers.

Set your own prices for specific fish based on prior sales and present needs.

Seven exclusive fish in the DS version, including the Clown Fish and Blue Tang. Yield nearly twice as many fish as the PC version - over 750 possible fish types. Mix and match your fish to create rare hybrids while searching for the genetic combination to each of the "Seven Magic Fish,"

Simulated real-time experience brings potential surprises every time you turn the game on. Choose from four speed options to dictate how time passes in game: Paused, Half Speed, Normal Speed, and Double Speed.

RATING OUT OF 5

RATING DESCRIPTION

3.4

Graphics
The new 3D visuals look good in some spots and not so good in others.

3.0

Control
Stylus-heavy controls work reasonably well, but the tight quarters and small buttons you have to tap get in the way.

3.5

Music / Sound FX / Voice Acting
Pleasant bubbling sounds and mellow music are actually quite calming.

4.0

Play Value
One you get past the initial slow pacing the game really blossoms as a solid fish breeding simulator.

3.6

Overall Rating - Good
Not an average. See Rating legend above for a final score breakdown.