Ninja Fishing is a unique game that mashes together several of the most popular gameplay styles found on the Appstore today.  What makes it so unique? It works well and it’s fun.  We could tell that the developers of this game were ambitious, yet they wanted to keep a simplistic gameplay model that allows for short, enjoyable sessions.

Ninja fishing falls into the category of what many would refer to as a casual game because it involves the same thing over and over again.  This may turn you off, but this is exactly what kept us coming back.  The gameplay involves a ninja who drops his line into crowded waters and at first tries to avoid as many fish as possible.  This is the first gameplay element that is similar to many accelerometer based games that are constantly rising to the top of the Appstore charts. To avoid the many fish, you tilt your device left and right to navigate your hook into deeper and deeper waters.  The further down you go, the better fish you see.  Your line also has a drill that allows you to penetrate through fish if you just can’t avoid them. This has a limited amount of use so you can’t just drill down to the bottom every time.  At the bottom of each decent there is a treasure chest and the first goal is to hook that chest.  However, once your hook catches anything, then it immediately begins to reel back up at a fast pace.  

This is where the second element of the game comes in.  All of those fish that you first avoided, you now want to hook on the way up.  At first your line can carry a maximum of 25 fish, but you can upgrade which we will cover later in this review.  Once you reach the limit or the surface, you then have reached the next element of the game (as if you weren’t already ‘hooked’.).  

The camera pans to the sky and your fish are then thrown into the air where you must cut each one in half to get credit for the catch.  The smaller fish only take one swipe, while the larger fish take much more.  Not to worry though, you can upgrade your equipment later on.  Now, this may sound like you should just haphazardly swipe across the screen which wouldn’t be very fun or challenging.  However, every so often a bomb is released and if you touch it, your turn ends.  

You are then taken back to the menu where it shows you any new fish you captured and how much gold each is worth.  You get trophies for each fish to keep track of what you have caught.  This is where the fourth and final element of the game comes in where you upgrade your equipment based on the amount of gold you collected.  The upgrades include a longer line, longer drill time, more money for fish, etc.  Each tool has multiple levels to upgrade which really extends the life of the game.

The menus are easy to navigate, the controls are simple to use (including brief tutorials), the gameplay is simplistic, and the entire package makes for short, enjoyable experiences.  The game is only for one player although you could take turns seeing who gets the highest score or most amount of goal in a single cast.  About the only negative thing we had to say about Ninja Fishing was the inclusion of some unnecessary mild cartoon-based violence when you drill through and cut the fish.  When you drill through a fish, you see a red cloud that we see as a lost opportunity to create a funny animation of splitting a fish in half.  In the fish cutting portion, you cut each of the fish in half which results in a cartoony sequence that isn’t too objectionable.

All in all, we enjoyed playing Ninja fishing because it includes so many gameplay elements in one package.  If you don’t have any problem with the mild-animated fish violence, we recommend you pick it up and start racking up those fish trophies now.

- MICHAEL STROUD