While the Wii continues its crusade of offering to anyone with some spare cash and the know-how to find one easy fun, the games themselves still seem to be trying to achieve some level of "innovation legitimacy" by using the Wii-mote in all manners possible. The mini-game has been overdone and we're quite aware how easy it is to morph the Wii-mote into a make shift firearm, the final obvious controller surrogate is as a fishing pole Sega Bass Fishing tries to offer what seems like a straightforward idea with an aquatic twist.

Context is king, and it does wonderful service in putting the game into perspective. Sega Bass Fishing is an already existing franchise dating back to the earlier days of the Dreamcast. While there have been no new additions to speak of until now, the game feels eerily dated and almost as if it was ported directly from the Dreamcast. Where is that all-important shine job? No matter. The Wii-mote is the main attraction here - this is why we revisit the bass fishing experience, but too quickly we see the game offers little incentive for continued playing.

There are four different modes to choose from: Arcade, Tournament, Practice and Nature Trip. Arcade mode offers stand-alone levels and a fish quota to meet; Tournament is for extended play, with deeper challenges in prolonged fishing competition; Practice and Nature Trip are almost identical, as they bare the same principle of being easygoing, with practice having a slightly faster time frame to accommodate the different times of day.

I spent most of my tome in Arcade mode where the goal is to catch lots of big fish in a very small amount of time. There is no option to customize our boat or character, you can only choose the type of lure you'd like to use. There are luckily a variety of lures to unlock through continued successful fishing, and they can be brightened in color for fish attraction and easier catches. The lures are divided into different depths of water, so you know exactly which ones to use to catch what fish.

Casting is done by flicking your Wii-mote forward and then lying in wait for a fish to take notice. Depending on the season chosen before the area's start and the time of day, different fish will present themselves at the different times for the chance to be snatched up. Once the fishing battle starts, you have to jerk the Wii-mote up and start reeling in with the Nunchuk, being aware of how hard the fish is fighting and what ways to move your rod.

Tournament has ten different rounds to go through, and poses artificial intelligence opponents in the guise of names on a leader board to beat. You can amass points by catching the most fish with the heaviest weights, and more difficult tournament cups will be unlocked after a successful romp through all ten areas.

At this point, I would go on to say how much fun I had catching Generic Fish A in Area B, or how much the environmental effects really caught my eye, or how the confrontations after the fish have been caught really immersed me in the world of fishing. If any of that were true, I'd be a happier person, and you would have a great fishing game to look forward to. However, again, context plays a part in quality: when you fail to innovate (or at the very least update) a rather dormant franchise, the result is a lazy attempt at trying to provide a better fishing experience that misses the mark on so many levels.

I think the main offender of the entire experience is the complete dismissal of immersive Wii-mote controls that the game seems to take for granted. This game's biggest draw should have been re-creating the fishing experience right in your own home. What the game ended up doing is failing to hit the immersion mark with any feature other than reeling in. You stay in the same prone spot for every area, with the same casting difference to the edge of the pond, with the same automatic cast that isn't affected by throw, strength or curve.

To further underline the biggest downfall the game has, not only was reeling in the fish the only bit of interactivity I could even remotely hang on to, the fact that even the larger fish in the pond provided little battle, or intensity in the catching process, was a major letdown. The prompts are given on the screen to make sure the very basic controls are followed, making the impossibility of failure seem to be more and more apparent. Reeling is done with the nunchuk and makes sure you appreciate the process of whipping your wrist back and forth, but it offers little in skill or improvement or depth for future fishing endeavors.

The complete lack of person or boat control is a real downer — with a handful of levels that come equipped with what feels like carbon-copy fishing holes, along with the odd structure thrown in to create an illusion of differentiation. With the Wii not in consideration for any graphics powerhouse awards to begin with, this game can only rank as a rundown shack in the backwoods of gaming visuals in the worst way possible. From pixilated environmental pieces to severe clipping issues (fish swimming through major pieces of geometry!), you'll almost feel lucky having to spend more time looking at the shadows the fish cast on the water than the minute drab differences between them all.

The water temperature is the only main factor influencing what fish will be where, even though the time of day plays a small part. Wanting some sort of AI model for the fish, allowing them to operate as separate beings based on their real-life habits is but a wish. With the four choices of season for each area, I wonder why they couldn't have even drawn some snow for the wintertime. I'm pretty sure a more dramatic change occurs deep in the woods by the time winter hits than a slight temperature change and darker color. I do stay indoors and game A LOT, but not quite enough as to forget what happens when snow falls on the ground. The almost indistinguishable features of all the seasons really drove home for me how many different ways the game cuts corners, and this style of development only hurts the player.

With little depth, non-existent customization, poor presentation, almost identical game modes (no real game over in arcade mode) and a shameful show of abysmal Wii-mote controls, there's really no point in talking about replayability. Enough core content has to be present to merit enough attention to try a game, let alone to come back again and again. Whether this game was a lazy update in the hopes of some quick cash, or if Sega really thought they were going to make a splash in the fishing genre with the momentum of the Wii behind this game, they failed on both accounts. Don't play this game unless you find the time to play Sega Bass Fishing on the Dreamcast. At least then the game will have an excuse to feel dated...