Super Dynamite Fishing

As someone who has never been fishing, I can’t help feeling that this cartoony title has left me with unrealistic expectations should I ever risk losing 3G signal long enough to dangle my rod in public.

If the idea of a more direct fishing tactic appeals, you’ll be pleased to hear that Super Dynamite Fishing offers exactly what the title promises, but not a great deal more, sadly.

The aim is to help redneck hero Joe win the affections of Rosie, and what better way of doing so than by reducing the population of the nearby waters?

For each fish you kill, you are rewarded with more funds to upgrade your boat and weapons, and to purchase presents for wooing Rosie.

The main game mechanic is simple enough. With the Xperia Play's pad part tucked in, you tilt the phone to move the boat and then swipe your finger along the screen to send a dynamite stick flying in the right direction. Any fish unfortunate enough to get caught in the blast will float belly up for you to collect.

With the Xperia Play pad popped out, the touchscreen is relieved of control duties, and suddenly the D-pad (or left touchpad) moves the boat left and right. Swiping the right touchpad, meanwhile, makes Joe throw a dynamite stick overboard.

Switching weapons is now mapped out to the face buttons, which is a slight improvement. But in a rare loss in the touchscreen vs gamepad battle, the latter doesn’t feel quite as consistent with throws as swiping the touchscreen.

It’s something we’ve come up against a few times on Xperia Play when dealing with ports of games designed originally for regular Android devices. Whenever I encounter a game that has had talented designers going out of their way to simplify the control mechanism to work well on a touchscreen, the more conventional controls that result from the porting process leave me feeling a little on the hollow side.

In any case, it doesn’t really affect the main issue with Super Dynamite Fishing, which is that, despite being brilliant fun in small doses, the gameplay is too samey to stand up to extended sessions.

It’s a pity, because the game’s presentation is spot on. The colourful cartoon graphics are appealing and set the tongue-in-cheek tone beautifully. The soundtrack is perfect, too, with the hillbilly ditties stuck in my head long after putting the phone down.

With an ad-supported free version available, there’s every reason to find out whether Joe’s unusual fishing methods are for you.

It may be a one-trick pony, but it’s a well presented one, Super Dynamite Fishing is unquestionably fun in short bursts, even if the Xperia Play controls don’t enhance the experience a great deal.