There are two types of fishing. One is casual fishing which we normally do on the weekends with our friends and family and then there is commercial fishing where professional fishermen use professional boats and gear specially made for fishing. Fishing: Barents Sea is all about commercial fishing and is rather good at it. Astragon Entertainment is not a new name when it comes to simulation titles and after its PC debut, Fishing: Barents Sea has arrived on consoles as well in the form of a Complete Edition. This is our review of Fishing: Barents Sea – Complete Edition for consoles.
Fishing: Barents Sea starts with a brief tutorial where the game will teach you how you can drop lures and catch fish. Similar to most simulator and empire building games, you start off fresh in Fishing: Barents Sea. You get a barely moving boat from your grandad and start building your very own fishing business using it. However, the tutorial missions pay plenty of money and you can instantly afford some basic upgrades making your boat better and increasing the fishing process. Upgrading is crucial until you can get better boats in the game and without a better boat, you cannot expand your fishing business to reach its full potential.
You can play the game in both first-person and third-person mode. Certain mini-games are limited to first-person such as collecting your longlines, nets and gutting fish but driving can be done in both first and third-person mode. You can also move around your boat and play around with different activities on it. As you play the game and move on to better boats, you will also get the ability to hire some crew members which will gladly complete certain tasks for you. These crew members are not cheap however and you can only afford them after a good enough progress in the game and buying bigger boats will allow you to hire even more crew members thus allowing you to haul in even bigger catch every time you head out.
One of the most challenges things for me while playing Fishing: Barents Sea was understanding the controls. The thing is, there are not a lot of button assignments as the game relies on on-screen tabs which have to be selected to perform different functions. For example, if I want to turn on the boat’s lights or sound the horn, I will need to use the d-pad to navigate to the horn icon or the corresponding light icon and press X which is the select button to activate that specific function. The same thing works for other mechanics as well such as checking the onboard fish storage, activating sonar or turning on GPS for navigating the seas. However, once you have gotten the hang of it, it is really easy to play the game.
Probably the most fun part of fishing in Fishing: Barents Sea is after when you’ve caught the fish. After you’ve caught some fish, you can head to the back of your fishing boat and gut your catch. Ports accept both Gutted and Ungutted fish so it is mostly up to you whether you to gut the fish or not but it is a really fun part of the whole commercial fishing experience. Some ports pay more Gutted fish while some will pay more for Ungutted fish. It all boils down to your own playstyle and your preferences. If you want to skip the whole gutting process, you can but make sure you find a port that pays more for Ungutted fish.
Your boat plays a vital role in Fishing: Barents Sea. Since you will be spending days on the open seas, you will need to invest quite a lot in your boats. Your starting boat can be upgraded to a certain limit but soon you will start hitting weight loads and other limitations with your boat. You cannot go very far in the ocean with it as well because it does not come with a freezer and fish start decaying after 2 days so you will eventually need to purchase a new boat. New boats not only open new features that ease your game but also unlock more fishing methods. You can dock at ports around the world of Fishing: Barents Sea where you can upgrade your boat, fix it, purchase fuel and even purchase better boats if you’ve got enough cash. After every run, you will also be required to bait your lures again which can be done on the ports as well from the Fish Market.
You will find three fishing methods in the game. Longline fishing is unlocked right from the start. After certain progress and a new boat, you have access to Net Fishing and then finally you move on to the biggest fishing method known to the man known as commercial trawling. For this, you will need to purchase the biggest and the best boat in the game which is actually an officially licensed boat called the Hermes trawler. It takes a lot of grinding and time spent in the game to finally purchase this boat but once you’ve acquired it, you have access to everything in the game. You can stay on the water for days on it and it also catches the most amount of fish as well as crustaceans.
Commercial fishing is completely different from normal fishing. Here, there is no ‘instant catch’. After putting down your longlines and nets, you can move on to more locations to put down more lures or simply head back to the port. You must wait quite a lot of in-game time before you must head back and collect your catch. After waiting for a good catch, you can go back and collect the fish and gut them if you have to. If you don’t have freezers onboard your fishing boat, you will have to hurry back and deliver the fish or else they will start decaying. You will also need to watch out for your fuel or you will get stranded in the middle if you are out of fuel. Net Fishing and Trawling require different strategies as well and you unlock them after buying better boats in the game.
The game features a huge world filled with activity. There are a lot of different ports for you to find in the game and each port offers something new. You can explore the open seas and find the perfect spots for catching the best and most fish. Once you are done exploring the seas, you can head back to different ports and check out the local towns. You can head to bars and see if there are some job offerings. Quite often people would post jobs there that you can take on and complete to earn some extra money. These jobs are also a great way of earning money in the game since you will need a lot of money to purchase better boats and their upgrades.
As you explore the open-seas, you will come across other sea vessels as well which range from Cruise ships, Tankers and other fishing boats of all sizes. They really make the world alive around you and very often you feel like you are exploring a dead world. There is always plenty of action around you to keep you company. If you get bored, you can always use the handy fast-travel mode which quickly transports you to your desired location. Fast Travel will however fast forward time as well which means that if you’ve been storing fish for a long time, they will start decaying and your boat will still consume fuel so you will need to watch out for it.
Fishing: Barents Sea will not win any awards when it comes to the soundtrack. The boat engine sounds and other sounds are fine but the music really puts you to sleep. They are soothing tracks but not really the requirement when you have to work hard on the ocean. They would have fine if this would have been a cruise liner simulation game. Apart from the boring music, the game is pretty chill and wants you to keep going back to the ocean for another trip. The visuals are pretty decent as well and the gameplay is decent. My playthrough was smooth throughout and I did not encounter any sort of game-breaking bug until now.
One of the most challenges things for me when I started playing Fishing: Barents Sea was understanding the controls. The thing is, it does not use a lot of buttons but relies on on-screen tabs which have to be selected to perform different functions. For example, if I want to turn on the boat’s lights or sound the horn, I will need to use the d-pad to navigate to the horn icon or the corresponding light icon and press X which is the select button to activate that specific function. The same thing works for other mechanics as well such as checking the onboard fish storage, activating sonar or turning on GPS for navigating the seas. However, once you have gotten the hang of it, it is really easy to play the game.
Final Verdict:
Fishing: Barents Sea – Complete Edition is the ultimate commercial fishing game for PS4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch. Though I’ve not tried the Nintendo Switch version of the game yet, the PS4 and Xbox One version of the game runs great and there are no glitches or bugs so it is a great port. It also comes with all DLC released for the PC version as well which is a huge bargain considering the fact that it can keep you entertained for hours and hours as you spend time building your very own commercial fishing empire. Different boats offer different experiences and upgrading them makes a huge difference. If you love playing simulation games, then I will recommend that you play Fishing: Barents Sea – Complete Edition because it offers hours and hours of peaceful fishing and empire building.
Final Score 8.5/10
