If you don't like fishing, you won't like this game. Of course, a lot of you probably do like fishing otherwise you probably wouldn't bother. I don't like or dislike fishing but still found this theme to be very entertaining. Virtual fishing games have a long history within the virtual gaming world. In this game, you play a pleasantly plump fisherman, the kind of guy who spends every Sunday isolating himself on a lake, with his plaid hat and vintage sailor-inspired forearm tattoo alone in the wild. With this game, you can experience that life without the long hours, the expensive boat and gear, the time and effort it would take to go fishing on the ocean or a lake. With this game, this fisherman is going to bring you to this cartoonish and fun world of fishing. Each detail in this game is hilarious and very entertaining. So get yourself a rod, some bait, reel out your fishing line, and try to catch something with this virtual video slot. As someone who has never in her life been fishing despite being from a midwestern and rural area, I found this easier than normal fishing, more rewarding, and less stinky!
Animation, Gameplay and Other Important Features
This animation reminds me a lot of a Pixar movie, the main guy who we are playing has a five by three reel of various cartoonish fish, all of them have big eyes and are 3D. Most of them are too adorable to eat and almost make me feel bad about having tuna for lunch. It's formatted in a simple and modern way, like most slots everything you'll need is available at the bottom of the screen. On the furthermost left is a little question mark box, which if pressed will give you detailed instructions of all the bonuses and other complicated technical matters I probably won't get into this review. Next to that button is the line button, here you can use the plus and minus arrow to select or deselect each line. Next to that button is a very similar-looking button, the difference is this button helps you choose how much you want to bet per line, using similar arrows to what I mentioned above. In the middle of the screen is the spin button, it's bright yellow. There are small windows on each side displaying the player's bet as well as their wins. Below the normal win button is the maximum bet button, and to the right of that is the auto spin button - a must for impatient players such as myself who refuse to wait through the slow spinning reels. Besides that is a double x2 button that has to be activated by a specific feature, so when you first start that button is grey as a symbol of it being deactivated. Finally in the corner is a gear button that adjusts settings on the game. Once you press this, you can turn on or off many of these detailed features, including turbo play, disable expansion, 'skip the splash' screen option, a 'turn on or off sound effects' option, as well as a 'turn on and off the music' option. This enables players to customize their experience on this board in ways I don't often see in other virtual slots. I found this feature to be very unique and satisfying!
Appearance and Reel Symbols and More
Now this game is played on a fishing dock - because where else would it be played? In the background you see rocks with greenery growing, water, and on the dock is the Fishman who is even holding a button full of bait - I'm guessing worms and other disgusting insects most likely. Each fish on this board carries a personality of its own. It includes a green turtle- this turtle confuses me because it resembles a mutated version of a turtle and a bird. There's also an adorable little blue fish, smiling with innocent and huge anime eyes, a red pufferfish, he's spikey but remains innocent even in his defensive stance, a hammerhead shark, the kind with uniquely placed eyes. The hammer shark is smiling, and I suppose even with his sharp and deadly teeth has a cartoonish quality. Other board symbols include the fisherman himself, an oyster with his mouth open to reveal a small light pink pearl, an evil-looking purple octopus holding a sign, and three dead fish corpses in a bucket.
Paylines, Features and More Information
The Catch & Release slot has 5 reels and a total of 20 pay lines when you can deselect or select based on how you choose to play. The coin size starts from a small 0.01 cents to a dollar per line. There is even a max bet button under the reels if you just want to get straight to the point. You can even gamble all your winning combinations by playing a coin toss game! The special symbols in this game are the Free spins feature, the bonus rounds are the pearl and clam symbols, as well as the octopus scatter symbol. The wild symbols are the dead fish in a bucket and substitute all other symbols to create winning combinations. During the bonus rounds, the Wild symbols lock into their position
Catch & Release Virtual Slot Free Spins Feature
Three devious-looking purple octopuses act as the scatters in this game, and when they land on the reel they trigger the free spins feature. When you trigger these free spin rounds, you can retrigger the free spins by landing other scatter combinations.
Catch & Release Bonus Rounds
When you're lucky enough to trigger 3 pearl symbols on the first and third reels, you'll be rewarded with the Catch & release fishing bonus game! During this game, you have the opportunity to win cash prizes as long as you make the right choice, but If you make the wrong choice, then the fishes swim away with your credits.
Final Thoughts On This Reel
Overall, I thought this game was endless fishing-themed fun. The amount in which you could customize all options on this board showed a lot of excellent gaming qualities I look for in slots when I'm choosing a game. I always have wanted to turn off the music but keep the sound effects on because I prefer to play slots while my music is playing, and this is one of the first slots I've found that allowed me that option. There are plenty of other reasons this game was so much fun - the adorable, funny, and well-made graphics, the vast options for the sound, and customization. My favorite symbols were the funniest ones - the scatter octopus besides triggering special features is comical and adorable. A couple of the game details made me laugh. This game has super stacked wilds with 20 free spins being able to retrigger additional free spins during your free spin rounds. You can win up to 194000 coins to be won from a small 30 to 300 coin bet! What a steal! The scatter symbol clam shell triggers free games that have their payouts as a multiplier to the total bet. The free spins games also take place underwater, which was a fun addition to this bonus round that the animator did a great job adding!
