Bass Pro Shops: The Strike first released on Wii and Xbox 360 in 2009 and has stood as what I consider the best fishing game ever since. The game itself is only OK, really, but it came with a fishing rod controller that was so good it elevated the experience into something special. The fishing rod had really good force feedback so when you caught a fish it actually fought back and you could really feel it. It was awesome. Now in 2019 BPS The Strike has been ported to Nintendo Switch - minus the great controller - and we played it again for day 45 of Eric Vs. 365. Read on for more plus gameplay video.
I'll be honest, I have no idea if the Nintendo Switch port of Bass Pro Shops: The Strike has any different content from the previous versions. Maybe? I dunno. It seems like the graphics are actually a fair bit better than the 360 version, but I genuinely can't remember and can't compare them side by side. I do know the 360 version is kind of ugly and this Switch version is kind of OK looking. That's hard hitting games journalism right there, right?
One major difference is that this new Switch version can be purchased with a dinky plastic wanna be rod thing that you put the Joycon controllers into. I did not use this version but, apparently, it doesn't really function properly. Considering that the fishing rod controller on the 360 version is what made it so great, this new Switch version is a clear downgrade in the gameplay department.
It's OK. It's fun. I played for a long while and had a good time. It just isn't as good as the 360 version was. I would have played the 360 version instead but that fishing rod controller that I love so much is also a really noisy SOB and it would have made for a terrible video hearing the motors inside screeching into the microphone constantly.
Another thing I want to mention is that when this game first came out on 360 I really liked it. I reviewed it for About(dot)com and gave it an 8/10. Then IGN posted a review that was a 4.5 out of 10 and it genuinely confused the hell out of me. IGN and almost every other reviews site treats games like this - fishing, hunting, NASCAR, motocross, farming simulator, etc. - like throwaway trash and never reviews them seriously. I guess they assume their audience doesn't care - despite the games selling well - or that the games don't deserve real reviews or something. I always at least tried to do a good job with them, though, and I think readers (and viewers) appreciate it.
The weird thing is that even customer reviews of so many fishing, hunting, farm sim, ect. games are usually pretty mediocre too, and I've never understood that. It's either people that don't know what they're talking about playing something and being disappointed or it's fans playing it who have no idea what they actually want from the games. You'd think people who are actual fans would know better and would have the proper expectations, yet user reviews are still a giant dumpster fire. Everything is either the best thing ever or the worst thing ever. People are sure dumb as hell.
