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"Fishing Survives Y2K"

"This is Shaw Grigsby and I'd like to welcome you to Bassmasters 2000." Bassmasters 2000 is one of the Nintendo 64's finest fishing games. Bassmasters 2000 covers an extensive gameplay list to keep the gamer interested even when he does not want to fish. This game introduces a custom character creation and features real tournament locations in North America along with voiceovers by Shaw Grigsby, a Floridian angler who has won a lot of money in fishing tournaments, but has never won the actual Bass Masters Classic. Like most fishing games Bassmasters 2000 also features its main tournament game in which you unlock fishing gear, new boats and new locations. Bassmasters 2000 was produced by THQ and will require a Memory Pak and also allows for the use of the Rumble Pak.

Graphics: 8

The graphics aren't all that bad for a 64 fishing game. You can tell some serious effort was put into making this game an easy game to look at it enjoy in all aspects. The maps are detailed well and the shore line offers extensive visuals such as people, houses, trees and mountains in the background. The characters and fish are ok by N64 standards. You can note detail in your character's face and in the fish. The underwater view is generic with what you will see. The plants and seawood are generic and the lake floor is usually sandy and visible to see fish a good distance away. The game offers various weather conditions to play in and this may or may not affect the way in which your day on the lake will turn out.

Gameplay 10

Bassmasters 2000 offers four different modes of gameplay. The first mode is Exhibition in which you compete in a single tournament game. This allows for exploration of tournament maps and finding good locations to fish as there is no "free day" in the actual tournament mode. The second mode is the Tournament in which you compete in various locations to become the Bass Masters Classic champion. The tournament can be pretty tough going, but also provides four difficulty settings of Beginner, Amateur, Rookie, and Professional. In this mode you can unlock equipment and boats to upgrade your fishing experience. The third mode is Speed Fishing. Speed Fishing is a time challenge mode in which you fish from a spot from land (usually a pier or dock) and must rapidly catch fish to beat the high score. The last mode is the Casting Game which is another time challenge game but does not involve catching fish. In this mode you must attempt to make the perfect cast into distance rings in the water. The green rings are the closest, the yellow rings are the middle distance, and the purple rings are the farthest and also appear once you clear the stationary ring challenge at the beginning. Once again the goal is to get the highest score of this mode.

Sound: 10

I give the sound a big 10 for the excellent music in this game. The music is fast paced and lively and goes well with the situation you find yourself in. When reeling in a fish a rapid banjo piece is played until you get it in the boat. Shaw Grigsby provides commentary and other voiceovers. The sound effects work well with the game and the only exception you may hear is the submarine sonar of the depth finder.

Story/Tournament Mode 6

There is no story line to this game as with other fishing and sports games, but here I will describe the Tournament mode of Bassmasters 2000. There are six tournaments that lead up to the Bass Masters Classic and each tournament is a three day event. You have to qualify in the top ten in the first three tournaments and the next two tournaments require you to qualify in the top seven. The Qualifying Tournament requires you to place in the top five to be able to compete in the Bass Masters Classic. The cash and prizes are awarded only to the top ten finishers so it places plenty of pressure to qualify in the higher ups to unlock the much needed faster boats. You begin on Lake Hickory outside of Nashville in an uncomfortably slow boat. There really isn't much new to this game that the tournament modes of other fishing games don't have other than using real locations in the game.

Replay Value 6

Once you finish the Tournament mode there are still two time challenge modes to complete. These mode were designed for multiplayer games and are mostly like arcade challenges. That is ok if you are playing at the arcade, but for a console game it does not last long. Of course this review is eight years behind the release of the game and going back and playing it now is still fun and enjoyable. If you are a fan of fishing games and have never played this game it is definitely a collectible.

Overall Rating: 8/10