Sega Bass Fishing took the boredom out of fishing, first and foremost. No longer did you have to wait for hours, and learn to jiggle the rig just right, to catch even the smallest fish. You just casted the line, reeled a bit, and the fight between you and the Bass, began. Marine Fishing takes you out of those small bass ponds, and throws you headfirst into a plethora of exotic ocean fishing locations. From shallow coral reefs, to deep murky ocean waters, to mysterious and dark fishing locations, Marine Fishing has plenty of interesting environments to fish in. The biggest change, however, is the insane variety of fish you can now catch (or at least try to). Everything from a small 6 lb. Slapjack Tuna to a whopping 300+ lb. Marlin or Mako Shark can be found in the ocean waters, and not one of them will just jump into the boat without a fight. Unlike bass, all the marine fish have a tendency to either snap your line right away, or become unhooked. As a result, you are forced to keep the proper amount of tension on the line at all times, or risk losing another fish.

As with Sega Bass Fishing, you choose a lure then cast into the water. The lures all need to be handled in a slightly different way, and each type is best suited for a certain situation. Hooking a fish comes very, very quickly usually, though targeting a specific one is where it becomes somewhat tricky. Who wants to reel in a tuna, when you can fight with a huge sailfish instead?

As they did with Sega Bass Fishing, Sega included a nice amount of play modes in Marine Fishing. You can play the original Arcade Mode, which takes you through 4 fishing areas each with a time limit and a points goal. Depending on the area you are currently in, a specific fish may score you a certain number of base points, of which the weight points are added to, to give a total number. When you reach enough points, you move onto the next stage. Nice and simple.

The Original Mode, is quite different. Somewhat similar to what was found in Virtua Tennis, the Original Mode provides you with mini-games that teach you advanced fishing techniques, and help you earn item points which are then used to unlock certain items and secrets in the game. While playing the free fishing submode within the Original mode, you then utilize those item point everytime you catch a fish. Sometimes a catch will unlock a new lure, a fish, or give you more goodies to throw into your own personal aquarium. The aquarium itself is an extremely cool feature. All the items and fish which you unlocked are placed within it, and you can set the camera motion and background music to your liking. It ends up being sort of like a virtual fish tank for your television. Sega also included a Network Mode, which allows you to take part in huge multiplayer tournaments, by keeping track of your fishing data (how many, what kind, total points, etc), and comparing them with the rest of the Sega Marine Fishing community. Sometimes the tournaments will require you to catch a certain fish, for example, and the player with the most of that fish, at the end of the month long time period, wins. Pretty cool idea!

Visually, the game gets the job done. It is very similar to what was found in Sega Bass Fishing, though without even a hint of slowdown in the 60fps framerate. The characters are a bit light on polygons, but the fish, and assorted undersea creatures look great. The music is kinda just there, but thankfully it isn't all that annoying. The broken English voices are hilarious however, but i'm quite sure it was not done on purpose.

Gamers who enjoyed Sega Bass Fishing, and especially those who bought a fishing controller, are required to get Sega Marine Fishing. It's not only a fast paced and exciting fishing title, but also one of those rare games that non-gamers and other family members can enjoy as well.