To start, the player must choose whether they wish to play as a man or a woman and pick the color of outfit you wish your character to wear. It is not important to the game but it was a nice touch for Bandai to throw in. After deciding on your character you can choose to go fishing, look through your tackle box, or set options such as sound volume and controls. The really nice thing about your tackle box is that once you are in it you can choose to view detailed information regarding each lure, allowing you to know which lure is best to catch each fish. Once you learn about your lures it is time to put your skills to the test and fish!

While much of the game may seem similar to Sega's Bass Fishing, there really is a lot more meat gameplay-wise in Bass Rise. In the beginning you only have two locations to choose from, as more are opened up as you progress through the game. Just like Bass Fishing, the locations are at different times of the day as well as year. So, you could be fishing at Lake Nishiura at 7:00AM in the spring one moment and move on to Lake Nishiura in the summer at 11:00AM the next. But unlike Bass Fishing, Bass Rise is mission based. A fellow fisherman at a lake may challenge you to catch two large fish in five casts in order to unlock a new stage or lure. I also received a "suggestion" from a fisherman to catch a fish over twenty inches long and once I finally reeled one in I was rewarded by finding a special lure in its mouth. As you progress through the game the challenges become harder and harder to complete. I much preferred this style of gameplay over Bass Fishing's simple "catch so many fish to add up to a certain weight in a certain time" type of gameplay, but after all Bass Fishing was an arcade game and Bass Rise is made to be a home product

Overall, the game is like others where you must reel the fish in without breaking the line, a challenge indeed if you have a huge fish struggling for its life. I found most fish easy to catch without much trouble; it is when you hook a large fish that a long struggle can ensue. Some of the larger fish actually fought me for over five minutes, only giving in after they started to get tired and sluggish. I spent most of my time trying to catch the larger variety of fish since it is harder to get them to bite as well as reel in. In the end, the true fun of the game lies in catching your very own "big bubba."

As an added bonus Bass Rise has a versus mode where there can be up to four players. You select the number of players, how many casts you get, and by what standards you will be judged such as fish length or weight. This is a welcome addition to the fishing game genre, and adds a good amount of replay value to the game.

The graphics in Bass Rise impress but are still bogged down by the limitations of the aging Playstation. Many of the backgrounds in Bass Rise are simple yet very beautiful. On one stage there is a train that goes over a bridge and you are able to see the wavy reflection of the train in the water, a very nice touch. Another stage sports some rustic windmills and water wheels, all moving fluidly in the background. The water effects are incredible; the movement shown on top of the water is one of the best graphical touches I have seen on the Playstation. The fish are very realistic looking with great coloring and plenty of scales and gills visible. I must admit that when I first popped this game in my Playstation I did not believe that it would look this nice.

When going underwater with your lure the limitations begin to set in. Since you see your lure from the front or side most of the time, the game does not suffer from pop up; it suffers from pop out. As you reel in your lure, the background quickly starts vanishing behind you, making it hard to know whether it is worth your time to jiggle your lure to attract a fish since you can't tell if there is a fish to attract. This problem is superficial since the camera swings around to point out a fish in your near vicinity. It only becomes a real problem if a fish swims behind you and you can't tell it is there because the camera did not change angles. I have had times when fish have come out of nowhere to bite down on my line, which can take a bit away from the challenge of the game.

The only time there is music in the game is on the menu screens; otherwise there are only the sound effects of the stage. The music that is in the game is just filler so you are not left with awkward silences, nothing special. The sounds of the water are the best effects in the game. The lapping of the water against your boat creates a pleasant, soothing sound. But you might want to turn down the sound effect noise due to the irritation that can occur from listening to the "clak" or whine of your lure as it makes its way through the water. Also, the wildlife noises coming from the background can be grating, but only in certain stages.