by Ryan Ambrose

Created on: October 30, 2008   Last Updated: November 03, 2008

Review of FishCo by Fugazo, Inc.

FishCo by Fugazo, Inc. is a pet shop simulation game. You and your computerized partner have just opened your new aquarium fish store, FishCo. To make it work, you have to raise, care for, and sell your stock of pet fish. I give the game a 4/5 rating.

The game is broken down into levels, and the object of each level is to meet objectives like sales, aquarium plants, a certain number of fish, and so forth. You start these levels looking into a fish tank and taking care of the chores while you try to meet your goals. You must do things like buy fish eggs to get the fish, feed the fish, and keep up the maintenance on their aquariums. As you progress through the levels, the tasks grows increasingly more difficult, because you have to deal with more than one kind of fish, their different wants and behaviors, when to sell them, and the issues with their aquariums.

The game has three different types of play, which affect the difficulty. Action mode is timed, and you can fail a level if the timer runs out before you meet your objectives. Relax mode still has a timer, but all it does there is decide whether or not you get a new fish or item for your aquarium in Sandbox mode. The Sandbox is simply you playing with your own personal aquariums, and has no time limit or troubles for you to overcome.

The interface of the game is simple point and click. I learned it easily with the tutorial, which runs in-game when you begin. Your partner explains all the new things you'll have to learn as you start each new level and progressively attempt more difficult levels to make your store more profitable. The tutorial was very helpful, and you can start the game immediately after loading it.

Your partner is a cartoon, but the fish and plants look very real. You can watch the fish swim around, chase their food to the bottom of the tank, and see the thought bubbles form when they need something. The animation for breeding them is humorous and family-friendly. The music was deceptively pleasant, and while enjoyable, seems a bit inappropriate as things grow more tense and harried with each passing level.

The only down side I saw to this game was that it gets a bit repetitive after a while. All you do it take care of the aquariums and fish before selling them, and while the challenge increases as the levels progress, the sameness started to wear on me after an hour or so. Still, I found the game to be a lot of fun overall. If you like simulation games, you should enjoy playing FishCo.

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