Control The Boat And Catch The Most Fish In Jump The Shark!
Jump The Shark! ($0.99) by Catalyst Apps is a action adventure game that takes place at sea. Catch the most fish, all the while balancing on your boat and keeping a lookout for sea creatures hurling themselves your way.
I reviewed this last night, but the first time around, I missed some important aspects of the game. I know developers work very hard, so I wanted to clarify my issues with the game and explain what I missed.
I obviously didn't see any instructions the first time around, but they are there. The developer is updating the app to ensure the playing instructions pop up the first time you launch the game. In the meantime, tap the question mark on the main screen to find them.
The goal of this game is to catch as many fish as you can while balancing on the boat and avoiding the many sea creatures (and birds) that try to throw you off.
Tap the left and right sides of the screen to control the fisherman. He will slide along the dock and catch the fish falling from the sky which give you points.
The longer you hold your finger on the screen, the faster the fisherman slides to that side, so be careful not to over shoot it; after all, you don't want him to fall off.
Balancing on the boat is not always easy. Eventually, it becomes more difficult, but you are able to collect items to help you. Make sure to avoid sharks and other sea creatures as they attempt to kill you, by tapping on the fisherman to make him jump out of the way.
I found that when you tap on the fisherman, he jumps very slowly — in a bit of a slow motion manner — so keep this in mind when trying to plan your jumps. I assumed you would jump and fall back on the boat almost instantly, but this was not the case. Thinking this way caused me to hit the sharks and other creatures anyway. I died; I learned the hard way that the fisherman is a slow jumper.
With the slow jumping and multiple creatures to avoid, the game becomes very difficult. Especially as you'e trying to both keep your balance and collect fish to up your score. It's not impossible, but be warned it can be quite challenging.
Unfortunately, it takes a long time for the game to load — both initially, and when you're trying to replay it after dying. I saw the skinny wheel of death for a long while on both occasions. Hopefully, this will be addressed in future updates.
Jump The Shark! is available in the App Store for $0.99. It has Game Center support and is quite engaging and challenging. I would suggest waiting for the new update before checking this out. Hopefully the loading times will be fixed, too.
