Developed by: Formosoft VR
Release date: April 11, 2006
Platforms: PC
This is the Achilles of fish games: A solid aquarium simulator, brought down by one fatal flaw. Advertised DIRECTLY on the box, the whole reason that I PURCHASED the game, it says "The tank can be your screensaver too!" This was a downright LIE. This is what the manual says about setting the game as your screensaver:
"From your start menu, click on settings and open your control panel. From there, click on display and click on screensaver. Choose My Sim Aquarium from the screensaver drop down menu, and then click OK."
Guess what? It isn't there. Okay, no problem: Check the accessories menu, and there's a My Sim Aquarium screensaver file. What happens when you click on it? Nothing happens, it's broken. Literally one of the selling points of this game just DOESN'T work. I WAS PISSED.
BUT regardless of it missing a key feature, there is still something worth playing here. There are over forty-eight species of fish in this game. You can purchase whatever fish you want, but the Pet Shop has limited supply, so be careful not to kill the fish. You do this by feeding them, monitoring their H20, and playing with them. Breeding is also something you can do, and is a key part of the game if you wish to summon the mermaid to your aquarium.
But if you're anything like me, you either have no interest, or no time to do all that stuff. This is where you go to the options and swap the game to lazy mode, making the game do all the work for you. The only issue with this is that the mermaid doesn't like lazy people, so she won't visit your aquarium if you choose to do this.
My opinion: Fuck off.
Most of my enjoyment from this game came from decorating my aquarium, which was a very relaxing experience. There is a lot of customizability here: Tons of backgrounds, rocks, plants, coral, statues, and world monuments that you can place in your aquarium. It's a pretty simple editor, you can rotate and move stuff around, but no resizing or anything of that nature. I made a fine art museum for my fishies to swim around in so they can grow to be smart and cultured like me.
If you're one of those aquarium heads, but don't have the money or space for a giant fish tank, this game might be a good holdover for that and worth picking up. Or maybe if you just like little fishies, and want to decorate and enjoy a calm and relaxing underwater experience, you also might get some enjoyment out of this one. Otherwise, if you're just some guy who thinks fish are nice and like to have them swimming around on your screen while you're away from the computer, you'll want to skip this one because that won't happen with this game.
