El Fish (1993)(AnimaTek) Game

Abandonware / DOS Games

Rating: 5/5

El Fish is a 3-D Virtual build fish tank game. It allows the player to customize their own fish tank, including selecting from 20+ backgrounds, 20+ rock bottoms; selecting and putting in different types of plants, algae, and seaweed. When placing plants, the player can move them anywhere in the tank. The player can also choose from reefs, castles, shells, stones and fixed animated objects, such as a cats paw dipping in and out of the tank, a crab that scurries back and forth, although when clicked, dawns a top hat and cane, there is also a scubba diver, a fishing hook with a wiggling worm, a skull with an eel that swims out, and more. In addition to customizing the perfect fish tank, the game also allows the player to customize their perfect fish. The player chooses where they want to fish, as they catch fish, they can name them and keep them. Those fish can then be evolved, bred, or animated. Animated fish can then be added to the virtual player created tank. 30+ individual tanks can be saved at a time. Multiple fish can be added to the virtual tank, however the exact number of fish escapes me at this moment. Once the tank is finished, the player can add music and view it. It's really a game that was way ahead of its time in graphics, detail, and features when it was released. There is no way to win the game. It's simply a "build" game which then allows the player to view their creation. Once the tank in finished and the fish and music have been added, the player can feed their fish, although the fish do not need to be fed and never die that I can remember. Also the player can turn the light on and off in the tank. To sum it all up, it was a "screen saver" before there were "screen savers" once the tank is completed.