Fisherman

This app can be fun to practice your fishing skills, but the lack of instructions and the downpour of ads can leave players swimming in promos when they only want to catch fish. In Fisherman, players have some control over their fishing line before and after it enters the water, and they get a few helpful visual cues when playing -- such as the fishing line turning red, indicating a catch may be about to get free. They can also cast a line again if their first try isn't successful. Playing requires some practice, but it's fun to try to hone your skills.

New fish appearing in the mix offer fresh challenges to keep things from getting repetitive. But the fish hatching process and some other game elements that aren't covered in the brief introduction can be a little confusing. With relatively short rounds, catching a large number of fish -- or some of the bigger ones that tend to be deeper in the water -- can also be challenging. That's because the hook sinks somewhat slowly, reeling them to shore takes some time, and it's easy to accidentally snare a smaller fish that happens to be in the way. That can sometimes make it hard to strategize what you're trying to catch. Fortunately, purchasing new lures and rods helps speed things up. Players will still face a time crunch for each round, though -- and a lot of ads. In addition to ones that appear at the bottom of the screen, they'll see ads in between rounds, and sometimes during them. For example, a message can pop up, asking if you want to watch an ad to extend the time of the round right before it's about to end. That can be a particularly annoying disturbance that almost always seems to result in you losing the fish you were reeling in. Without so many plugs for other apps, Fisherman could be an enjoyable game that offers a subtle lesson in perseverance, but with its flood of apps, players may not have the patience to play for long.