iFish Pond app review

Price at time of writing 59p (approx $1)

Let's get one thing straight with this app. It eats the power of your device for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Do not play this simulation if you have something more important to do later because you may find yourself literally powerless.

Battery drainage is the price you pay for a beautiful pond simulation though. The developer reckons he currently has the best water simulation in this type of app and he's probably right.

The fish, the pond, the pond backgrounds - they are all beautiful. The fish animation is lovely and realistic.

You can fish in your pond too. Cast with a simple flick of the device and tap the scren to add a little food in the area of your float. Then wait..................................... the good thing here is that unlike some fishing simulations you really will have to wait. Like in real fishing the fish don't literally throw themselves at you and they may refuse your juicy bait for quite a while.

When you do get a bite the "reeling in" is really well done and yes they can "get away". The number of catches are recorded together with your record weight., Catch enough fish and there's some surprises to unlock. Several "pond bottoms" are available at the outset all beautifully presented.

It's early days for this app at the time of writing and there is little room for improvement. I would like to see integrated on line high scores (Open Feint perhaps?) and perhaps a "brag to your friends option"? If anything could be done about the battery drainage it would be nice but I think the quality of the presentation would be compromised somewhere. Therefore it is perhaps an app best played either when you are attached to a charging source or saved for a time when running the battery flat doesn't matter.

Downloading this was a very pleasant surprise - iFish Pond looks gorgeous and I'd be surprised if it doesn't hit iTunes hot list in a very short time.

9/10 Download from