Sega to release Shenmue Underwater With Cast of Fish - Screens Included!

Well, not really Shenmue, though it is an adventure game, set underwater, with a cast of fish. The game, Sega's latest big announcement, is Fish: Legend of the Seven Water Gods or Uo Nanatsu no Mizu Densetsu no Nushi in Japan.

Essentially an action adventure game set in the sea - you take charge of Uo, a young fish from a village suffering a nasty bout of the plague. You must make a lengthy seven-stage journey to find medicines in order to cure the death's-door children and thus become a hero.

Although at first glimpse this may well seem like the worst ever idea in the history of videogames, and another self-fashioned coffin nail for the grim reaper of gaming to hammer in, after about ten minutes of contemplation everything changes.

Details released by developer Sega WOW Entertainment talk of a massive and organic environment with over 100 kinds of underwater creatures to eat, or avoid being eaten by. Indeed, WOW seems to have taken the big fish vs. little fish concept to the extreme, as Uo must eat almost constantly in order to survive. Eating has its drawbacks though, with anglers placing all kinds of lure and bait to try and snag him. There is a battle mode system that makes use of the analogue sticks, enabling you to snaffle tasty treats without being hooked and munched.

Uo Nanatsu no Mizu Densetsu no Nushi, a name that we think just might be changed for its western debut, is a PlayStation 2 exclusive and will be released in Japan in the summer of this year, with the US and European version expected in time for Christmas.