Halfbrick announces Fish Out of Water

Halfbrick Studios, the fine folks behind such classics as Fruit Ninja and Jetpack Joyride, announced a brand new property at GDC 2013 called Fish out of Water. It takes the highly-recognized long-toss type of game and adds in a bunch of interesting elements, including weather and crafting.

Players pick from six different fish to skip across the sea as far as possible. Okay, fine, the whale and dolphin are technically mammals, but they each have their own unique properties: one explodes into a school of multiple fish, another has smooth scales to maximize skippability, the whale is light (for some reason) and bounces particularly high, while the dolphin can dive beneath the waves and come out the other side with plenty of velocity. Just to mix things up a bit, the game's weather changes hourly, so during one match, you may have perfectly calm waters, while the next day you may be wrestling against massive waves.

Along the skipping path, players pick up boosts tokens which fill a meter along the top. By tapping and holding the screen, players can eat into that boost bar for an extra shot of speed. Players that have spent any time with Tiny Wings will quickly get comfortable with the boost mechanic. Players will also pick up gems along the way, which can be combined in various ways to create power-ups that are used in your next run. After three tosses, a panel of judges come out to give you a score based on how much distance you've covered, how many skips you've made, and other criteria. Players are able to issue challenges to their buddies through Game Center to see if they can beat their scores.

There's no firm date on release, but Fish out of Water will be going for $0.99 when it launches. Personally, I really enjoyed this one as a casual, colorful time-waster with a nice mix of familiar but fresh elements. What about you guys? Do you see this one taking off as well as Jetpack Joyride or Fruit Ninja?

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