Big Bass 3in1

Big Bass 3in1 is one of those pick-up-and-play titles that ended up on my phone longer than I expected. It packs three separate mini-modes around a fishing theme, and switching between them takes a single tap. The whole thing is built for short sessions, which is exactly how I ended up playing it: a few minutes here, a few there.

Controls are almost entirely tap-based, with an occasional swipe when you cast. It reads gestures cleanly and never left me fighting the screen. The three modes vary the pace nicely, so you don't get bored doing the same motion over and over. There's a calming loop to it, helped by the water animations and a soundtrack you can safely mute without losing anything.

Settings are a pleasant surprise for a casual game. You can cap the frame rate to save battery, drop the background effects, and turn off the ambient sound independently from the effects. On a mid-range phone I ran it for about forty minutes with modest battery use, mostly thanks to that frame cap. It's not a deep game, but it knows what it is and does it smoothly.

What we liked

• Three modes in one clean bundle
• Responsive tap and swipe controls
• Battery-friendly graphics options