CRISP. Gaming: Maneater Review, PC

 

Hall and Oates warned us many years ago to “watch out boy, she’ll chew you up”. Unrelated to that, Maneater is an open-world self-titled ‘Shark-PG’.

Developed by Blindside and published by Tripwire Interactive, Maneater is available on PS4, Xbox & PC, with a Switch release scheduled for later in 2020.

Story

It follows a film crew for a reality television show called Maneater; starring crazed Cajun shark hunter Scaly Pete and his son Kyle as they hunt for a Shark in the waters of the fictional city of Port Clovis. You start as a fully grown mother shark through a short and intuitive tutorial section, until ‘Scaly Pete’ kills her leaving her shark pup to take on the role of the main protagonist.

With no family and a hunger for revenge (and anything else you can eat), you must, mature, grow, level up and evolve into a formidable mega-shark that can take on Pete and exact your justice.

 

Gameplay

The aim is to kill and eat as much as you can. Everything you eat provides you with nutrients that in turn can be used to level up, so to survive you must be ruthless! Your shark has several basic attacks, including charging into enemies, thrashing, and whipping enemies with its tail to stun them.

It can also use its surroundings for combat advantages, such as using a swordfish as a spear. As mentioned, you will need to hunt and consume other aquatic wildlife such as fish and turtles to obtain nutrients, like proteins, fats, minerals, and mutagens.

Players can also attack humans, destroying yachts and ships, and knocking people off jet skis and boats. As the player gains enough nutrients, the shark must enter underwater grottos to unlock new abilities and increase in size, which allows the shark to take on larger and deadlier creatures.

The shark will slowly evolve into an adult then eventually a mega-shark. As you level up you get to customise how you develop. You can increase the effects of your bite, increase your durability with bone armour, survive on land longer, or even use electromagnetic shocks to stun enemies.

The world is reactive to you as you create more havoc up and down the coast your infamy grows, to the point where human bounty hunters are sent out to catch and kill you.

Things are continuously escalating, and a colourful cast of bounty hunters will bring a smile to your face, even if they are trying to make soup out of your fins. With names like Bobbie Bojangles, Pookie Paul and Mama Maybelle, it is clear a light-hearted tone is what the dev team were going for, and it fits well.

 

 

Battles against boats can be fun due to the over the top nature of these fights and the blood and gore-filled animations are enough to satisfy any bloodlust. But on the other hand, combat underwater is a bit weak and loose. We found controlling the camera to be the most difficult aspect of these encounters. It struggles to keep up with the action and can be a tad frustrating when things get a bit hectic on screen.

The gameplay loop and the mission variety can become stale after a while. It mainly consists of ‘kill X amount of fish or humans in this area’, find all the collectibles, reach landmarks, defeat the bounty hunters, eat the Apex Predator of a specific area – rinse and repeat.

For us this was ok because the mechanics are simple, and the gameplay generally is fluid and smooth. The shark you control is easy to manoeuvre and feels graceful to control.

All the areas of Port Clovis are distinct and defined by various themes and colour palettes. Each with vast explorable areas and stuffed full of secret collectibles. From the swampy backwaters to high-end coastlines, beach fronts or even the open gulf.

All the areas and detailed and pleasing on the eye, the underwater world is where Port Clovis really comes to life though, it’s full of wildlife, far from being an empty sandbox there is a certain satisfaction to gliding along knowing you are the apex predator (well, until something bigger comes along).

The entire map consists of these different bodies of water connected by tunnels and sewer systems giving the whole world a seamless open feel. You are free to roam around as much as you like before hitting the story points. We spent 15 hours in this world, the story could be completed in about 12-14 hours but that will be much more for those completionists out there.

 

 

Audio & Graphics

The music is subtle and often barely audible. Nice audio cues during battle and moments of violence do a good job of amplifying the situation and help to spot attacks opportunities and when to avoid, and retreat.

Saturday night live alum and Rick & Morty voice actor Chris Parnell provides the sarcastic narration that accompanies the reality TV show ‘Maneaters’.

His timely quips do a great job of punctuating moments and guiding the player through to the next section. You will not be rolling on the floor in stitches, but his narration will make you chuckle every now and then.

The graphics would not look too out of place in the previous generation of consoles but that doesn’t matter the underwater environments are beautifully drawn with vibrant explosions of colour and animation that really brings this world to life.

We were generally running at a smooth frame rate but when things did start to fill up the screen you can feel the frame rate drop dramatically and the game stutters a bit. It’s not game-breaking but can disrupt your flow sometimes.

 

 

Verdict

The concept is simple yet satisfying. It is a bit of silly fun that is very much welcomed in 2020. Swimming up and down the gulf as a shark is a cool change from your typical RPG and can be relaxing during the more calm moments.

It is undeniable that the repetition of missions and quests can become monotonous, even with the constant flow of new creatures, enemies, and skills to learn.

Ultimately there is only so much you can do as a shark – which will give this game a short shelf life – but for £29.99 it is good for RPG fans and great for shark fans!

Reviewed on PC, code provided by publisher.