Ever since I can remember I have been fascinated by sharks. Films like Jaws are probably where it started, but it certainly evolved from there. I’ll never forget that moment in Deep Blue Sea with Samuel Jackson. Heck, I even watch all the B-movie stuff like Shark Night 3D. What I’m saying here is, put a shark in it and I’m there!
So when Tripwire Interactive unveiled their self-proclaimed ShaRkPG last year I was down from moment one. A shark game isn’t an easy thing to pull off. There are both gameplay and narrative hurdles that you need to overcome. Adding RPG elements was a solid strategy though. It’s one that constantly gives the player something to work towards.
The story is simple, yet effective. Starting off as a fully grown Bull Shark, you learn the basic controls of the game. You feel powerful. Almost everything is either afraid of you or cautious and with good reason. Then, suddenly you are caught by the game’s antagonist – Scaly Pete.
After promptly slicing you open, Scaly Pete discovers his catch was actually with child. Proving himself to be the real monster, Pete makes a deep cut in the infant shark so that he can identify it later down the line. However, not happy with the events of the previous five minutes our little predator proceeds to chomp off Pete’s arm and flee.
This sets the scene for the game ahead. You will spend roughly the next ten hours on a revenge mission to take down Scaly Pete once and for all. The whole thing is narrated by Chris Parnell under the guise of a film crew making a documentary. Sometimes the focus is on Pete and his son, while others you hear about life from the shark’s perspective. The tone is light and humorous. The game knows not to take itself too seriously, which is one of the real highlights.
After the brief tutorial, you are released back into the water as a baby. You are no longer able to tear through humans, boats and sea life like when controlling your mother. At first, this can be a little jarring. You got to experience so much of the cool gameplay in the first fifteen minutes and now it has been taken away and you are forced to start over.
Taking your shark from a mere pup all the way to a killing machine is fun and silly at the same time. You start with just a sonar to help you avoid dangerous situations and help you uncover secrets in the world. As you progress though you will unlock the likes of bone armour and bio-electric teeth which shock enemies as you attack.
There is no shortage of mutations to enhance your shark when visiting one of the grottos, which are essentially home hubs where you can customise the shark. You obtain these upgrades by using resources gained from finding secrets in the world and ravaging different prey. It’s a fun gameplay loop and the evolution of the shark stops the admittedly limited gameplay from feeling stale.
Killing enough humans in quick succession during the game builds up your wanted level which will cause bounty hunters to appear and try to take you out. You’ll want to in turn dispose of these nuisances so that you catch the attention of a named hunter. These are essentially human bosses in the game. There are ten in total and they come at you with various approaches. Defeating these bosses leads to upgrades which unlock the true potential of your apex predator.
Unfortunately, it is not all smooth sailing… or swimming as it were – for Maneater. The game in its current state has several performance issues. During chaotic scenes, the frame rate can easily drop to around 20fps and I did experience three game crashes – all later in the game – during my playthrough. This will likely be addressed in a patch, but as of now proceed with caution.
Another niggle I had was the dumb AI. Now as I stated earlier this game doesn’t take itself too seriously, and that’s fine, but I would expect when I launch myself onto a beach and begin devouring some random sunbathing enthusiasts that someone ten feet away might find this alarming and begin running around with their hands above their head at the very least. All too often though that didn’t happen. Until they were actively being attacked they couldn’t care less how many pieces this other lad was in.
The trophy list is solid and well-balanced. It’s a mix of story progression, upgrade progression and collectables. Most will come naturally during your playthrough but you will be required to do and see everything to unlock the platinum. My guess would be that it will take about an average of 12-15 hours for most people, coming in at about a 4/10 difficulty.
Overall I truly enjoyed Maneater despite its limitations and performance issues. In my head, I would have preferred a more realistic simulation, but in practice that would have probably been boring after an hour or so. It is definitely one of the most unique games of 2020 so far and an experience I will remember fondly. The price of admission may be a little steep at launch, but this is definitely a title to keep an eye on.
-Terry
A review code for this product was kindly provided by the publisher. Reviewed on PS4 Pro.