Introduction
Today we are going to review a much anticipated review after a long series of videos on our YouTube channel! This of course comes with the last video for that review, get ready for Maneater, in this review we will be covering the base game only, the DLC will be covered in another review. In this game you play as the shark in the first successful Shark RPG, this is a whole new genre, although it has been attempted earlier, this is the first successful game in this genre! The earlier attempt is from Jaws Unleashed, To find out the details we will someday review that game!
What did I think before playing Maneater?
My wife and I pre-ordered this game for the Nintendo Switch, it was a long wait, but we did not regret that decision! We were very interested in playing this game, we both like sharks, and this game would actually let you eat people. We were very interested how a shark protagonist would work in an open world game with RPG elements! Not only that, but we needed more information of course, so we decided to go to the Nintendo Page for more information!
The Nintendo Page
https://www.nintendo.com/games/detail/maneater-switch/
There is not much information on the Nintendo Page, but it is good enough to get you stoked if you like sharks and open world games! Maybe you are curious about this new genre, the Shark RPG! You will need to explore Port Clovis as you try to survive in the cruel waters where you need to learn your place, or evolve and grow strong enough to eat everyone and everything!
Rating
I rate Maneater with a 10 before playing.
This is a great game to get stoked about, if this is an upgraded version of Jaws Unleashed, I am in!
Story
The story starts with scaley Pete, a shark Hunter who is hunting a Megalodon that killed his father long ago. In his wake, he keeps killing every shark that he meets. That is he until he meets a certain Bull Shark, this shark seems to have a little pup, that when born eats the hand of scaley Pete. This is your story, who will win? scaley Pete or you?
Rating
I rate the story of Maneater with a 10.
This is if you like documentaries, as this story is narrated as a documentary, if you dislike documentaries, it will most likely mean that it is harder to appreciate the story. The documentary is amazingly done for a game, though!
Gameplay
The gameplay in Maneater has been called repetitive and boring, but I have to disagree gameplay wise. If you feel this game is repetitive, it might be because this game is a collect-a-thon like a Hat in Time or other platform games. There are also elements that has you explore certain areas in an open world style, you can quickly traverse the whole map. Some parts of the maps have stronger enemies like Orcas and Sperm Whales!
Your goal is to collect collectables to gain experience, eat other fishes to grow. As you collect more items, you will gain new evolutions! These come in the form of three major skill trees, which skill tree will you choose? Every upgrade has a different power, poison, lighting or high defense! You will slowly evolve from a pup to a Megalodon!
In every map you will need to complete missions to progress the story and follow the documentary, there is a funny narrator who presents the show, this is done quite masterly! There are also bounty hunters that will hunt you if you eat too many humans or destroy boats. You can either kill all ten bounty hunter boats when you are a Megalodon or slowly keep chipping away at the bounty hunter bosses to avoid repetitive behavior in the game.
There is a lot more to man eater in the missions, there are mission to eat people, destroy certain targets and a lot more! This is just like in any other open world games, but in Maneater it might seem a bit more obvious that the missions repeat which is not a bad thing.
Rating
I rate the gameplay of Maneater with a 10.
This is what Jaws Unleashed should have been, but the gaming technology was not there yet.
Sound and Graphics
Graphics
The graphics of Maneater look good, there are some graphical FPS drops that limit the gameplay. The graphics do sometimes clip which is annoying, the camera can be hard to learn but when you get the hang of it, it is pretty good! All the areas have different landmarks which you can also collect. All the landmarks have funny comments from the narrator!
Sound
There are many soundtracks and sound effects, but what is the best sound related thing in this game is the narrator. If you like narrators, this game is perfect with an amazing narrator! Chris Parnell is the narrator that you hear from Rick and Morty. The narrator is kind of crazy though with weird comments, who knows when he might snap and have a psychotic break!
Rating
I rate the sound and graphics of Maneater with a 10.
Even though I really want this game to be perfect, I can only say this for the Nintendo Switch. The FPS drops are not present in the Nintendo Switch. Thus, for the Nintendo Switch this game is perfect, while the FPS drops are extremely noticeable in the PS4 version.
What did I think after playing Maneater?
My wife and I have played this game a few times on the Nintendo Switch and PS4 for the review and making the videos on YouTube. We both enjoyed the game each and every time, and somehow all the mechanics in this game click together. There is a slight personal opinion that I would like the level cap to be higher. The DLC does raise the level cap, but not enough.
There are many enemies in Maneater that you need to fight, I like the variety a lot. There are also a lot of different wildlife that will not try to kill you, like Grouper fish. These can be eaten to restore your health.
Rating
I rate Maneater with a 10 after playing.
There is a lot to do in Maneater, the normal play time for a full run with 100% completion takes about 12 hours.
What are my personal thoughts about Maneater?
I had a lot of fun when playing Maneater as did my wife. We both agreed that despite clearing the game five times, it does not feel repetitive. We also agreed that the PS4 would not deserve a perfect rating, but the Nintendo Switch version does, as the Switch version does not have FPS drops. Both versions have had a crash, but the PS4 version has many more crashes.
Rating
My personal rating of Maneater is a 10.
We had a lot of fun when playing this game, we even played it multiple times!
Last Words
Pros
- Follow the story of your fresh born shark and her fight against Scaley Pete
- There is an amazing narrator in the game!
- Level up by eating humans and fish in this Shark RPG!
- Explore Port Clovis to find all the landmarks!
- Level up and choose your own evolution!
- Maneater has a great infamy system!
- There are a lot of enemies that you can fight to level up!
- Playing Maneater to kill everything in sight reduces stress!
- There are a lot of easter eggs to find!
Cons
- FPS drops in the PS4 version
- A few graphical clipping issues.
The gameplay in this game is solid, if you are interested in an open world game where you can be the shark, this is the perfect game that you are looking for! Immerse yourself in the underwater world!
Final Rating
10
Let me know what you think of Maneater in the comments!
I hope you enjoyed reading this review, I hope to see you in the next review!
If you liked reading this review, maybe you would like to share this review with your friends!
Gotta give it to the devs for such a good game!
yeah, they did an amazing job!
Very high rating
Even though there are some flaws, this is a game in a new genre that was unsuccessful until this attempt, hence the high rating! A unique game!
Fully deserved final rating. Thank you very much for another awesome review!
You are welcome!
Great game!
anyone remembers Ecco the Dolphin game hehe?
Thanks for the tip, going to check that out for a review!
That overworld map makes the game look massive, surpised a shark can go to so many places!
I hope more places will be added with a new DLC or a new game!
Yaws is here, here is yaws. Yaws is the best shark anyone has seen!
Nom Nom, time to eat humans!
I want to play this game.Thanks for review.
Did they fix technical issues?
I’ve always wanted a game like this! Awesome idea and execution
It seems to be quite a nice game and even though I feel a certain discomfort when playing underwater games (such as Subnautica), I really like the freedom of movement and exploration that these games grant us.
I like that there are many elements to explore.
wish they add more named hunters in the nemesis system
This animal can’t get enough
In our country it is called” Rupsje noot genoeg” Which is basically a caterpillar that eats everything lol
i recently buy this game
looks great. thanks for the review.
You are welcome!
Looks like a good and original game different from the rest
It is quite different!
Cool. It fully desrcibes the game . I want to have it!
Do do do do do do DEATH SHARK!
I was not particularly interested in this game, but after reading the review I become interested… Thanks!
I hope you will start playing this game!
Now this is jaw-dropping good? (see what I did there, JAW-dropping ;P )
That is a good one!
Didn’t I already said i like sharks very much 🙂
Liked Depth game too 😉
What is this “Depth” game?
Sounds really nice, i’ve really like that is single game
There is also a DLC expansion!
Gotta give them, it’s original to be antagonist in a game.
Being the bad guy is always fun!