Synopsis:
Experience the ultimate power fantasy as the apex predator of the seas — a giant shark! Terrorise the coastal waterways, tear swimmers and divers limb from limb, and give the humans a reason to fear you.

Publisher: Tripwire Interactive
Reviewed on: PS4 (Pro unit)
Also available for: Xbox One, PC

Cast: Chris Parnell

Developer: Tripwire Interactive & Blindside Interactive
Game Director: Bill Munk
Production Director: Bryan West
Design Director: David Hensley
Technical Director: Jon Carr
Art Director: Sean McBride
Audio Director: Mark Muraski

If you’ve seen the classic sci-fi film Sharknado, you’ll remember a scene early on where a flying shark rips off someone’s limbs — followed by a hammerhead dropping on the body for good measure. That level of silliness is what you can expect from Maneater, the “shaRkPG” from Blindside Interactive and Tripwire Interactive.

Much like the ’80s shark sequel Jaws: The Revenge, you take control of a young female bull shark seeking vengeance against the hunter who killed your mother and sliced your face for good measure. The hunter, Scaly Pete, loses a hand as you escape into the open water of the swamps. With a taste for Pete’s blood — and after growing stronger and chowing down on a few hundred humans along the way — you’ll be itching for a rematch with Pete and the boat that took down your mother.

What follows probably isn’t the type of game you’d expect. Yes, there’s beach-terrorising and whatnot, but Maneater is also one of the most straightforward collect-athons I’ve played since Crackdown 3.

As a baby shark (let’s go hunt, doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo), you’ll nibble small fish while dodging scary crocodiles, feeding to grow big and strong. Eventually you’ll evolve into a teen, then an adult, elder, and finally a megalodon.

Each region offers similar task types: kill X of a specific fish in an area, take down a high-level predator, or chomp X humans. It’s simple and repetitive — and the bulk of your time will be spent hoovering up three kinds of collectables. Repetitive as that is, it scratched my collect-athon itch, and that side of the game is what I enjoyed most.

Collectables are easy to locate thanks to your starting sonar pulse. Landmarks are pop-culture-referencing points of interest; chests award resources for upgrades; and licence plates are the trickiest, often requiring a bigger shark and some light platforming jumps.

Collecting yields XP and resources, making it the fastest way to level. I over-levelled quickly while clearing the first region — and kept that trend through to the end. It took me eight hours to finish the campaign at 71% completion. You could beat it faster, but clearing regions was where I had the most fun.

I would have 100%ed the game a couple of hours later, but my final location glitched. In a collect-athon at heart, that’s a real issue if not patched quickly.

Combat isn’t as exciting as it tries to be. Levelling and defeating hunters unlocks equipable evolutions — this is the RPG in shaRkPG — and by the end you’ll have 26 options. Unfortunately, most felt negligible in moment-to-moment fights.

Your basic chomp will eventually kill anything. Boat-damage upgrades seemed to make little difference, so I ran health and resource-gain for most of my playtime; I never felt like I needed better armour or flashier abilities. Dodge evolutions that emit poison or electricity don’t do enough damage to feel transformative.

Animal and human encounters become repetitive fast, and there’s little incentive to change tactics: bite, dodge, repeat. Low on health? Swim away, eat small fish, return. Human boats posed no real threat once I learned their weapon patterns, and apart from later explosives they never get smarter.

Your first human beach massacre is silly fun — panicked crowds basically stand still as you gulp them down — but the gag runs out of steam by the credits.

Each region’s apex predator “boss” is just a bigger, reskinned version of that area’s main enemy (crocodile first, hammerhead next, and so on). Tactics never really change: dodge, bite, heal, repeat.

It’s a pity, because there are cool ideas — grabbing a swordfish to javelin an enemy; blasting up from beneath to throw people off boats — but none of it is required. I’d have loved more mission variety and some stealth: stalking prey to feel like a true hunter. Instead, the action stays manic and silly; it fits the tone, but stales quickly.

Major frame-rate drops also hurt the experience. Free-swimming is fine, but add a handful of enemies and it dips; add a few more and boat fights can chug into the 10–15 fps range on PS4 Pro.

All of your actions are accompanied by Chris Parnell, playing the narrator of an in-game doco series, Maneaters vs Sharkhunters. I’m not sure if there are meant to be invisible camera crews following you — it doesn’t really matter. Parnell’s commentary adds a lot, especially his location blurbs as you explore. Without him, the game would feel lonely; with him, low frame-rate moments or tedious chum-grinds are softened by a wry quip.

As a collect-athon, Maneater will suit Crackdown fans or anyone craving a smaller-scale box-ticking fix than Ubisoft’s epics. Despite the technical mess at times, I got an old-school buzz from clearing the map. It doesn’t overstay its welcome either: you can chomp through the campaign in an afternoon and snag some laughs from the revenge story and goofy antics. Just beware the current performance issues and glitches keeping this one beached for now.

(Maneater code provided for review)