Whimsical, snappy, trashy: "Maneater" becomes a Sharknado for gamers

Eating yourself at the top of the food chain as a horror of the seas: "Maneater" offers the action-packed evolutionary story of a deadly bull shark with a high entertainment factor. But at some corners it grinds.

Film and television have given the shark the scary stamp of the aggressive eating machine, which sometimes likes to nibble on people. And although this can be refuted by statistics and research results, one can slip into the role of a man-eating bull shark in "Maneater" by developer TripWire. A Hollywood-style staging combined with trash elements.

The story begins with the villain of the game: Scaly Pete. An exaggerated American hillbilly with a beer belly and arms thick like thighs, who lives by the motto: Only a dead shark is a good shark. He is also the main actor in a reality TV show in which sharks are hunted. After slicing his first big catch, he pulls a fidgeting shark baby out of mom's belly. Just before he wants to kill the little one, it snaps shut and the hand is off. The shark flees and from then on the player slips into the role of the young animal who wants to avenge his mother's death.

Not only the cutscenes are based on TV productions, there is also a speaker who accompanies us from the young animal to the six-meter killing machine. The death in the game is then always commented with a biting sense of humor and at the same time it is pointed out that significantly more sharks die from human hands annually than vice versa.

In addition, the speaker provides an enormous amount of shark facts. For example why you are not playing a Great White Shark but a Bull Shark. This is because they are not only responsible for most attacks on humans, but can also occur in both fresh and salt water.

Between baracudas and alligators

This enables greater scope in the open world. Right at the start, the little junior shark has to deal with catfish, pike and crocodiles in a swamp. Only step by step our bull shark swims into new waters, which are all lovingly designed and eye-catchers. From coasts, marinas to contaminated lakes, everything is there.

While the waters vary and provide variety, the quests are rather simple: kill ten fish of a certain species, eat a certain number of bathers, collect garbage like license plates.

If our shark has reached a certain size, it is important to conquer the top of the food chain and to challenge the top predator of the respective pond. These can be baracudas, alligators or other species – of course, in extra-large and extra-dangerous.

Maneater Day One Edition (Playstation 4)

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Boss fights are a real test of patience in "Maneater". This is not because of the level of difficulty, but because of the cumbersome controls. This may be due to the movement in the water, but the rapidly changing camera perspectives cause a lot of confusion. Because there is the possibility to focus the opponent during an attack, but not to fix him with the camera. Accordingly, the player has to swivel them again and again and look for the opponent – in all directions.

Trashy but entertaining

The chaotic camera work complicates the actually manageable combat system. Different bite attacks, evasion and a slash with the fin – the whole thing can then be combined with jumps. So that the bite does not always remain the same, evolution must be promoted with role-playing elements. The shark's sonar can be improved, as can the periosteum. As in trashy shark B movies, you can even give your little monster an electric dent.

In many moments, "Maneater" is similar to trash films like "Sharknado". There are a few things that are not really round, the story tends to be off-the-shelf and there are loose slogans in the constant fire. Anyone who gets involved will still feel very well entertained for over ten hours – even if it does not smell of a continuation of the shark adventure.

. (tagsToTranslate) Technology (t) Games (t) Video Games (t) Sharks