The World of Myth Magazine

One would think that during these troublesome times, with both the pandemic and the onset of winter, I would have a list of games completed and ready for review. The trouble is that games these days are enormous, time-consuming monsters with hundreds of gameplay hours. And while I can multi-game, which keeps me from getting too bored and losing interest in playing, I still long for the quick but fun games. Interestingly enough, when a local movie and game rental place had their going out of business sale, I found just that.

What I discovered was a game I never knew existed, which surprised me. I've been doing my due diligence every couple of weeks, trying to keep myself up to date in the world of video games. But, this one particular title slipped through my radar. And that, my friends, is the game Maneater.

Developed by Tripwire Interactive (who also had a hand in publishing alongside Deep Silver) and Blindside Interactive, Maneater launched between several dates ranging from May 22nd, 2020, to November 12th of 2020. Not only did it come out for the PC, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4, but it was set up to be played on the new-gen consoles.

Maneater, a single-player, action role-playing game in which the player gets to take on the role of a bull shark who's hell-bent on revenge for the murder of its mother. Starting as a baby shark (and yes, that song haunts me every time I think about this), you must fight and eat, mostly eat, your way through the story. But how boring that would be, if not because when you kill certain apex predators, you take on certain evolutional traits that do much in making the game more interesting. Your shark gains abilities such as enhanced sonar, external bone plates, and electromagnetic spikes, just to name a few, all designed to help you create as much havoc as only a video game shark can. As you grow from a baby to an elder, you unlock missions and areas to explore, which offer a treasure trove of hidden chests and the like. And, to make things interesting and more fun, Chris Parnell, the host of Maneaters vs. Sharkhunters, narrates throughout the game with tidbits of interesting facts.

Okay, as I stated before, the game's basics are to eat your way up the food chain, during which you mature from pup to elder. Food consists of a smorgasbord of wildlife, like turtles and various fish, which offer the life-sustaining proteins, fats, and minerals that every growing man-eating shark needs. Oh, yeah, I forgot to mention that humans are among the most predominant meals on the menu.

It is strange to mention that eating humans is more fun than I care to mention. One does not merely prey upon the unsuspecting swimmer but can jump out of the water and attack them on their boats, jet skis, or even on land as long as you hop your way back into the water before you run out of air. Wait, does a fish out of water run out of air? Anyway, I digress.

Now, if I were on the reader's side of this review, I would be thinking that for as much fun as it sounds to wage war on humankind by eating them, I would imagine that would get boring fast. Well, enter the shark hunters. That's right, as you chew your way to infamy, bounties get placed on you, to which the game unleashes the bounty hunters, who, having a surprising accuracy skill, fight to end your reign of terror. Gain enough infamy, and the big bosses come to play. Eating them makes the game that much more fun!

Graphically, Epic Games, and their Unreal Engine 4, does a decent job. Swimming through the water feels smooth, and with the ability to make quick changes in direction, things just seem to click. However, the depiction of the human characters is just as campy as the whole storyline is. It's obvious the creators spent more time on the wildlife, putting much less time into the non-animal personalities.

All in all, it took me about fifteen hours of grinding to reach the highest level, unlock all the evolution perks, and end the game. And, for as much fun as it was to eat everything in sight, the urge to play beyond that just isn't really there. So, to sum things up, the storyline is interesting. The gameplay is fun enough, and the graphics are not too shabby, but the replay is lacking, and in order to advance in levels, you really have to grind your way to the top. But, to be fair, I can see myself hopping back into the game every so often, just to take fifteen minutes to eat some simulated people when the real ones around me get annoying.

All in all, I give Maneater a solid three stars. It's fun to play but is short with little replayability.

And that's it for this month, my friends. As always, if you wish to make a game request or to send a word out about what you like or dislike about these reviews, shoot them to wickedwisdom@outlook.com.

Till next month, game on!