(AfroGamers.com) The year was 2020 and one of the games I wasn’t paying attention to was Tripwire Interactive’s Maneater. I remember seeing Maneater on the PSN and not being particularly interested in playing an action game featuring a shark. I didn’t even think it was about hunting the shark, just playing as one didn’t seem interesting at all.
Honestly, a lot of the titles Tripwire worked on didn’t catch my eye until I played Chivalry 2 and was caught up in this feudal version of the Battlefield games. Even that wasn’t enough to make me say “Let’s really look in their catalog and see if there’s any bangers.” So there Maneater sat for years until the summer of 2024.
Checking Out Maneater
Now, I enjoy nature and survival shows. My favorites were always Wild America, Meerkat Manor, and Survivorman. Listen, “Never Loud” Les Stroud could make a campfire with roughly anything you leave with him. One thing about that show: he’s going to make a fire and his first dwelling will always be poorly suited for the weather.
Anyway, those shows didn’t feature sharks and I was never the biggest fan of Discovery Channel’s Shark Week. My favorite sea animal? The narwhal and the octopus but I don’t believe either of those two have such bad press that a cable network made a week around them. I’m just saying, folks.
So, I dropped back onto the PSN looking for an RPG to pair with Destiny 2: The Final Shape when I see Maneater in the listings. That was a shocker because I never expected the game to be an RPG. Curious about what kind it was, I checked out the summary and peeped a few screenshots. Well, graphically it was on par with what you’d expect of a game of the period. I wouldn’t say it was outdated at all but it didn’t exactly wow me either.
Of course, I’ve never been a big “Games need good graphics to be a good game guy” more games have looked pretty and been trash to mid at best compared to games that didn’t look the greatest or was appeared dated only to have a good story and gameplay. You’d think that shouldn’t happen but studios put a lot of time and money into games that don’t live up to expectations.
In short, Maneater didn’’t look awful. The gameplay didn’t appear too interesting but two terms drew me in: “open world” and “skills”. If it had said “skill tree” my hesitation would’ve turn into a need to play this just to see how it was done. Instead, I simply installed it to play when I wasn’t on go time in Destiny 2.
Hands-On in the Bayou with a Bull Shark
I finally sat down to play what was supposed to be a bit of Maneater but turned into several hours. The game’s story unfolds via the eponymous Maneaters vs. Sharkhunters reality TV show, based on any number of blue-collar adventure reality TV shows the Discovery Channel and the History Channel got busy with. Your antagonist is a Cajun shark hunter Scaly Pete.
Part of Pete’s motivation to kill sharks is the feud his father had with one of the sea predators. The shark that kicks off your adventure is the mother of the protagonist which is caught by Scaly Pete and killed. Surviving after biting off the hunter’s hand, your shark’s adventure begins in the fictional Fawtick Bayou.
Your objective in the game is to grow the bull shark pup into a powerful hunter and terror in the open-world aquatic environment surrounding the bayou. I’ll say the map is a good size, the tutorial wasn’t too lengthy and actually got you into the man-eating part pretty early. Surprisingly, the combat mechanics were pretty damn good as far as attacking while defense required some practice.
The best thing is that the controls weren’t overly involved. They didn’t have you doing anything particularly complicated to do what should be simple actions. Leveling up the shark took some work but the process itself is simple. The game has a couple of systems to keep the player involved and tinkering with the shark’s trait which I find very interesting.
My fascination with Maneater comes from putting to the theme with this game style and coming up with something that works and is playable—and I love stumbling across games like this.
Have you played Maneater? If so what were your impressions of the game? Also, what a game that you weren’t interested in at first that got your attention when you gave it a try? Let us know in the comments!
Staff Writer; M. Swift
This talented writer is also a podcast host, and comic book fan who loves all things old school. One may also find him on Twitter at; metalswift.