For some time I have been toying with buying Maneater, not the popular song by Nelly Furtado, who apparently is still making music. The reason for my hesitation was that I thought a game where you play a shark the whole game sounded fun but might get old quickly. However it was on special the other day in the PlayStation Store and thought why not?
I love crisps and the last couple of years that has increased ten fold, because of this I am always looking for something new to try. Pringles has just released Sizzlin' Extra Hot Cheese Chilli, seeing them in my local Tesco I thought why not pick up a tube. It's important to know I like heat in my crisps and really like cheese so the two combined is amazing. I tried one and very quickly the tube was out of crisps, perhaps I got a faulty batch as I can't remember eating them all. They are tasty as hell and could be mine new favorite but only time will tell. Playing I found myself asking was the tube nearly empty only just after I started?
Story
The game is about a TV series called Maneater which follows the exploits of Scaly Pete, a shark hunter like his father before him. The story starts with you as a fully grown bull shark, quickly Pete catches you and guts you...like a fish. Inside he finds a female pup, he decides to cut the hell out of it and throw it into the ocean so he can identify it later in life. That is dark, not Black Ops Dark or Space Dark but pretty dark all the same. You take over playing as this baby shark (do do do do do) whose traumatic birth means you want revenge, but don't worry it's not all serious. The game is commentated by a couple of different people as you play, lot of wit and comical banter. Outside of this there are many nods to pop culture presented in the best possible way.
Overall the story is really good, the humor reminded me of that in Saints Rows 3, and is also a reason I have now download the remastered edition of that game yesterday, whoop whoop!
Visuals
The visuals are really cool, the waters you traverse are filled with life, when brushing off plants they move, fish scatter when you near and having a mixture of industrial areas and marinas is great. There are also deep sea caves, and if you are feeling adventurous you can leap onto the golf course. Something really fun is do the classical Jaws move and leave your fin out of the water while moving fast, it looks good and makes you feel like Queen of the Waters.
I think most people who play games can agree what levels in games generally suck, for a multitude of reasons. One issue can be that it can look bland and difficult to see clearly, rarely did I find that to the case with Maneater, and the ability to use sonar made even dense areas easy enough to navigate.
Music
The music features a mixture of Cajun, epic movie score sounds and the kind of music you would find in David Attenborough documentaries, but does it work? Yes it does! The score is created by LA based composer Daniel James, best known for his work on Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, Honor Of Kings, Call Of Duty Black Ops Cold War and a host of shorts, animated shows and movies.
The soundtrack is around an hour long and features twenty-six tracks. Some of my favorite tracks included; 'A Taste Of Flesh', 'The Great Hunter', 'They Bite Back', 'Unfortunate Outcomes', 'What You Sow', and 'Apex Predators'. Overall an awesome soundtrack!
Gameplay
I cannot express enough how fun the gameplay is, you go from innocent looking pup to killer of the sea. With the ocean being an all you can eat buffet it is easy to level up, all you need to do is keep on swimming.
Initially you start as small pup bull shark, completing main story missions, objects and devouring collectibles you will grow in size, but wait there's more. As the game progresses you can change the look of the shark massively, from a more delicate almost dragon look to a prehistoric looking machine of death. Each part of the body can be then upgraded to make you faster and stronger and as the game progresses you are going to need it. Outside of the upgrading the body there other abilities which can help increase your sonar ability, health and even how long you can last on land before you need to jump back into the big blue.
There is lots to do, from culling sea life in the way only a shark can, to consuming pesky humans, collecting nutrient crates, license plates and landmarks (probably my favorite due to the dialogue). The are apex predators which can sometimes be tough going, and if you are looking to make a name for yourself and love the power you get from biting humans in half you will incur the wrath of bounty hunters. Also if you are like me each area has a percentage completion attached to it which really helps encourages to do everything in the game.
Overall the gameplay is fantastic and part of me wanted the game to be longer, which is great because in January 2021 Tripwire and Blindside Interactive announced they were working on a DLC, yay!
Final Thoughts
So, after fifteen hours how did I feel? Excited, happy and wanting more. The main storyline is serious and everything else is covered in healthy serving of silliness. The visuals look great and very rarely did I have issues with navigating the ocean depths. The music really good and is nice blend of styles. The gameplay is awesome and never got too flustered playing even with the final boss who was a pain. This one gets a solid 5 out of 5
No comments:
Post a Comment