As shallow as the levels you play in. Maneater seems like it tries to do something new but the original ideas unfortunately begin and end with "you play as shark". Rest of the game design is so unimaginative and repetitive that it makes Ubisoft game design feel deep as Mariana Trench. I played Maneater for 12 hours and this what I did in the first hour, last hour and ten hours in between:
- I've followed a question mark and then I've clicked on 10 things to eat them (side quests)
- I've followed a question mark and then I've click on 1 big thing until it died (hunt quests)
- I've followed a question mark and then I've click to get resources (collectibles)
- I've clicked on continuously respawning ships for 10 minutes, then another ship appeared and I clicked on it some more to win (infamy quests)
That's it, that's the whole game. I wish I was kidding.
So for whom is this for if not someone who expects to have fun in video games? If you like chores list of artificial busywork that makes you feel like you're progressing towards something, this is it get it now. Otherwise play anything else.
[h1]PROS[/h1]
+ unique concept
+ decent level art and environmental story-telling
+ some good attempts at humor, fun references here and there
+ Chris Parnell's excellent narration carrying the whole game on his back
[h1]CONS[/h1]
- repetitive right from the start, first 30 minutes of this game and you've seen it all
- all quests are in their essence the very same (go here and click until the thing opens/sinks/dies), none of them fun
- extremely dull fight design, mostly you click until the things dies which makes the overall repepetitivness so much worse
- some odd and annoying design choices (can't fast travel because a barracuda somewhere in the oceans wants to fight me, so I have to reload the game and then fast travel.. why)
- probably the most shallow collectathon of artificial busywork signaled by icons and question marks on your map
- sometimes frustrating controls, this was definitely made with gamepad in mind
- Truth Quest DLC is paid and opens only after finishing the main game (this is con for me, because the Truth Quest added a tiny bit of variety that the game needed from the start)
- some inexplicable stutters here and there (and extreme portion of them added in Truth Quest)
[h1]VERDICT[/h1]
I've played prototypes that offered more gameplay variety than Maneater. If I could give negative review twice I would. Once of it's extremely dull, shallow and repetitive game design and second for the frustrating infamy quests that takes ages until the boss appears so you can finally kill them. I will never understand the 87% of positive reviews, I must've played different game.
