Maneater

Maneater's deep combat and deeper oceans provide just the type of blissful escapism we need right now.

Maneater sets out to deliver a specific experience and ends up nailing that, but not much else.

While its story missions and their variety can be improved upon, especially when it comes to the endgame, Maneater is an absolute blast. The open world is beautiful, captivating and inviting for players of all kinds, the combat is incredibly fun, and it has a nice and sharp bit of humor to it as well, reveling in just how much the people of Port Clovis are obvious jerks...which only makes it more enjoyable to rip them apart, of course. It might not be on par with the likes of Jaws, but what we have here is still one stellar b-movie to gleefully go nuts in. And sometimes, that's really all you ...

Last year, the gaming waters turned bloody with the arrival of Maneater, the self-proclaimed shARk-PG that puts players into the role of a shark. It’s combination of engaging story, unique gameplay, and witty humour made it a beloved hit for many gamers. Even our COGconnected review gave it a solid score, noting only a handful of minor grievances. Now, a year later, Maneater makes its splash onto the Switch. Just imagine some unlucky vacationer, floating in the ocean on a pink flamingo raft, playing Maneater on his portable Switch, when suddenly a shark bursts from the sea and swallows the poo...

While Maneater has its problems, it can also be fun once you get used to the combat. However, those on the fence should wait for a patch or two before investing.

Maneater's ability to make you feel like a nonsensically powerful prehistoric monster is matched only by its comedic chops, but it's marred by loose, frantic combat.

Maneater is a pretty decent take on the open-world action-adventure RPG formula that GTA has popularized. While some of its elements feel quite lacking, many of what it has to offer is pretty well-done and entertaining. It’s definitely worth trying for fans of GTA-style games who are looking for something especially different.

There's no game that makes you feel like a shark quite as well as Maneater, but a shoddy open world structure and repetitive missions make it little more than a quick rush of adrenaline.

Repetitive tasks take a big bite out of the fun in Tripwire's grisly action-RPG.

Maneater is a great idea for a video game, a ridiculous shark revenge fantasy in an open world setting with plenty of humour injected through its unique narrative framing and the vocal talents of Chris Parnell. However, as much as terrorising beach goers and snatching hunters from the bows of their fishing boats is a pretty good time, and as much as we enjoyed watching our orphaned bull shark grow from helpless pup to apex predator, the whole thing is let down by poor combat and the very worst kind of busywork side quests. With a little more variety in missions and a few refinements made to co...

Once you finish the story – which boils down to about five minutes worth of plot – you have the freedom to explore the whole island (loading screens do pop-up between areas). But the post-game activities – the ones that you engage with to 100% a game – are the same activities you’ve been grinding your way through to “complete” Maneater. Your average shark might not be interested in putting the world to rights, but it’s hard to connect with Maneater‘s world when you barely make a ripple.

So many games only let me play as a human. Sure, that’s fun, but it’s not really taking full advantage of games’ ability to let us be and do anything. Maneater gets it. In Maneater, I’m not a dull person—I’m a shark. A dangerous, agile, and cool shark, free to swim anywhere and eat whatever and whoever I like. Sadly, most of what this cool shark does is a bunch of repetitive missions.