Maneater Reviews
Maneater is an enjoyable open-world romp that is just a bit too straightforward and contains more than a handful of bugs and performance issues.
Maneater is a delirious and fun experience for the first few hours. But quickly you'll get a bit bored repeating the same thing over and over again.
Review in French | Read full review
There simply isn’t anything else like it, even if it does follow some of the more rote open-world playbook rules when it comes to progression and collectibles. A choppy framerate in intense sequences is really one of the only things holding the experience back, but like a fisherman without a hand—or a leg—it doesn’t stop me from heading back to the open water for more.
Fun open world snack for in between, but lacking the last bite
Review in German | Read full review
Maneater is a weirdly entertaining game that gets boring too fast before it can achieve true fun.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Maneater is a game that could have been good but was too obsessed with forcing players to interact with its low points to make its high points shine.
Maneater's sluggish start soon makes way for a ridiculous and extremely fun shark 'em up gaming experience that homes in on its B-movie roots.
If the idea of zoning out and basking in the serenity of being an unstoppable predator sounds appealing, then consider this an inviting summertime snack.
I'd be lying if I said I'm not happy with the pace my life has taken from a while to this part. Understand me, I keep crying every night when I remember the moment my mother is murdered. Luckily, that made me a lot stronger. I survived death and evolved beyond what many believed to be impossible. Now, I'm a perfectly oiled killing machine that has learned from your mistakes with this look into the past provided to me by Maneater. And if anyone bothers me, I'll rip the flesh off so hard that he'll want to be in hell.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Like a sneaky, deadly hunter, Maneater plunges into the turbulent depths of the video game market in search of unsuspecting victims. He intrigues them with the promise of a compelling exploration, attracts them winking at a stimulating progression, opens his jaws to emphasize the exaltation of a fierce predatory experience. But be careful: if someone really had to approach him, he would end up in a lake of blood. Tripwire's dogfish has unseen teeth, moves with unmanageable spasms, and fails to vary either its diet, nor the bleak routine of a boring, mechanical hunt. Stranded on the sand, await the sad fate that touches all the fish left in the sun.
Review in Italian | Read full review
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 combat, this could have been a killer action-RPG. As things stand, however, it's all a little toothless.
It's hard to deny that Maneater has colossal potential – though the lack of mission variety and some simplistic combat does lend it to feeling repetitious as time goes on. Putting these flaws aside, however, Maneater deserves kudos for an undeniably unique premise and laying a solid foundation for a franchise that developer Tripwire should almost certainly pursue.
Maneater perfectly embodies the fantasy of being a super-powerful shark to great effect, even if there are some small technical issues and rough-around-the-edges gameplay decisions. It never overstays its welcome and is fun to devour a few hours here and there.
Maneater is not a perfect game. It can be just a bit unbalanced, and you can start to see the gameplay seams on extended play sessions, but that doesn’t stop it from being a hell of a lot of fun. Maneater is simply worth your time, blemishes and all.
While Maneater is certainly a title that works for me in terms of its humour and an engaging core gameplay loop, its graphic nature means it’s not going to be for everyone. If you don’t mine a little gore — okay, make that a lot of gore — this unique experience should be right up your alley.
Maneater is a fantastic central concept around which an intermittently enjoyable game has been built. It might not be a classic, but it'll be hard to forget, and that's the kind of game that typically seems better as time goes by. Expect to see this absurd bit of bloody, barbaric business pop up on lists of cult favorites for years to come, and deservedly so.
Maneater may delight some with its appeal to the player's schadenfreude and the quirkiness of playing as a shark, but its simplicity and antiquated nature will leave many wishing for a game that was more evolved.
If there’s anything Maneater will be remembered for, it’s the fun and wacky nature that comes with it.