Maneater | Review: We played the Nintendo Switch version

Maneater | Review

Have you always wanted to play a shark in an RPG? If the answer is yes, know that Maneater could tease you a lot. It must be said, however, that after the first few minutes of enthusiasm and eating the first prey, the production signed by Tripwire Interactive and Blindside Interactive ends up in a boredom that is sometimes unjustified and hardly bearable.

Before going into the merits of the production, however, we specify that, as the title suggests, this review is dedicated to the Nintendo Switch version, a port that refers to the version for PlayStation 4 and Xbox already released last year. In particular, therefore, we will focus on the performance of the game on the Nintendo hybrid, while still providing you with a good overview of the possibilities offered by this bizarre production.

Before starting, we remind you to also take a look at the Xbox One version tested by our Giacomo Todeschini.

There is also the plot!

Let's start with a pretty simple question: what is Maneater? An equally simple answer could be: a game in which you do nothing but eat and eat, ad nauseam, almost to exhaustion. But there is more, perhaps the element that has been able to surprise us most positively. Basically, and here the title of the game is explained even more closely, Maneater is a fictional TV show created by the developers to set up a narrative component, and therefore a game that does not know only about gameplay. The premise is simple but crazy, in some ways. A squire named Pete, known as the Squamato, a professional shark hunter ready to kill galore, encounters the most difficult prey of his ruthless career. Having caught a Mother Shark with no little difficulty, the grumpy Pete skins her belly and extracts a baby shark which, without thinking for a moment, bites off one hand and escapes from the boat.

In this way, begins a very complicated (yes, we're laughing) story of revenge that will see the baby shark avenge its mother. The good Steven Spielberg, faced with such a plot, can only learn silènte.

Seriously, but not too many, we officially enter the heart of production, precisely in swampy Louisiana. Although it is an open world, clearly we will not have very large spaces available, mostly rather claustrophobic relics. It is true, in some ways it may seem absurd, given that we are called to move in the infinite freedom of the sea, but so it is. The developers, evidently, in an attempt to offer waters that are not trivially infinite expanses within which to move, have changed the formula a little, except that the entire adventure will be almost identical in the foundations related to the setting and the spaces, despite the different scenarios.

Having said that, let's get back to serious things, the real flab: in the role of the bad shark we will have to feed continuously, where every single kill will be fundamental for our growth - literally - and to acquire new skills in order to advance. level. One of the most interesting elements of the production, in fact, and this time we are serious, is precisely the continuous physical mutation of our shark, which will eventually become a megalodon with generous dimensions, although not excessive. In this regard, it is perhaps appropriate to immediately enter the merits of the Switch version, which unfortunately does not allow us to fully appreciate the lines of the shark, due to the demerit of a low resolution in portable mode. The other versions, in fact, not least the PlayStation 5 given to users subscribing to the PlayStation Plus, allow us to really appreciate the shark model, with attention to the smallest details by the developers, an absolute value of the production.

If the animations and the model have pleasantly impressed us, the same cannot be said of the controls. Simply swimming in a northerly direction, nothing strange or annoying, but when we suddenly begin to swerve left and right, especially during the fights, everything sobs and loses fluidity, even visual. In addition to the controls, the camera also has its fair share of faults: targeting a prey, at times, is anything but immediate and legible. A result also the result of the choices made in the design of the environments and the model of the shark, which together disorient the player several times making him lose sight of the prey previously observed.

A role-playing game on sharks (?)

We said at the beginning that it is a role-playing game. In this regard, all the prey we have killed will provide us with two different types of materials, namely minerals and oil, which will be invested in the caves, which also act as checkpoints. There are also several skills that increase and speed up digestion or improve the sonar in order to find our prey more easily.

Regarding the activities, however, as can be guessed from what has been said, Maneater certainly does not shine for variety. A rather linear plot is the background to a usual scheme made up of primary and secondary missions, which as implicitly said tend to repeat themselves too often. Swim and eat, without any particular creative flicks, will therefore be the only two things you will do throughout the game.

How does it run on Nintendo Switch?

Maneater is certainly not an incredible production from a purely technical point of view, it is not on PC or next-generation consoles, let alone on Nintendo Switch. Played on the Lite model of the console, however, (the only model on which we have had the opportunity to try the game) the image appears satisfactory, thanks to a not too large screen, although the resolution and the elements on the screen that make up the scenario they didn't seem particularly sharp. The same goes for the frame rate, which does not excel but remains stable to the point of allowing the games to flow in serenity.

Regarding the portability of the console, moreover, it is curious how this element benefits in favor of production: in essence, being a game that goes well with short-lived sessions, a stroll and away, so to speak, played Nintendo Switch its potential is almost amplified; whether you are out and about or between breaks at work, you may feel the need to take out the console for a quick game.