Developer: Tripwire Interactive, Blindside Interactive
Publisher: Tripwire Interactive
Platform: PC, Xbox One, PS4, Switch
Tested on: Switch
Maneater (Switch) – Review
Last year we had something to sink our teeth in with the release of Maneater. This Jaws-like action game proved to be entertaining, albeit with a lot of rough edges which diminished the overall fun and quality of the game. Nonetheless, we still gave the game a fairly high score, as it was just easy to get into, with an original theme and protagonist. Now, a year later, the announced Switch version is trying to dock in these shark-infested waters, but sadly it is watered down to somewhat function on Nintendo’s console. Before even diving deeper into this short review about the Switch version, we advise you to first read our original review here. As this game is a port, we’ll just be handling the differences and the overall quality.
We were quite eager to don our shark suit again and start munching unsuspecting humans, while also taking out the hunters who chase our shark. The overall offset of the game remains the same as its PC counterpart, and that department just plays out fine. It’s mainly the gameplay and the graphical quality of the Switch port that leave a lot to be desired.
Starting off with the graphics of the Switch version, we can immediately say that the game looks horrible on the Switch. True, there are few nice textures here and there, mainly when it comes to the other aquatic beings and the landmarks, but all the rest is truly dated and horrible-looking. When underwater, things look a bit muddier, making the quality difference less noticeable. When finally hunting humans on land, however, Maneater looks like a very bad PlayStation 1 game. The humans you eat often don’t even have any textures, making them just pink slabs of pixels that provide you nutrients and infamy when eating them. Even the bigger hunters that come after you do not have any proper details to them, making it feel like only a portion of the game (underwater) was handled with some care, before the developing team decided the game would otherwise be too heavy to run on the Switch. We already feared the worst when we already had frame drops by just going through the boot-up screen where the different companies involved would display their respective logos. Things get even worse when you combine this with horrible camera views, and, as we mentioned in the original review, no proper way of locking on to your target(s). We didn’t notice any bigger frame drops when playing in handheld mode, which is at least something.
In terms of gameplay, you still go through different areas, trying to kill humans, defeat stronger hostile creatures and uncover many secrets. This standard gameplay loop remains entertaining and fun to play through. Sadly, that fun is also strongly diminished by the many bugs present in the game. More than once, after being hit, we could not move anymore for several seconds, or when we were fighting another creature, it would just dance around the screen, as if you were playing an online CoD match on dial-up internet. It was just absurd at times to be battling another apex predator, to have them spawn 100 meters further after you’ve hit them, all while struggling with the game’s horrible lack of a proper targeting system. More than once enemies would also stop moving, and we actually suspect that some of the unlocked skills just didn’t work at times. We also noticed, and this has nothing to do with the developers of this game, that the Joy-Cons and even the Pro Controller are very unpleasant to play this game with. As you are basically spamming the evade and lunge buttons when playing this game, you notice that both controller types actually make your hands hurt fairly soon. We didn’t have this issue when playing the game on PC, with a controller that has proper triggers.
Conclusion
We’re going to man the harpoons and be straightforward here, the Switch port is poorly handled. Not only does the graphical quality of the game pale in comparison to the already simple looks of the PC version, but the frame drops are also at times extremely bad, making it hard to actually play the game. More than once we found ourselves struggling with the camera, the many small bugs that occur during combat, and the overall wonky controls. Even with its fun theme and original story in place, we recommend you try out this game on PC or one of the other available platforms. If you only have a Switch at your disposal, we suggest waiting for a heavy discount. The core is still very amusing, but it just gets dragged to the bottom of the ocean due to its many faults.
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