The beauty of the Xbox Gamepass is that you can try out games that you think look good, but that you'd probably not pick up in a shop. There are some games where the very concept of them sounds cool, but thanks to lack of funds you just can't justify buying them. Maneater is one of these games for me. I'd seen it on the Xbox store, saw the trailer for it and thought 'I definitely need to try this one out'; and I am so glad that I had that opportunity to.
The game begins by putting you in control of a bull shark, whose life is being narrated by a voice over like you're on a nature documentary; a voice over that some folks may recognise as Chris Parnell, well known for his roles in Rick and Morty and Archer. This immediately sets the tone for the game, telling the player that this is not a game that you're going to be taking seriously, and where you should expect to have a lot of fun.
From here players head into a small bay, where you're introduced to the various ways to control your fishy avatar, including how to attack and eat everything in the water (humans included), before going up against a shark hunter named Scaly Pete, who captures and kills the bull shark. Thus it is revealed that we're not going to be playing as this shark, but instead the one inside her. Our new shark is born, managing to chomp of Pete's hand in the process, before being dropped into the bayou.
Now in control of our real character, a tiny baby shark, we begin the game in earnest, exploring our environment, chomping down other fishies to level up and get bigger, and trying to avoid larger predators. This early stage of the game is actually genuinely challenging, and I found myself having to run away from large predators a number of times as I swam into range of an alligator whilst scouting out the area. The first few hours were spent carefully exploring, ticking off objectives from my map, whilst trying to gain enough experience to level up to a point where the other nasties wouldn't mean an instant death sentence for me.
After a while you're able to collect enough experience, as well as the various elements that you will need to unlock and upgrade different abilities, and the game becomes a little less challenging, and a lot more fun. By completing missions and grabbing collectables more locations begin to open up, including a polluted bay, an island golf resort, a tourist filled beach, and the deep ocean. Each new area brings with it more stuff to find and unlock, as well as new prey and challenges. Despite being the same water, with every area connected, it feels surprisingly varied, and some of the final locations are starkly different from those at the beginning.
Simply exploring these areas is a huge part of the fun of the game. Swimming through shoals of fish, gliding through sunken ship and over coral reefs is actually quite relaxing, and if you keep on grabbing food as you go simply swimming around taking everything in will keep you in enough elements to keep unlocking upgrades at a steady pace. Exploring also allows you to find 'locations', points of interest around the maps that grab you experience. These are always worth checking out, not just for the upgrades and to fully tick off all your tasks, but because they're usually a lot of fun to see, and contain some decent jokes. One location took me to a sea sponge home which turned out to be a pineapple, another had me discovering giant doors on the bottom of the ocean kept closed with chains that had the narrator confirming the existence of kaiju, and a bag filled with hockey stick on the golf course seemed to imply that this game takes place in the same universe as Happy Gilmore.
The humour of the game is easily one of the biggest selling points, as it means that you're never left sitting there thinking 'this thing is too silly', because the game lives on being silly. The jokes scattered around the map do this, as do the ridiculous things your shark can do, like flopping up onto land and eating people in the street. If the game didn't embrace the silliness it wouldn't be half as enjoyable as it is.
As well as unlocking locations around the map your shark will be going up against some Apex Predators, mini-bosses that will range from no problem at all to ones where you'll be taking a few attempts to beat depending on how much you level up. Early game bosses like barracuda's and alligators won't be too much of an issue f your the same level or higher, but as the game caps your level at thirty, the later game bosses like level forty killer whale, or the level sixty sperm whale will present a genuine challenge where most other things won't. But, as I was comfortably eating great white sharks at this point suddenly having to play smart and use tactics was a pleasant surprise.
The game also has some great unlockables for your shark, with mutations that allow you to customise your play style. You'll be able to equip different base bodies, tails, teeth, heads, and fins that allow you to do different attacks, and alter your speeds and bonuses. Not only do these upgrades allow you to change the way you play, but it will mean your shark will take on some interesting attributes, and come away looking like a monster from myth.
I really enjoy games where I get to explore open worlds and grab collectables; even if there are no achievements or challenges connected to going everywhere and doing everything I'll often find myself doing it anyway as I need to tick off every item and remove every marker from my map. And in some cases a lot of those kinds of games can begin to feel generic, and samey. Maneater, however, felt so different and fresh. Getting to swim through these environments, rather than just running and climbing, added a whole new feel. It felt fresh and new and unique in ways I've not experienced for a while.
As someone who doesn't get to play nearly as many video games as I used to I had an absolute blast sinking a couple of days into this game. I had fun exploring and collecting, the combat was different, and it was packed full of humour. I think this is going to be one of those games that I'll be recommending to folks for a good while to come.
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