Development time lead to an Epic store exclusive which lead to more dev time and a release on Epic and another year wait and more waiting.... It was finally released on Steam last month (May 25th 2021).
That's almost a three year wait.
That same launch event had another games initial release info; Two Point Hospital. Another quirky and fun game to watch.... And play. I did and have since played it to death a long time ago. No real waiting required...... Strange/funny how things go like that.
So in balance, from that E3 show I got a game I had to wait for and another I got to play soon after. Never mind wait times...The real difference in retrospect is that I really, really like Two Point Hospital and Maneater is 'just' OK. Both games with their own flaws but one has some that are more forgivable than others. Spoiler... It's not Maneater.
During that 3 year wait time I've seen and watched a good few Youtubers playManeater and while not spoiling to much for myself kept my interest afloat. But in the end I decided not to buy.
So why waffle about a game I've not bought; Thankfully the joys of Xbox Ultimate allowing access to games and has let me play Maneater for no cost other than what I was already paying for Ultimate.....
The youtubers I've watched had issues with the game. Mainly the lock on control choice; And I can now see why as it's annoying A.F. Range based 'auto-change' as a target lock is a bad mechanic here because there are so many targets. Especially in some of the tighter game spaces(tunnels/sewers). The games controller setup is also a bit of a head wrecking experience, at least for me. That's coming from a gamer who is enjoying the button mashing of Hades right now. Anyway for me the controls are not intuitive. So much so that I'd rather not use some moves and stick to basic lunging attacks.
Submerge, target, lunge and or lunge jump. If it wasn't for the epic sounds of the targets(mainly human) and the commentator/humour it could've been a game that got stale faster.
Once you do get used to the controls it's fast and responsive even with button mashing... Which kind of works as a theme for the game that it is. There's satisfaction at the speed and chomping nature of your shark. Way overthinking it but still... There's fun in it's doing.
For the most part it all 'works'. But it has it's frustrations for me. There's a grind element that's 'off-putting' for me. Gotta constantly feed the eating machine I guess. I do get that, but it reached the level of feeling like work early on. Filler for the sake of it. Your mileage may vary.
The game still looks good, the comedy and 'story' are still entertaining etc. But if you go all in on just following the main story you'll go through area's too fast. I guess it's good to say that the game doesn't limit you..... Only it does if you want more from it.... The grind is due to brick walls of difficulty in the game. Your next objective is an enemy 5 levels above you so you need to grind the 'latest' area to get to a comparable level and then do it and move on. Motivation gets lost in that doing. At least for me. Work feels like work. Which all leaves me with a very 'meh' feeling for the game and no motivation to pick up a controller to get back to it. Maybe I'm overly cautious in game. Maybe I'm too much of a completionist. Maybe I should 'get gud'......
I don't know how gamers are being completionist with the entire game in 'just' 10 to 12 hours. Surely that's 'just' for main story pushers. That said it's a short game if you 'just' go for the main story-line.
Take the first area, by the time I'd explored and collected about half of it's items/collectibles I was 25% through the main story....
The grind shows inconsistency to the flow of the game overall. Mini roadblocks; Not insurmountable but as a personal perspective something that didn't feel right to me. Maybe that's the completionist in me on one hand and the over-thinker on the other.....
Why grind this to see how the story goes when there's not much to it). Why do it when I could be in other games feeling like I'm making much more 'real' progress(cough HADES cough).
Each to their own again....
I keep finding myself drifting off to other games rather than going back to Maneater. It's all subjective.
If I'd bought the game myself I'd be a bit disappointed but then again it would probably motivate me in persisting with gemplay. Trying to get value out of it. That's not a great reason for game motivation.
Don't get me wrong I've enjoyed parts of the game. But as is I can live with it being 'free' and being disappointing, while thanking myself for not buying it and swimming on.
P.S. On a side note.... Achievements show a playerbase that whittles down over time by area with about 15 to 20% being 'into' the game across a broad range of game mechanics/leveling...
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