Game Review: Maneater + Truth Quest DLC (Xbox Series X)

Tripwire Interactive’s Maneater does what all shark fans have been screaming out for since Jaws stalked the waters of Amity Island. It puts you in the fins of a bull shark, sends you out into an ‘open’ world and allows to cause as much mayhem as possible as part of revenge tour.

The hype surrounding this game was eye-watering and, like all things that are hyped, it would inevitably fail to live up to it. Maneater is far from a perfect game but when it comes to shark-based chaos and fun, it certainly delivers.

To tell its narrative, Maneater is done as though it’s a reality TV show follow the hunting adventures of Scaly Pete and his son, Kyle. Pete wants revenge on a specific shark that took his hand but this shark also wants to get its teeth into Pete as he is responsible for the murder of its mother. All of this makes up the opening of the game and it’s pretty spectacular and entertaining.

You are this shark, newly orphaned and far too small to take Scaly Pete head-on, you must explore the regions of Port Clovis. Eating everything in your path, doing battle with larger and more dangerous predators, causing innate horror on the beaches and so on. All so you can evolve into the apex predator you need to be.

One of the game’s major selling points are its RPG-lite elements. Where you can level your shark up, grow and become more powerful with outlandish buffs, advancements and abilities. Want to give those pesky human’s an extra sting or disable a boat’s motor quickly? Stick some electric teeth in your shark’s mouth. Want to move swiftly through the water and avoid some of the more dangerous creatures that lurk? Shadow fins might be what you need. Gearing up for a big battle with a no-nonsense hunter? Some armoured plating on the body will help protect from bullets.

There’s plenty to choose from and they all have their uses. That they and other bonuses can be levelled up, means by the latter part of the game, you will really feel like a super-powered monster of the deep.

You’re going to need to become more powerful too as there’s lot of nasty things under the waves as much as is there is above them. Sometimes, it’s as simple as diving out of the water and grabbing the hapless human in your powerful jaws, swallowing him whole. At others, you’re going to have to fight and this is where the first proper flaws of Maneater are exposed.

Combat can be very frustrating as your shark can only do a handful of things. Bite, lunge, whip its tail and dodge. Get used an aching trigger finger when it comes to some of the more powerful foes as you are forced to just hammer away on the bite button hoping to finish the battle as fast as possible. What initially is fun, becomes frustrating as you’re battling something constantly and that includes the camera.

Yeah… the camera. It’s not an issue until you’re in an intense battle with something that moves as fast as you. There’s no lock-on ability so you’re constantly swinging it about trying to keep your foe in your sights and dish out some punishment. This gets even worse when it’s against multiple targets.

It’s not helped that the dodge mechanic just isn’t very good. It needs accurate use to really make any difference and when you’re constantly fighting with the camera to see where the enemy is, you’ll rarely nail a decent dodge.

Get used to repetitive fights where the only real strategy is to hammer the bite button until you take too much damage. Swim away and eat some innocent fishes to regenerate health then repeat. How thrilling.

That’s what it’s like for battling underwater but on the surface, it’s all about human foes and here, it’s just a tad more satisfying. Only because the diving out of the water and coming down on top of boat to chomp some humans never seems to get old. The more chaos you cause, the more trouble comes your way. Leading to face-offs with mini-bosses that require a bit more work and often have upgraded arsenals and crafts. Sadly, again, it’s all about button mashing as there’s no real strategy to taking them out.

Of course, it’s not all about the wars under and above the waves. Maneater has a story (narrated brilliantly by Chris Parnell as Trip Westhaven) and many missions to get through.

Which brings us to the game’s biggest problem… repetitiveness. The main narrative is fun enough but to bulk out the game, there’s a ton of side-missions and they quickly get old.

Eat 10 of a certain fish or 10 humans at a certain location. Kill an apex predator, take out the mini-bosses or collect x amount of a certain thing. That sinking realisation that each region has exactly the same missions throughout is not nice.

What Maneater does well though, it does really well. When not in combat, swimming through Port Clovis is very relaxing and the shark feels quite real. The upgrades you earn are visibly noticeable and effective when it comes to progression. The game looks fantastic, with varied locations and the map system makes exploration a doddle. Maneater can even be amusing too, although a lot of that comes from Parnell’s delivery.

Lastly, it is worth noting that we suffered numerous bugs and crashes throughout. From the camera getting stuck inside the shark to it refusing to move and follow the shark. To hunters refusing to spawn or the shark getting stuck on dry land when forced to get on it. To full game crashes that thankfully never really affected progress too much.

Maneater will last around 10-12 hours, if you’re aiming to 100% it, which is more than enough considering the repetitive nature of the gameplay.

Which then brings us to the first major DLC of the game – Truth Quest and what a disappointment this is.

Gameplay is unchanged and you’ll be picking back up in the body of your bull shark. With its hunger for revenge sated, what is left for the shark other than its base instincts?

Well, Trip Westhaven thinks he has uncovered a plot to take over the world by the shadowy organisation known as the New World Order. No, not that NWO. It’s up to the shark to follow the clues, uncover the truth and stop the NWO before they take over completely.

It’s not an interesting story at all, aside from being quite funny in places. What is the draw of this DLC is the new location, increased level-cap, new abilities, hunters and missions. Guess what though? It’s all the same thing over and over again. There’s no improvement to combat, it’s still all button mashing and is even more tiresome now.

Although with more foes under the sea (powered up beasties now too) and more hunters above it (heavily armoured and even using helicopters), you’ll need to be at your best. That’s where the new abilities come in and it seems like this DLC was made for one reason and one reason alone. The atomic shark. Is it fun? For a little while.

It might sound like a must-buy if you enjoyed the base game but when it comes to the core gameplay elements, Truth Quest just lacks. The missions are even more limited; eat a number of humans at a location, kill predators, destroy beacons and swim ring races. The latter is a lesson in frustration, especially if moving on dry land was something you hated.

Again, there are bugs but we didn’t suffer many aside from flying boats and disappearing humans. What we did suffer was crashes – four over a 3-hour period. Which might not sound like much but in one case it was mid-hunter battle meaning all progression in that fight was lost.

Overall Truth Quest isn’t a good DLC if you’re looking for something different. If you just want more of the same, than you’re probably going to like it a lot.