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MANEATER

Posted: Thu May 21, 2020 10:19 am
by Isgrimnur

Re: MANEATER

Posted: Thu May 21, 2020 10:56 am
by LordMortis
If I could play twitch games that would be totally my thing.

Re: MANEATER

Posted: Thu May 21, 2020 11:50 am
by Skinypupy
It looks like it could be lots of stupid fun, but I'm going to wait for a few reviews to make sure it's not a disaster.

Re: MANEATER

Posted: Thu May 21, 2020 12:28 pm
by coopasonic
Skinypupy wrote: Thu May 21, 2020 11:50 am It looks like it could be lots of stupid fun, but I'm going to wait for a few reviews to make sure it's not a disaster.
I mean it's designed to be a disaster. It's kind of the video game version of Sharknado. I imagine my kids will be asking for it and I'm just cool enough to give it to them.

Re: MANEATER

Posted: Fri May 22, 2020 3:28 pm
by coopasonic
ACG says wait for sale. Not much story, relatively short (12-16 hours), kind of clunky, but also fun.

$30 on Epic with the $10 coupon. I'm wishlisting it waiting for that sale.

Re: MANEATER

Posted: Fri May 22, 2020 4:47 pm
by Daehawk

Re: MANEATER

Posted: Fri May 22, 2020 4:50 pm
by Skinypupy
I went ahead and took the plunge (ha!) on PS4. Reviews seem to indicate it could be exactly what I'm looking for over a long weekend stuck inside: some stupid, mindless, fun.

Downloading now (PSN says my 6 GB download will take 2 hours :roll:), will report back later.

Re: MANEATER

Posted: Fri May 22, 2020 7:02 pm
by Hrdina
I'm glad that Daryl Hall and John Oates are getting into making games.

Re: MANEATER

Posted: Fri May 22, 2020 7:29 pm
by Jeff V
Hrdina wrote: Fri May 22, 2020 7:02 pm I'm glad that Daryl Hall and John Oates are getting into making games.
That was my first thought too.

Re: MANEATER

Posted: Sat May 23, 2020 12:45 am
by Skinypupy
Got a couple hours in, and my first impressions are mostly negative. It's a little bit fun and unique to play the shark, but the combat is just awful. The lack of any sort of lock-on is very glaring and makes combat feel far more random and hectic than it should be. It's compounded by a pretty terrible camera that always has you scrambling to line up your attacks correctly. There's also no mini-map, so you're constantly hitting the touchpad to figure out where you are, because the muddy water, short draw distance, and same-y environments make it nearly impossible to pick out any landmarks.

The difficulty also seems really out of whack. The first quest after the opening tutorial section tasked me with eating 10 Catfish. The Catfish I had to kill were guarded by two Level 8 alligators, both of which could one shot me while I could barely do any damage to them at all (I was level 1) . Keep in mind, this was the very first quest. I had to swim around and eat a bunch of random fish and turtles for nearly 30 minutes before I leveled up enough to take on just one of the Alligators, and still died 6 times before I could finally take him down. Maybe I'm missing something (or got some sort of bad luck with a random enemy spawn), but it seems like really awful design to require the player spend that much time mindlessly grinding trash mobs before they can even do the very first quest in the game.

So, not a great first impression, but we'll give it another shot tomorrow and see if it clicks.

EDIT: Played another 30-40 minutes, got past the Catfish quest by dashing in, eating a Catfish, then spending 60-90 seconds running away from the Alligators. Rinse and repeat 10 times...yay.

There's obviously something about the gameplay loop in this game that I'm just not understanding at all. I'm in the starting zone, and have now spent about 90 minutes working my way up to level 5 by eating level 1 trash mobs. I've completed all the Main Quests available, with the next step being in another zone that I can't access until I reach the "adult" stage.

So the only things remaining in this zone are:
a) Level 1 junk that gives me very little XP
b) Level 8 enemies (that I'm not strong enough to take on)
c) Level 15 "target" enemies (that I'm really not strong enough to take on).

I'm supposed to spend even more time doing nothing but eating level 1 mobs until I'm strong enough to take on the bigger enemies...I guess? It doesn't really make much sense.

I didn't expect much coming in, but Maneater hasn't even managed to clear that extremely low bar. Definitely wait for a discount.

Re: MANEATER

Posted: Sat May 23, 2020 8:58 am
by LawBeefaroni
The walkthrough makes it sound like there is better progression. Upgrades, pickups, etc.

Re: MANEATER

Posted: Sat May 23, 2020 9:53 am
by morlac
So Saints Row 3 remastered it is then :)

I hope they patch it up as it seems like a neat idea.

Re: MANEATER

Posted: Sat May 23, 2020 10:18 am
by Skinypupy
LawBeefaroni wrote: Sat May 23, 2020 8:58 am The walkthrough makes it sound like there is better progression. Upgrades, pickups, etc.
Thanks for this. Reading through it makes me think I might have a bug.

Sounds like what is supposed to happen is that you complete all the quests in the first zone (while avoiding the much higher level Alligator mobs, not trying to fight them), evolve to "Teen", then break through the gate and continue your progression in the new area. From the walkthrough:
Once you reach the edge of the region, look below the water’s surface to find a grate that can only be broken by a teen shark - criteria that you now meet!
I've found that grate, but in my game it's labeled as "Adult", so I can't break through it. Which means that I'm basically stuck in the starting zone against enemies I have no chance of beating. :?

I suppose it's possible that there's a another "Teen" grate that I somehow haven't found. But the fact that I've been swimming around for a couple hours now (exploring every possible nook and cranny while growing increasingly frustrated) and the game hasn't somehow nudged me in that direction speaks to pretty poor game design.

Re: MANEATER

Posted: Sat May 23, 2020 1:23 pm
by Reemul
Well it never worked like that for me at all.

I did the tutorial and really enjoyed it, then did the first 2 quests, no issues using your radar skill to avoid the crocs and kill the 10 catfish then killed the boss muskie. Finding a couple of the collectables which are ont he map and negotiating the map I hit level 4, returned to my cave and hit teen where you evolve automatically and now more opens up and more to do.

I do think there will be grind I mean you are a shark and eating stuff is what you do.

A lock on and mini map would be helpful but certainly are not a problem.

Thoroughly enjoying it.

Re: MANEATER

Posted: Sat May 23, 2020 1:56 pm
by Skinypupy
Went back this morning and was able to get past it.

There are apparently three gates that look very similar in a small area. Two of them are "Adult" gates, and were showing up on my mini-map. The third one is the "Teen" gate, which wasn't showing on my mini map for some reason so I didn't know it was there. That third "Teen" gate showed up when I pinged the area with sonar this morning, and I was able to break through to get to the next zone. Fingers crossed that I don't run into any more weirdness like that, was crazy frustrating

I tried killing the boss muskie, but had two crocs join the fight and murder me. Can't wait to get big enough to come back and exact my revenge on those dicks.

Re: MANEATER

Posted: Sat May 23, 2020 6:42 pm
by Scoop20906
You are making it sound interesting. $30? Maybe I’ll ....

Re: MANEATER

Posted: Sat May 23, 2020 7:29 pm
by Skinypupy
I think it will sink or swim (HA!...again) with most folks on how much they like the attacking mechanic. I find it incredibly clunky, to the point of distraction. Others seem not to be bothered by it.

The premise is cool and it’s definitely unique. For me though, the game ends up being much less than the sum of its parts. The movement is awkward, the exploration is awkward, the combat is awkward, there are all sorts of little things that - when taken together - make it far more frustrating than it should be. If they can smooth some of those issues out via patches, it could be a very cool game. As of now, it feels like a cool idea, dragged under by a very mediocre game.

Re: MANEATER

Posted: Sat May 23, 2020 8:25 pm
by Daehawk
Has the look of a Goat Simulator 'game' to me wit ha little more game. To me GS is a cheap thrown out the door thing I dont care for. I see lots of games like that.

Re: MANEATER

Posted: Sat May 23, 2020 8:50 pm
by LawBeefaroni
Daehawk wrote: Sat May 23, 2020 8:25 pm Has the look of a Goat Simulator 'game' to me wit ha little more game. To me GS is a cheap thrown out the door thing I dont care for. I see lots of games like that.
GS was created as an in-house joke and when it leaked on YouTube it was kind of a phenomenon so they cleaned it up a little and released it.

Re: MANEATER

Posted: Sat May 23, 2020 9:27 pm
by Daehawk
Lol makes sense.

Watched some live play. Maneater seems to have game play and goals at least. So not as cheap made as I thought. Parts looked fun.

Re: MANEATER

Posted: Sat May 23, 2020 10:00 pm
by Skinypupy
Daehawk wrote: Sat May 23, 2020 8:25 pm Has the look of a Goat Simulator 'game' to me wit ha little more game. To me GS is a cheap thrown out the door thing I dont care for. I see lots of games like that.
Nah, Maneater is definitely a full fledged game. Think of it as a GTA-lite, with a shark as the main character.

Re: MANEATER

Posted: Sun May 24, 2020 7:19 pm
by Skinypupy
The RPS review sums up my opinion of the game perfectly.
And yes, thanks in part to the underwater nature of it all, the classic open world map-‘n’-markers system is persistently annoying to navigate. Most of the game’s main areas are inland waterways with barriers and stretches of land separating the pools and channels where the action takes place, and I spent probably 40% of my play time wandering around trying to find ways round things. Often, I’d be slaughtered by an alligator or another shark and have to start fresh from the nearest grotto, and your shark spins so easily that it’s hard to match map orientation with where you’re actually pointing.

It really makes me lament the idea that games that would otherwise be cheap and cheerful should be spun out into big, open world extravaganzas in order to provide more value. But it’s not that easy! GTA is GTA because there’s so much to do in it. If all you could do was eat other pedestrians, it would be a phenomenal novelty, but it would soon lose its shine. And that’s Maneater: a fifteen quid game, with twenty quid’s worth of dull side quests forced into it. In fact, honestly, it feels like a mobile game at times (called something like “Big Shark Eat And Destroy”, with nineteen different eight second adverts on YouTube) which has been cut up and resewn into the shape of an Ubisoft icon-chaser.

If you truly, truly love the game’s central toolkit for fish-themed genocide, it might keep you engrossed through to the end. But in truth, I can’t imagine even the frattiest of all boys, the Platonic ideal of the bruh, the most spring-break motherfucker imaginable, still hooting the word “sick!” through a haze of bong smoke beyond the game’s third hour.

Re: MANEATER

Posted: Wed Mar 17, 2021 7:44 pm
by Hrothgar
I thought I might try this as a palate cleanser (HAR!) after Days Gone. It's supposed to be pretty short, but I'm already bored with it. Maybe it's fun when you reach full power, but I'm not sure I want to eat a million fish to get there. It could be more fun if they sped up progression. Then again they were knocked for being too short. I guess when swimming and eating are your only game mechanics there's bound to be some limits on gameplay.

Re: MANEATER

Posted: Thu Mar 18, 2021 10:34 am
by coopasonic
Hrothgar wrote: Wed Mar 17, 2021 7:44 pm I thought I might try this as a palate cleanser (HAR!) after Days Gone. It's supposed to be pretty short, but I'm already bored with it. Maybe it's fun when you reach full power, but I'm not sure I want to eat a million fish to get there. It could be more fun if they sped up progression. Then again they were knocked for being too short. I guess when swimming and eating are your only game mechanics there's bound to be some limits on gameplay.
How far into it are you? I just started this a couple days ago and am at Adult stage level 17 I think and eating a million fish is not the path to progress. Regular fish are pretty much just there for healing. Quests, collectibles and hunting the hunters is the path to progress. So far I haven't run out of specific things to do.

Anyway, I've been trying to find something to play in the gaming void (and to get use out of my PS5) and this one is fun enough. The checklist of stuff to do makes sure I always have a goal. I really enjoy the part when I am wiping out humans and the hunters come after me. Dealing with hunters and then taking down the named hunter and unlocking something cool is where the payoff is for me. I will say that it's a bit hard on my hands, the constant biting and evading and turning and biting and... you get it.

Re: MANEATER

Posted: Sat Mar 20, 2021 8:42 am
by coopasonic
coopasonic wrote: Fri May 22, 2020 3:28 pm ACG says wait for sale. Not much story, relatively short (12-16 hours), kind of clunky, but also fun.
ACG was right. Maneater is objectively a bad game. It is short, repetitive with problematic controls. It is also open world megashark chaos. It was totally worth the price of free.

Re: MANEATER

Posted: Wed Mar 24, 2021 12:22 am
by Hrothgar
I have to agree. It's different. There are fun moments, but the wonky controls, excessive padding in a very short game, and a totally unfun section at the start mean I can't recommend it. Honestly, you could play the tutorial and get most of the fun in the game. As a 'free' PS Plus game, I got my money's worth, barely.

Some of the announcer's one liners were pretty funny though. My wife laughed at some just walking by when I was playing.