Maneater | |
---|---|
Developer(s) | Tripwire Interactive |
Publisher(s) | Tripwire Interactive [lower-alpha 1] |
Director(s) | Bill Munk |
Producer(s) | Thomas Dahlberg |
Designer(s) |
|
Programmer(s) | Jon Carr |
Artist(s) | Sean McBride |
Writer(s) | Matt Entin |
Composer(s) | Daniel James |
Engine | Unreal Engine 4 |
Platform(s) | |
Release | Windows, PS4, Xbox One
|
Genre(s) | Action role-playing |
Mode(s) | Single-player |
Maneater is an action role-playing game developed and published by Tripwire Interactive. The player assumes control of a female bull shark who must evolve and survive in an open world so she can take revenge on a fisherman who disfigured her as a pup and killed her mother.
Maneater was released for Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One in May 2020, for Xbox Series X/S and PlayStation 5 in November, and for Nintendo Switch in May 2021. Downloadable content, Truth Quest, was released in August 2021. Set after the main story, it follows the shark as she travels to a mysterious experiment site and confronts a radioactive monster causing chaos around Port Clovis. It was a commercial success, surpassing 14 million units in sales.
The game is an action role-playing game played from a third-person perspective. The player assumes control of a baby bull shark who must take revenge on a shark hunter named Scaly Pete, who killed its mother and disfigured it. [1] The shark has several basic attacks, including charging into enemies, siloing out of the water and whipping enemies with its tail to stun them. [2] It can also use its surroundings for combat advantages, such as using a swordfish as a spear. [3] The shark needs to hunt and consume other aquatic wildlife such as fish and turtles in order to obtain nutrients, namely proteins, fats, minerals and rare mutagenics. Players can attack humans by wreaking havoc along the coast, destroying yachts and ships, and knocking people off jet skis. [4] As the player gains enough nutrients, the shark must enter underwater grottos to unlock abilities and increase in size, which allows it to take on larger and deadlier creatures. [5] Over time, the shark will slowly evolve into an adult "mega" shark while players can acquire advanced upgrades and customization options such as external bone plates, shadow armor, and bioelectric spikes to further enhance the shark's combat abilities.
Playing as the shark, players can freely explore the open world of Port Clovis, which consists of eight regions: Caviar Keys, Crawfish Bay, Dead Horse Lake, Fawtick Bayou, Golden Shores, Prosperity Sands, Sapphire Bay, and the Gulf. [5] They can also discover hidden landmarks and complete side objectives. While each region will have other predators that will attack the player, such as muskellunge, barracuda, alligators, sperm whales, orcas, and other sharks, they have their own apex predator, which are larger and differ in appearance than normal predators. The apex predators are a great barracuda, a shortfin mako, an American alligator, a great hammerhead, a great white, an orca, and an albino sperm whale. Defeating these predators will earn the player special skills. As the shark creates more havoc, the world reacts by dispatching human bounty hunters to hunt it down. If the shark manages to kill the ten lead hunters, [6] which are named characters, it will receive additional rewards. [7] The game is narrated by Trip Westhaven (voiced by Chris Parnell), the host of an in-game reality TV show titled Maneaters vs. Sharkhunters, who guides the player throughout the game. [8]
A film crew for a reality television show follows experienced shark hunter Pierre "Scaly Pete" LeBlanc (Carlo Mestroni) and his son Kyle (Raphael Grosz-Harvey) as they hunt for an adult bull shark with a harpoon in its side owned by Scaly Pete's father. They manage to capture the shark after it goes on a killing spree at a beach. Upon discovering that the bull shark is pregnant, the film crew is shocked when Scaly Pete cuts out the infant shark and uses his knife to disfigure it so that he can identify it later as it grows, but he loses his right hand to the infant shark during its release.
The infant shark grows larger over time by eating fish, aquatic mammals and reptiles, humans, and apex predators. Other shark hunters eventually go after the shark, but are also killed and eaten. Back on Scaly Pete's boat, the Cajun Queen, tensions grow between him and Kyle over claims that Scaly Pete's father was killed by a megalodon, even though it is believed to have been extinct for over two million years. They relocate the shark and attempt to burn it alive. However, the shark eats Scaly Pete's left leg and escapes while Kyle is killed in an explosion that causes the Cajun Queen to sink and leaves Scaly Pete disfigured.
As the shark continues to grow, the film crew grows concerned for Scaly Pete's sanity after losing Kyle as he prepares to use extreme methods to kill the shark. He repairs and arms his father's old patrol boat with military-grade firepower, attacks the film crew when they attempt to talk him out of it, and sets out to kill the shark, which has by now evolved into a megashark, measuring 10 m (33 ft) in length. The shark gets the upper hand on Scaly Pete, who in a last-ditch effort, plans to use explosives to kill himself and the shark. While Scaly Pete dies in the explosion, the shark survives and retreats to an underwater cave to recover.
Having survived its battle with Scaly Pete, the shark senses the presence of another, more sinister apex predator that threatens its current status. Discovering radioactive chemicals left behind by the unknown predator around Port Clovis, the shark ventures to Plover Island, also known as "Site P", which is said to be an off-the-books experimental station. Upon arriving, the shark attacks the island's technology and hunts new wildlife, hunters, and mutated predators that have developed abilities such as bio-electricity, shadow set, bone armor, and the ability to emit radiation.
Amidst its attacks and its own transformation into an irradiated mutant however, the shark unknowingly releases the apex predator, a mosasaur-like leviathan called M.O.L.O.C.H., which escapes to Port Clovis and attacks several settlements. The shark eventually faces and kills M.O.L.O.C.H. in battle before returning to Plover Island, only for the entire facility to be destroyed in an explosion.
Maneater was developed by Blindside Interactive alongside publisher Tripwire Interactive. [9] The game's production was led by Alex Quick, who worked on the competitive multiplayer game Depth in which players assume control of either a shark or a diver as they combat each other. [10] Initially envisioned as an expansion for Depth, the title became a standalone product after members of the development team splintered off and worked on a single-player experience that builds on the gameplay systems established by Depth. The team was inspired by Jaws Unleashed and other action role-playing games such as Deus Ex and Dishonored while working on the title. [4] According to John Gibson, the president of Tripwire, the team had always wanted to make an open world title similar to games like Far Cry and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild , though the team wanted their take on the genre to be "completely new and unique". [11] The combat system was inspired by Punch Out and Dark Souls , as the player needs to think tactically and discern an opponent's attack pattern. [12]
Maneater was announced in June 2018 by Tripwire's newly formed publishing division which provided funding, marketing and additional development for the game. [13] The game's physical retail version is published by Deep Silver. [14] The first trailer for the game was shown at E3 2018 during the PC Gaming Show. [15] Maneater was released worldwide for Microsoft Windows via the Epic Games Store, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on May 22, 2020. The Nintendo Switch version was originally planned for release in 2020, but was later delayed to May 25, 2021. [16] [17]
Two pieces downloadable content (DLC) have been released. On August 20, 2020, the first DLC known as Tiger Shark Skin, which gives the shark a red colored body with blue stripes. This evolution allows the player to collect more nutrients from wildlife, hunters, and nutrient caches.
The second DLC, Truth Quest, which features the return of narrator Trip Westhaven as well as new regions, side challenges, hunter vehicles and bounty hunters, wildlife, and evolution sets as well as another story arc and the shark increasing in size, was in the works. The release date for Truth Quest was August 31, 2021.
This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (January 2022) |
Aggregator | Score |
---|---|
Metacritic | (PC) 70/100 [18] (PS4) 68/100 [19] (XONE) 71/100 [20] (NS) 65/100 [21] |
Publication | Score |
---|---|
Destructoid | 7/10 [22] |
GameRevolution | 6/10 [23] |
GameSpot | 7/10 [24] |
IGN | 7.0/10 [25] |
Nintendo Life | 6/10 [26] |
PC Gamer (US) | 65/100 [27] |
Maneater received "mixed or average" reviews according to the review aggregator Metacritic. [18] [19] [20] [21] PC Gamer criticized the repetitive gameplay. [28] IGN also criticized the repetition, especially with the game's approximate length of 15 hours, but praised the premise. [29] Screen Rant complimented the B movie stylization of the game. [30]
Just in the first month of sales on Steam, Maneater had sold about 50,000 copies. [31] By April 2024, Maneater had sold 14 million copies across all platforms, according to Tripwire Interactive. [32]
Manhunt is a 2003 stealth game developed by Rockstar North and published by Rockstar Games. It was released for the PlayStation 2 in November 2003, followed by Microsoft Windows and Xbox releases in April 2004. Set within the fictional Carcer City, players control a death row inmate who is forced to participate in a series of snuff films by killing criminal gang members sent to hunt him on camera.
Aliens Versus Predator is a 1999 science fiction first-person shooter video game developed by Rebellion Developments and published by Fox Interactive for Microsoft Windows, Mac OS, and Mac OS X. It is a part of the Alien and Predator crossover franchise, Alien vs. Predator. A sequel, Aliens Versus Predator 2, was developed by Monolith Productions and released by Sierra in 2001.
Aliens Versus Predator 2 is a science fiction first-person shooter video game developed by Monolith Productions and co-published by Fox Interactive and Sierra On-Line for Microsoft Windows in October 2001, and for Mac OS X in July 2003. The game is a sequel to Aliens Versus Predator (1999); both games are based on the characters of the Alien and Predator media franchises as well as the Alien vs. Predator crossover series. It is set on the fictional planet LV-1201, which houses a vast series of ruins infested with Aliens that is routinely visited by a clan of Predators who hunt the creatures for sport.
Red Orchestra: Ostfront 41–45 is a tactical first-person shooter video game based on its predecessor Red Orchestra: Combined Arms. After winning the Make Something Unreal contest, the team behind the original Red Orchestra started the game studio Tripwire Interactive and developed Red Orchestra: Ostfront 41-45 as their first project.
Tripwire Interactive LLC is an American video game developer and publisher based in Roswell, Georgia.
Jaws Unleashed is a 2006 action-adventure video game inspired by the 1975 film Jaws. It was developed by Appaloosa Interactive and published by Majesco Entertainment. This game features open world gameplay, with the player assuming control of a large great white shark and being able to roam freely throughout the water, eating other animals and humans, while destroying everything in its path. Jaws Unleashed was released for Microsoft Windows, Xbox and PlayStation 2.
Zeno Clash is a first-person fighting video game with elements of a first-person shooter. It is the debut game of developer ACE Team and uses the Source engine. It was released for download through content delivery service Steam on 21 April 2009. The Xbox 360 version, entitled Zeno Clash: Ultimate Edition, was released 5 May 2010 and contains additional features not found in the Windows version. The game is set in the fantasy world of Zenozoik, and follows Ghat, a young man who is on the run from his vengeful siblings, and Deadra, his female companion, as they travel through strange and exotic lands.
Actua Pool also known as Ultimate 8-Ball is a sports simulation video game developed by British companies Gremlin Interactive and Mirage Ltd as part of their highly successful Actua Sports series of sport simulators of the mid-to-late 1990s. Actua Pool, a pool game, was originally released on the Microsoft Windows platform and the Sony PlayStation home console in 1999; these versions were also published under the name Pool Shark. The game was very well received, praised for its realistic physics engine and challenging AI opponents, although the game spawned a sequel which was not as successful. In 2007, Actua Pool was ported to the Nintendo DS handheld game console.
Killing Floor is a cooperative first-person shooter video game developed and published by Tripwire Interactive. It was originally released as an Unreal Tournament 2004 mod in 2005. A full retail release followed on May 14, 2009, for Microsoft Windows, and for OS X on May 5, 2010. A version for Linux was released via Steam in November 2012.
Red Orchestra 2: Heroes of Stalingrad and Rising Storm GOTY, now known as Rising Storm/Red Orchestra 2 GOTY on Steam, is a tactical multiplayer first-person shooter video game set during World War II, developed and published by Tripwire Interactive. It is a sequel to Red Orchestra: Ostfront 41-45. The title focuses heavily on the Battle of Stalingrad and the Pacific Theater. The game was released in September 2011. The game is currently a Windows exclusive and contains many new features compared to the original, including a new first-person cover system, which can also be combined with blind firing, first person collision detection, Commander role and abilities as well as an entirely new system of statistics tracking and player levelling. Maps are much bigger and had immediate 64-player support.
Rising Storm is a stand-alone expansion pack to Red Orchestra 2: Heroes of Stalingrad developed by Tripwire Interactive in conjunction with the modding community. The title focuses on the Pacific campaign of World War II. Announced in May 2010, the game was scheduled for release in 2013. The beta went live on May 8 that year. A sequel, titled Rising Storm 2: Vietnam was released in 2017.
Borderlands 2 is a 2012 action role-playing first-person shooter video game developed by Gearbox Software and published by 2K. Taking place five years following the events of Borderlands (2009), the game is again set on the planet of Pandora. The story follows a new group of Vault Hunters who must ally with the Crimson Raiders, a resistance group made up of civilian survivors and guerrilla fighters, to defeat the tyrannical Handsome Jack before he can unlock the power of a new Vault. The game features the ability to explore the in-game world and complete main missions and optional side quests, either in offline splitscreen, single-player or online cooperative gameplay. Like its predecessor, the game features a procedurally generated loot system which is capable of generating numerous combinations of weapons and other gear.
Killing Floor 2 is a first-person shooter video game developed and published by Tripwire Interactive, with later support from Saber Interactive. It is a sequel to 2009's Killing Floor. An early access version of the game was released for Microsoft Windows in April 2015, and the game was released in November 2016 for Windows and PlayStation 4 and August 2017 for Xbox One. The game utilizes Epic Games' Unreal Engine 3. A sequel, Killing Floor 3, is in development.
Rising Storm 2: Vietnam is a 2017 multiplayer tactical first-person shooter video game developed by Antimatter Games and Tripwire Interactive and co-published by Tripwire Interactive and Iceberg Interactive. It is a direct sequel to 2013's Rising Storm and is set during the Vietnam War. The game was released worldwide for Microsoft Windows through digital distribution platform Steam on May 30, 2017.
Apex Legends is a free-to-play battle royale-hero shooter game developed by Respawn Entertainment and published by Electronic Arts. It was released for PlayStation 4, Windows, and Xbox One in February 2019, for Nintendo Switch in March 2021, and for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S in March 2022. A mobile version of the game designed for touchscreens titled Apex Legends Mobile was released in May 2022 on Android and iOS. The game supports cross-platform play, excluding the aforementioned mobile platforms.
Chivalry 2 is a 2021 multiplayer hack and slash action video game developed by Torn Banner Studios and published by Tripwire Interactive. The sequel to Chivalry: Medieval Warfare (2012), the game was released on June 8, 2021, for Windows, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X and Series S.
Predator: Hunting Grounds is a 2020 multiplayer video game developed by IllFonic and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment. The game is part of the Predator franchise, featuring Arnold Schwarzenegger reprising his role as Alan "Dutch" Schaefer (Predator), Alice Braga reprising her role as Isabelle (Predators), and Jake Busey reprising his role as Sean Keyes. Set in the remote jungles of the world, it tasks a team of four elite operatives with completing paramilitary operations before a single Predator can find and eliminate them.
Apex, titled Apex Predator in the UK, is a 2021 American science fiction action film directed by Edward John Drake and written by John Drake and Corey William Large. It stars Neal McDonough and Bruce Willis and was released on November 12, 2021.
Marvel's Midnight Suns is a 2022 tactical role-playing game developed by Firaxis Games and published by 2K. The game features comic book characters from multiple Marvel Comics properties, such as Midnight Sons, Avengers, X-Men, and Runaways. Players are able to create their own superhero named "The Hunter" with a choice of over 40 different powers.