As someone that has literally never encountered a Shark, I was never able to shake the feeling that I would encounter one at any given point. Perks of living in Australia I guess, but one of the best ways to face your fear is to face it or better yet, become it. It worked for Batman, right?

Well, thanks to Tripwire Interactive, I can now assume the role of a shark and attempt to conquer my fears of being attacked by a shark by, um, attacking other humans. Maneater, now available on Nintendo Switch, is a third-person RPG/adventure game and it is the perfect game to pick up and go in handheld mode.

My initial concern with the release on the Switch was how the game would handle given the hardware limitations compared to PC or other platforms. To my pleasant surprise, it handled itself with minimal issues, save a couple of framerate drops in the later portions of the game. The Unreal 4 engine kept the gameplay running smoothly, and navigating the Shark through the water felt natural and fluid. Well, as natural as a giant mutated Bull Shark that can launch itself 30 feet out of the water can be.

There wasn’t a noticeable difference visually from docked mode playing on the TV to the handheld mode. Compared to the more powerful editions of the game, the draw distance seemed to be scaled back a bit and some textures may have been simplified, however, the colours and bloody chunks were as vivid as ever, even with its more exaggerated art style. The most impressive details of Maneater Nintendo Switch edition were found on the main shark itself, as you level up and grow with mutations, the level of intricate design elements stand out.

There is a fair amount of content to explore in Port Clovis, though there is nothing new compared to the original release, so for returning players it won’t be a big selling point. For new players, however, a solid 15-20 hour investment leads to a god among sharks level of payoff. Sometimes I did have to remind myself that this wasn’t a game that needed to be taken too seriously.

Having the likes of Chris Parnell provide a comedy narration of my journey from a Bull Shark pup to an Elder God Shark kept me grounded in the generic revenge plot. Mission objectives are more of an excuse to let you shred some helpless fish and humans. The more you rip and tear, the more notorious you became, which opens up the end game of taking out in-game famous shark poachers.

The gameplay loop is fast-paced and requires a lot of consistency, which ironically is often anything but, particularly when it comes to locking onto the target. A simple right-click of the thumbstick should suffice but having to surge forward with the left trigger will throw you off target quicker than a wayward arrow.

Using the right trigger to chomp down on a target was pretty straightforward, and for most of the humans and smaller creatures, that’s as much as was needed. It’s only against the hunters on armed boats, larger sharks, or whales that you need to throw in some sick dodges and slaps with your mighty tale to stun and outlast your opponent. I found that personally, this game is best played in intervals as the combat can become a little tedious when played in longer stints.

In a world where we are striving for the most realistic and grounded experience, it feels good to dip into a guilty pleasure game of pure carnage and light-hearted RPG-based fun. I feel like this game could have been the next surprise hit following last generation’s “Goat Simulator,” but the slow build-up from a pup through adolescents loses some traction of interest. By the end game though, you are a bonafide killing machine and everything I based my unfound nightmares on. Maneater is now available on the Nintendo Switch, so let’s get chomping!

Written by: Shane Fletcher