There’s only a few times where you might actually wonder if Godzilla, a bull shark, and a ton of humans could go face to face, and well, this is one of those times. Now, you’ll just have toss in a few alien conspiracies and you have what Maneater: Truth Quest is all about.
Pros:
+New mutations, a new local, and tons of new enemies add to the replayability of the game.
+The new “Atomic” set makes up for a heck of a good time
+The new story itself is rather funny and doesn’t overstay its welcome
Cons:
-Targeting is still an issue when working on specific mission objectives
It’s hard to not admit that Maneater is a nonsensical game. It’s not hard to, because it’s absolutely true, which puts Maneater ahead of the competition in more ways than one. After all, this is a game where you are navigating the waters of Port Clovis in the base game, and now in a rather new area, which allows you to chomp your way through the wildlife and human inhabitants of the area.
The expansion itself isn’t much to bat an eyelash at. That’s because this expansion takes many of its elements from its previous offerings and only grows on them by adding in new enemy types, new mutations, and new evolutionary body parts to equip in the shape of the “Atomic” set. Other words, you’ll be the Godzilla of the underwater kingdom.
Bringing the story to life is the always hilarious narrator, Trip Westhaven, who is once again voiced by Chris Parnell from the series Archer. You can expect exactly what you did before, but in a more wacky and somehow, wilder setting as he unleashes Trip’s tinfoil hat conspiracies into the world.However, you’re probably wondering by now: How well does the Maneater: Truth Quest expand the game if at all? Well, there’s a few things we need to discuss in order to come to that conclusion, but long story short, it does it rather well.
Let’s go hunting for the truth in a new episode Truth Quest
When it comes to Maneater: Truth Quest, you have to go in realizing this isn’t a full-blown expansion, but rather an addition to the content that was released in the base game itself. You’ll find quite a few similar changes from before such as finding license plates, finding mutagen crates and, of course, local hot spots. They’re all back for better or for worse.
Now, the story itself is a bit more looney than the base game itself. Trip has gone off the deep end, as in he has become a full on conspiracy theorist, sending you on a quest to uncover some wild ‘truth’ about illuminati satanic lizard people turned military, that he believes or looking to reshape the world for their own weird reasons.
The only thing you need to know: You’re hunting another Apex predator, and this time, it’s no push over and it will annihilate you when given the chance to do so. Of course, we can’t go too far into this, because we don’t want to dig too deep into spoilers and ruin it for you all, so, moving on.
Trip’s narration, however, is on point and it just gets funnier and funnier as you go, allowing the game to go full circle into his overall madness that seems to be growing with every passing second. You’ll even go as far as hunting down tinfoil hat wearing peoples. They’re actually your new collectibles and they are spread out into every section of the entire game, meaning, you’ll need to revisit previous areas in Port Clovis to take them all out.
Just remember, you’ll need to do everything in order to unlock the new Atomic evolution set, which to be honest, we’re not going to show you as we feel it’s a bit more on the spoiler side, even if there are a few, well more than a few, screen shots out there. Alongside the new evolution set are new organ evolution mods, each of them changing how you play, and what your Bull Shark is capable of.
It is worth noting that none of these can be obtained without completing the base game and hitting level 30 so you can work your way up to the new max level of 40. It’s kind of a bummer that none of these aside from the organ mod that allows healing over time or the Atomic evolution set are worth becoming rather excited about.
Somewhere, along the way, we became a monster of the sea that is trying to take down a wild conspiracy theory
There are a few things that do come out and make this experience all the better, which I’d be lying if I didn’t say that Whipshot itself is absolutely amazing. Yep, it has been upgraded, and it has become the go-to feature of Maneater: Truth Quest. You’ll use it a lot. I mean, you will use this a ton on your way through it, so much so that it got its own organ mod upgrades.
The only issue that comes with the over reliance of Whipshot becomes quite clear as you work your way through various quests, challenges, and combat scenarios. The lock-on system can’t handle it and doesn’t work as well as you would expect when trying to destroy towers, satellite dishes, and enemy helicopters.
As a result of this issue, you’ll find yourself taking way too much damage that is absolutely unnecessary and leaves a lot to be desired from what the DLC could have offered. While it’s just a minor gripe, it could be an extremely problematic issue for others who want to just get in and out and could care less about experience or genetic materials.
There’s even that new set of “collectible” items that was previously mentioned. You’ll have to hunt down tinfoil hat conspiracy theorists that are often hidden in hard-to-reach locations throughout each section of all available zones. Sounds easy? Not really. Sonar can’t find these guys and the only way to actually find them is to listen. Literally, listen for them. That’ll be an issue for those who are hearing impaired.
Maneater: Truth Quest is a short-lived, but very enjoyable experience for hardcore fans of the game that have been craving more
Now, it is worth noting that nothing has really changed overall. You won’t find any new features really worth writing home about nor will you find any massive new elements that stand out from the rest outside of what has already been mentioned. That includes the region itself, which for better or for worse, isn’t a major evolution of the overall Maneater experience.
The DLC itself only lasted around 2 and a half hours long, which included finding almost every single tinfoil hat conspiracy theorist that we could easily find. The final boss itself, well, it’s the most standout thing within the game and it’s actually one of the hardest things we’ve experienced to date within the game.
Yup, even Scaley Pete wasn’t even this challenging and it’s a massive overhaul to how bosses are experienced. That includes fighting against sharks within the area that have genetic mutations such as yourself. Yep, that includes the electric body, just as you have it.
While its sounds redundant, it does change up the experience, and it will make you think ahead when fighting one of those evolved sharks. They’re a real challenge and they can stun you just as you would them.
The Conclusion
I’ll continue to say as I did before: Maneater: Truth Quest doesn’t add just a whole lot to the overall experience. It stays true to what it simply is: a lighthearted and somehow over-the-top experience that wants to draw you in for a bit more shark-filled fun. It only adds just enough to be worth the experience, which works out well for the game.
Maneater: Truth Quest
Platforms: PC, PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo Switch
Version Reviewed: PlayStation
Developer: Tripwire Interactive
Publisher: Tripwire Interactive and Deep Silver
Release Date: Available Now
Price: $14.99
The new evolutionary set is a blast, the new organ mods are even more fun to use, and the overall narration of the experience are some of the best the game has had to offer since its release. Truth be told, it’s just silly, which is just fine and it’s a great reason to dive back into the seas of Maneater once more, even if for just a couple of hours.
Our review is based upon a retail version of the game that was provided to us by the publisher for the review. For information about our ethics policy please click here.
About the Writer(s):
Dustin is our native video game reviewer who has an appetite for anything that crosses the borders from across the big pond. His interest in JRPG’s, Anime, Handheld Gaming, and Pizza is insatiable. You can find him over on Twitter or Facebook today.