Hungry Shark Is A Game For The Killer In All of Us
Today we’re looking at Hungry Shark, in this case Hungry Shark Evolution. It’s a classic in the predator survival genre, mostly because it mixes horrific violence and destruction with kid friendly graphics and cheeky humor. Hungry Shark has always been a franchise about the power fantasy of being a shark and hunting and killing things, in spite of it’s more cheery visual elements.
(Pictured Above: The Hammerhead Shark plumbs the depths of extremely shark infested waters.)
Hungry Shark caters to the psychos of society, the people who dream of emerging from the depths and murking some tourists in the most psychologically and financially destructive ways possible. Underneath the fun and chaotic aquatic slaughter is surely the story of a beach town brought to its knees by the shark inflicted violence. The policemen who spawn on the coastlines seem to indicate as much. But it’s hard to shoot a shark, especially one with full Boost and the ability to flop several yards on land. Your biggest threats in this world are starvation and bigger sharks.
The feeling of being a predator in a complex ecosystem is one Hungry Shark gets right, even though it’s game systems are a little simplistic. Obviously in the real world you can’t use in-app purchases to become the Kraken, (though you could probably buy one if there were such a thing), but in terms of sheer gameplay, just swimming around in the ocean feels just right. Handling the sharks feels smooth and intuitive and each one plays a little differently. The Mako Shark is speedy, the Tiger Shark feels punchy, and larger sharks, like Sharkjira, feel like driving a tank.
(Pictured Above: A reef shark closes in on a woman who clearly should’ve seen it coming.)
The balance between starving and being stalked is a delicate matter of size. Too small and the other sharks are a huge problem, too big and you’re stuck in a constant feeding frenzy, sometimes overeating the environment that you’re in. Different areas are better suited in some ways for certain sharks. For example in the Arctic you might want a bigger shark because otherwise you’ll be swimming under ice and only the larger sharks can break through. But at the same time, the small sharks fill up easier and can more easily be sustained for longer runs. There’s also the matter of the camera, which grows with your shark. The perspective of a hammerhead is very different from that of an Alan (pictured below) or a Moby Dick (one of the many “sharks” that are actually something else entirely.)
There’s a great variety of playable creatures and the bigger you go the more outlandish you get. At first the roster looks pretty standard- Reef Shark, Mako Shark, Hammerhead Shark, Tiger Shark, Great White. Then you hit Megalodon and suddenly you’ve got fire sharks, robot sharks, ice sharks, ghost sharks, and more fun characters that have no plausible base in reality such as Sharknarok, Sharkjira or the Abbysal Shark (a Stranger Things homage.)
In some ways I actually like the smaller to medium sharks more- they’re fast, more realistic and offer a more competitive experience. Rather than dominating the round and simply trying to manage your hunger, you actually have to be cautious and avoid hazards such as humans, land mines, jet skis, jelly fish and of course, bigger sharks. It encourages decision making and more complex strategy. Do I stick to the surface for as long as possible and feast on humans? Safe but not overly rewarding. I could invade the land but then the police will shoot at me. Going deeper gives me a chance at a higher score and larger sources of prey but almost guarantees I’ll run into some other sharks. It’s a game of tradeoffs when you play as the smaller sharks.
(Pictured Above: A “shark” called Alan which is supposedly an alien created frill shark sent to destroy our world.)
All this being said, playing as a big shark can be loads of fun, perhaps too much fun. Your shark is heavier and takes up a lot more of the screen. You can feel the size and domination here. Sharkjira (my favorite shark in the game) crashes through all resistance with ease and can vaporize anything you might encounter with his atomic breath. My favorite thing to do is just spam the atomic breath 360 degrees around me and watch the numbers stack up as everything not behind terrain is obliterated, including planes and helicopters that might be flying above. There are no real threats and it provides the ultimate power fantasy, a mindless, easy, killing rampage as an absurdly large kaiju.
The big fan which allows you to go airbourne is also a fun element of the game (one which should’ve returned in the sequel.) While in the air, the player is capable of battling planes, helicopters and my favorite by far, Robo-Sharks. If Sharkjira is Godzilla, Robo-Shark is the shark take on Mecha-Godzilla. In fact, Mecha Sharkjira is a character in the sequel. The ability to fly through the air and engage in aerial battles is just another level of the surprisingly detailed combat. I mean, for a game where you play as a shark and swim around eating people, it’s surprisingly realistic. Though I do question whether a shark can really jump straight from water onto a boat, the movie Jaws suggest such physics are possible.
(Pictured Above: The Majestic Sharkjira soars through the air as if he were a bird.)
If you’re wondering if this game is pay-for-play…kinda. There are elements there, but since Hungry Shark Evolution dates back to 2012 and the advent of freemium, they are far less intrusive than they are in the sequel Hungry Shark World. That being said, I did buy Sharkjira early on and he was worth every penny. The ability to burn the candle at both ends keeps the game from feeling like a grind and frankly it’s still challenging to acquire the XP required to level up Sharkjira.
It’s hard to quantify where Hungry Shark Evolution becomes a mobile masterpiece but it’s somewhere between eating a fat man floating on a pool ring and vaporizing a Megaladon. The game has changed a lot since I started playing in 2013 and it’s hard to even recognize the shallow shark simulator it once was. It could be said that the increasing absurdity of the game, with its addition of super crocs, elector sharks and time portals are reflective of the increasing absurdity of everyday life. That’s probably not true, because even Robo-Sharks are less ridiculous than 90% of things that have happened since 2016 but it is something that could be said. It’s a distinctly callous and morbid game, with a hold my beer take on carnage and tragedy. I have no doubt that those of you who laugh in the face of death will find it delightful.
