Hungry Shark World: Tips, tricks, and cheats

Hungry Shark World is taking the hungry shark world by storm, sitting in the top 3 games in the Google Play Store. It burst onto the scene to millions of installs and continues to chomp its way onto phones, leaving only sore thumbs (and the occasional frustrated outburst) in its wake.

If you're trying to make your way up the food chain, then sharpen your teeth on our list of tips, tricks, and cheats!

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Persevere

Our biggest and most important tip is to keep on keepin' on. If you're not one for in-app purchases, then you will have to play Hungry Shark World for hours (probably days) before you unlock bigger and bigger sharks.

Just keep going. Whenever you die of starvation, just get right back in there and eat some more; it all adds up. Luckily, you have quite a variety of things to eat, and you'll be able to eat more and more critters as you progress.

Sally forth! Eyes on the prize!

Buy the map

Buying the map for the stage you're in will help you find better prey and the letters in HUNGRY. It's always a good idea to know where you are.

Get the drop on aggressive sea life and scuba divers

It's bad enough that your Life bar depletes just from swimming around; you don't need grumpy barracudas or stabby scuba divers helping it drop more quickly.

Get the drop on them by either swimming up from behind or boosting toward them in order to catch them off guard. This goes for barracudas, scuba divers, larger crabs, other sharks, and certainly more as you progress.

Use your boost for more than just speed

Your boost is one of your greatest assets, especially when it comes to catching some of the more squirrely ocean dwellers. But, your boost is for more than just speed; it increases your attack damage. So, if you're trying to get the drop on a scuba diver, boost toward him so you can take him down more quickly and safely.

You can also use your boost to help you jump out of the water to grab pelicans and letters.

Watch out for jellyfish, pufferfish, lionfish, giant squids, and more

There are certain sea creatures that you just won't be able to eat early on. In fact, for some, like the larger jellyfish, you'll need an XL Shark.

Take a look at what you're about to munch, especially in the case of pufferfish, since they may catch you off guard and do you harm Giant squids will mangle you and release ink that'll steal some Life if you swim through it.

Avoid 'em all until you know you have a shark that's formidable enough to choke 'em down.

Don't forget the surface

There are tasty humans, pelicans, and more that don't exactly inhabit the briny depths. Swim along the surface and even jump, using your boost, to snatch birds right out of the sky and gobble up errant swimmers, who are worth a ton of Life.

As you're collecting all the letters in HUNGRY, you might even find some of them rather high above the surface. Hang out down below with the whales and the depth charges, sure, but check out shallows too!

Complete missions to earn gold

Though your appetite may be voracious, take the time to check out your missions before you head off on a fishy binge.

Right before you choose your stage, tap the buttons below the map to view your missions for the day. You can also see them when you're paused, in-game.

Completing these give you gold, because, even though you unlock sharks along the way, you still have to purchase them with your in-game gold. More missions will be added as you complete them.

Don't linger on shore too long

Yes, you can jump up onto the shore a little bit, so that humans who are thinking about dipping in a toe can be munched before they soil your ocean home.

However, if you're on shore for too long, the police will shoot you; they don't ask questions first nor do they ask them later. It only takes three or four shots to kill you, so after you've had your snack, get back into drink again quickly!

Eat entire schools of fish

Don't just pick off a few fishies and leave their friends to mourn them. Devour entire schools and you'll earn a Shoal Bonus. This gives you a big Life bonus, so when you're starving your health is critical, boost around and target larger schools. It'll be more than enough of a top-up to keep you going.

Upgrade your shark

While you're waiting for bigger and badder sharks to be unlocked and you're accumulating gold, upgrade your current predator.

You can increase its speed, bite strength, and boost, which will allow you to munch bigger prey more easily and to slip away from predators that might do you harm.

How do you play?

Do you have any tips or tricks to help other folks become top shark? Share in the comments below!

Mick Symons
Mick is a writer and duty editor for Android Central. When he's not on the job, he can usually be found vacuuming up pet hair or trying to convince his wife that he needs more guitars.