Developer: Scott Cawthon
Publisher: Scott Cawthon
Platform: PC, Android, iOS
Five Nights At Freddy’s – Review
Have you ever wanted to be a security guard working the night shift at an entertainment restaurant? Well, it seems to be your lucky day; it seems that Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza is hiring! But look out, it aren’t burglars you should be afraid of.
Story
You start off with a glimpse at a job ad in the newspaper, where they are looking for a security guard to work the night shift to look after the equipment and the animatronics.
At first glance it doesn’t seem that there is much more going on. But that’s not the case; the developer put some lore in the game. The lore isn’t really straightforward, you’ll have to look and listen for hints and try to put the story together for yourself. If you need some help, there are already websites that tried to decipher the lore. Although the developer doesn’t confirm any of it, I’m guessing he wants the players to figure it out for themselves or maybe he wants to uncover more in the sequel (which is already confirmed).
Graphics
The resolution is pretty low; the game just starts in 1280×720 and is not changeable. In fact, I had to change my desktop settings to 1280×720 to be able to play the game. Whether this is done to increase the eerie atmosphere or for another reason, remains unknown.
Instead of a 3D world, everything consists out of a few pre-rendered images, as you or the camera moves around it just distorts the picture a bit to make it feel like you really are looking around. When you take out the tablet or get caught by an animatronic it feels more 3D like though.
Sound
There is not too much sound going on; the menu is presented with a bit of distortion and a little bit of an eerie tune. When you start the game you’ll get a narrated phone call from the former security guard. While playing the game there will be a low bass sound, together with some electrical noises, like the sound that’s coming from the cameras. The animatronics will start making sounds or laughing ominously now and then, while fun themed music will play at random points (maybe when the animatronics are on the move but I can’t confirm this). When the power is depleted a music box version of Carmen’s Habarena will play and eventually a loud screech will try to scare you.
Gameplay
The game is nothing more than just some pointing and clicking. You have a tablet to check the cameras and you can do some things in and around the office, like turning on the lights in the hallways and closing the doors of your office. Closing a door means no animatronics can enter through that door. However, you only have a set amount of energy, keeping a door closed means this will drain more energy, the same for turning on the lights and watching the cameras. As long as you have the animatronics in your field of view, they will not move, but as soon that you change from camera or put away your tablet there is a chance that they start wandering. There are 2 places where the cameras can’t see the animatronics and that is right outside your office, to the left and the right. You need the lights to check these blind spots. If one of the animals would be standing right outside your office, you’ll have a little bit of time to react and close the door. After a while they start wandering again, enabling you to open the door again.
The first night starts off pretty easy, but it gets more difficult every night, because of the animatronics will start moving more and even a fourth one comes into play, the fox from the Pirate Cove. The fox starts moving when you don’t use your cameras for too long, once he’s entirely out of the cove he starts running towards the left door of your office and thus you’ll have little time to close the left door.
When you complete the five nights, you’ll receive your paycheck and return to the menu. Now a star will have appeared beneath the title and a sixth night will be unlocked. This sixth night is no different from the others, just another step more difficult. And when you complete the sixth night, the seventh night, or custom night, will become available and again a star will be added in the menu. For the custom night you can adjust the A.I. settings for the individual animatronics, to a maximum of level 20. The game is already difficult and level 20 for all animatronics at the same time was considered impossible by the creator, but it is possible. If you get to complete this night, you’ll receive a message that you’re fired because you tampered with the animatronics and if you did on the highest difficulty you’ll also receive a third star.
Conclusion
Scott Cawthon really thought out a great concept. For me the scariest thing is just not being able to move (as in run away from these abominations), I’ve never felt so helpless. The only thing is that there is not really a strategy to survive the nights. When you get closer to completing the game, you might want to change your gameplay a bit so you can survive the night. this game is something that tests how fast you can click and how strong your nerves are.
I’m curious to see/play the sequel that will be released in 2015!
Five Nights At Freddy's - Review,
Related Items
3 Comments
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
These furry critters just want to show you some love. 😮
just like at animecons 😉
It’s a creepy game that i wouldn’t like to play :p
Good review ! nothing to ad.
Or maybe just the fact that freddy is the one with the loud screech :p