But even in my cloistered console state I eventually managed to hear about this and banged it on my tablet to see what all the fuss was about.
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| Get a load of the Pizza hosts...! |
It is pretty good. Deceptively simple.
A security guard sits in a control room in a kids pizzeria inhabited by adult sized anamatronic hosts.... who appear to go walkies between 12 and 6 every night.
All control is limited to choosing between 12 static camera views, and switching on lights and shutting doors on both sides of the control room....
There are a few lovely gimmicks. The animals move when you aren't watching them. Use of cameras, doors and lights diminishes a very limited battery. When the battery is empty you are basically fucked. The animals move seemingly randomly but ultimately make their way towards you. At which point you need to switch off the cameras and wait. You shift between looking left and right within the console room - finger on the button to hit the lights and slam the correct door. If you fail the robot will jump-scare the shit out of you.. and you die. If you get the door down in time it buys you a few more minutes while you handle the rest of the pack as they slowly move towards you. If you survive the night.. you have 6 more to go.
It works: scary and hard but easy to grasp. It can be a little cheap - as in unfair - and the battery drain is ridiculously fast.
I haven't beaten the first game and I believe there are 5 more after this one. I will persevere.
The reason I am talking about this is not the game or the jump scares. It is the general environment and atmosphere.
Your introduction to the job - and the game mechanics - come via a ridiculously nonchalant answer-machine message - apparently from your predecessor. It is hilarious and terrifying in the way it slowly reveals the semi-sacrificial nature of your job. The animatronic creatures are apparently spooked if they see anything which isn't a lifesize animal and will try and stuff you in a suit killing you in the process.
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| in you face zero-hour contracted cam jockey! |
The monsters themselves are brilliant. Freddie, Bonnie, Chica and... Foxy - a disused animatronic residing behind a curtain in Pirates Cove. Yes - too cool! The models are super creepy - especially in silhouette on a static filled camera screen.
The audio is actually just as important as the visuals.. you never see them move, but hear them clanging around or running towards you.
Its big on the spook factor...not so much for the game but for the concept. Rather then venture out to fend off the demons, you have to sit tight and wait for them to come to you.
Full marks from the editorial team of The Drowned Man.
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