Ah! The day was Monday, we all know what that means. The usual start to the long week ahead of the mundane time consuming process in what ever that takes up our lives. To some its the 9 to 5, to others it could be school or university. For me? It’s time to sit down at my new desk with my torch, CCTV monitor, music box and…a mask? Not your usual tools of the trade but as we take our seat at the new and improved Restaurant known as Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza, it becomes apparent quite quickly why we now need new means to keep ourselves safe at night as we embark on another week of trying to survive this nightmare in Five Nights at Freddy’s 2.
For those who have played the original or have seen or heard about it, the first instalment of Five Nights at Freddy’s took the world by storm, as seen in the many lets play videos on YouTube from guys like Markiplier and Gavin and Michael from Achievement Hunter . Everyone who is a PC gamer certainly gave it a go and found the attention to game play was executed brilliantly and we were left to find out how scary this game was. At the time of the first release, the Silent Hills PT demo was also making its way onto our consoles and onto YouTube as well. To everyone’s liking the usual phrase of “a game doesn’t need jump scares to be scary and PT does it so well” almost sprung up in every video. I agree it can be true as PT IS HORRIFYING! But look at Five Nights at Freddy’s! Jump scares and suspense worked in perfect harmony to make a game that made us all enjoy scaring our own pants off.
The new layout of the office immediately starts you off with a sense of panic. You’re sat that looking down a long empty corridor that isn’t visible without the torch on. We also have two air ducts either side of us and now that I think of it…the first game had doors we could shut!… WHERE ARE THE DOORS!? Of course, this makes the game start off with a new hook of suspense as we start to rapidly check the cameras, flick on the light to look down the corridor, check the vents, winding up the music box and in between all of this slide in and out of our new mask to hide us from the militia of animatronic robots out to hunt us down. Only that doesn’t work on all the cuddly murdering machines, of course!
To my surprise I finally made it to the fifth night as my attempt in the previous instalment lacked any kind of success. I began to make a rhythm of scanning through the cameras and flickering the light to ward away Foxy, as using the mask to hide from her is useless, and winding up a small music toy box that you need to keep on top of to distract the characters wandering around. The mask itself does feel like a safe haven when put in place, until you’re coming up against Foxy.
It seems too easy to just put it on and only take it off when having to wind up the music, it does however give you a lack of vision as we’re left with just two small eye holes to see from, leaving you caught with your pants down when the torch doesn’t work and, like a rabbit in the headlights, you’re made to sit perfectly still while one of the robot’s stares directly at you. We can move our head but I did have quite a few occasions where I thought I was safe, took it off and out jumped a creature from nowhere, literally Jumping towards me. Unfortunately for me, my brother heard me playing the original and decided it was a good idea to watch me being scared out of my pants this time round, hilarity for the rest of the family broke out while I unwillingly yet excitedly went onto the next shift time after time.
For a sequel to a game that had a very original concept, it’s great! It feels scarier, there’s more to do, more to put up with and more panic in the air of this new game. The new characters that have been added to the roster of Freddy’s in house entertainment, again, have that cuddly child friendly look that creeps you out as you spot them silently making their way through the vents.We’re now joined by more metallic looking bear that is definitely not fuzzy and cuddle. Another little chap that comes to visit is a super creepy robot child that holds a balloon and stands there when he reaches your room. When he isn’t in our sight we can hear him giggling as he wanders the restaurant. The ante has certainly been upped when it comes to creep factor. Even putting on the mask seems creepy, like I was wearing the face of a character I’d taken down myself and wore as a trophy, I was the Leather-Face of children’s entertainment machinery. It’s worth mentioning that wearing the mask doesn’t always work with certain robots and they are still able to kill you.
Although not really necessary but still fun is the mini games that have been put into this title. At first I didn’t really know what I was doing but then I came to the assumption that the point of these games was exactly that point. It does add to the creepy aspect of the game as we become the characters that come to visit us when we’re trying to guard the place at night. They do, however, seem a little pointless at first as they didn’t seem contribute to the actual game and acted as padding of somewhat to the content. Or so I thought!!
Getting to play them through a few times and also getting to see others play through them, you find out that there is more than meets the eye. The slow grunts that you hear as you slowly drudge your way around actually spell out words like “Save Them!” and your made to do tasks that the monsters do during the day. We even see how my favorite character, The Marionette came to be. This guy is creepy and we get a little insight to what his mask portrays. Even if you don’t play the game but like what you may have heard about the story, I definitely recommend searching through YouTube and taking a look at other players opinions.
After a few days of playing,I began to like the look and feel that the new game has. It’s been updated with scarier characters and more game mechanics to increase our heart rates and less chance for us to feel safe at any point. Even with the mask on we still have moments of panic as we can only watch as the monsters can come right up to us and size us up. The new restaurant is bigger and thus feels like there’s more at stake to lose control of. Although skeptical at first, the mini games are a great addition. It took some time to understand them but when you start to realize whats going on I had a great eureka moment before realizing just how deep the rabbit hole goes with this story. I cant wait to see what information is hidden around the restaurant and events in the third installment. Yes! that’s right. Another week behind that dreaded desk is in store!
Rating: 9/10
+ New characters are ever creepier
+ More aspects to keep track of
+ Mini games add to the feel and story to the game
– Mask can be infuriating at times
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