Five Nights at Freddy's tries to do something different than most apps -- scare you. Where other apps try to be beautiful, useful or simply entertaining, this odd horror game just wants to make you jump.
You play as the night watchman at a pizza restaurant starring a robotic bear named Freddy Fazbear. The owners of this restaurant have made a number of questionable business decisions, including stocking it with a number of creepy animatronic animals. While working the midnight-6 a.m. shift, you begin to notice some discrepancies. Management leaves the bears in "free-roaming mode" at night, giving them free reign of the restaurant. The robotic animals have a weird little bug where if they see you they'll inadvertently murder you.
The game becomes a tense balancing act of performing one of a few defenses while you try to conserve your office's limited electrical power. Defensive actions such as turning on the security cameras and closing your office doors can only be performed so many times. Trying to stay one step ahead of the creepy killer robot animals without running out of power is a tense, fascinating experience.
Five Nights at Freddy's delivers thrills. Played the right way (with headphones, alone in a dark room), it can deliver scares. The slow tension mixed with an occasional jump scare gave me a couple jolts.
At one point, I was listening to a voicemail call from the guy who runs Freddy's explain how I should check the security cameras to make sure the bears don't sneak up on me. No problem. I check the room right outside my office and see a creepy robot bear staring at the camera. I check another room and see nothing. Upon switching back to the first room, I see the bear is gone. When I flip the switch to illuminate the room to the left of my office, I jump foot out of my chair from seeing that robot bear moving toward me. I slam the emergency door shut in panic. Moments like those are what make Five Nights at Freddy's so memorable.
However, the game has some design issues. My first night at Freddy's was short-lived when I consumed all of the power within a minute or so of gameplay. The game doesn't bother explaining how to play, which can be confusing.
The gameplay itself isn't much to go on either. You watch security cameras and wait for one of the weird animals to get near you so you can slam the security door shut. Once the novelty of the atmosphere wears off, the game becomes less appealing.
Still, if you're looking for a couple good scares from a cheap app, Five Nights at Freddy's will do that.
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