Five Nights At Freddy’s 3 Review
Played on Xbox One (base)
Developed by Scott Cawthon, Scottgames, Clickteam
Released 2nd March 2015
With not the greatest follow-up to the original FNAF, the third instalment of the franchise had to prove to everyone it wasn't just a one-hit wonder but in fact another genre standout.
Story
Once again, the amazing in-depth lore expands on the already fascinating timeline of the Five Nights at Freddy's games. This time around, things are not much different on the surface; the player assumes the role of a newly-hired employee at Fazbear's Fright, a horror-themed attraction based on the unsolved mysteries of Freddy Fazbear's Pizza, constructed using the remains and salvage from the original restaurants. You watch the cameras from 12 am to 6 am like always and there is an animatronic after you. Surprisingly, this time, there is only one animatronic while the rest serve as "phantom" variants of the original cast with the sole intent of jumpscaring the player. However, once again, you can dig deep into the mystery of the messages hidden around the game, from the little mini-games you play in between nights to access even more encrypted mini-games, to the estranged details of Springtrap. The phone guy of this game returns having more of a "theory provider" role than anything else, offering hints and advice on glueing this mess of a timeline together while still making questionable statements that send a chill down the player's back once you realise what he means.
Gameplay
The gameplay of this point-and-click horror has been refined to a much better standard. The difficulty spikes of FNAF2 are gone, and the high levels of luck-based RNG winning of the previous two are wiped clean off, instead, replacing it with more adaptive and technically satisfying gameplay. The constant thrill of luring your soon-to-be killer to an adjacent room with the sound of children's giggles mixed with the fear of rebooting an operating system that makes you vulnerable to his attacks is done extremely well. With 2 layers of cameras to navigate (one for the hallways and rooms, and another for the ventilation leading directly to your office), you'll require high attention and quick reactions to block off this perpetrator, simply at the cost of your stress-free lifestyle. With an added cherry on top, you will need to muster enough courage to confront the non-lethal jumpscares of these previously mentioned "phantoms", because if you don't, you'll be spooked and your progress in stopping Springtrap will be hindered. The problem is, the horror is gone. The cameras and environment are very much on the contrary, but the factor of jumpscares does not shake me anymore, having become immunised to them back in FNAF2. The game does try its best to scare you from the result of your panicking actions and phantom hallucinations but with how ineffective that method is, I think horror should've been approached differently in this game.
Atmosphere
The atmosphere of this game is as good, if not better than the first game. With the eerie imagery from the cameras, to the amazing glitch-like music that jitters its beat together, the atmosphere is amazing and should be experienced first-hand. The references to the previous games being scattered around this location, the poor camera feedback to the perfectly placed lighting, makes everything so much more frightening and chilling as you try to track down your only threat via the poor camera feedback. With the inclusion of the most unsettling designed animatronic (that you have yet to see from my trilogy of reviews), sometimes peeping into your office to staring you down with its stone-cold dead eyes, it's unfortunate that this game failed in the jumpscare department as it could've easily been one of the scariest experiences in 2010s horror era.
Story- 7.5/10
Gameplay- 6.5/10
Atmosphere- 8.5/10
Good
Five Nights At Freddy's 3 is a great game with all of its components. What lets it down is the failures of its predecessors, which really is a shame as this might be my favourite FNAF game to date.
