Videogame Interesting Shake-Up, But Loses A Bit of the Challenge.
I have to admit, I never really saw this series reaching the three entry, but here it was and once more Scott Cawthon shows how that he can keep it thriving and interesting.
This time out you're a employee who works at the horror attraction of Fazbear Frights based on the horror stories of the first two Freddy establishments. It was suppose to be a simple job: play the role of the security guard (ironically enough), give the patrons a little jumpscare and see them off. Then...the establishment finds a animatronic and the horror stories become all too real.
The objective here is roughly the same as the first two FNAF games: watch the camera and make sure Springtrap (said animatronic) doesn't get near your office. To do this you use voice clips to lure him to other rooms and lock the vents when he tries to use them. Seems simple, except the building's air vents cause hallucinations and often times you see Phantom version of the animatronics jump at you. To which you have to reboot the system, which takes time giving Springtrap time to reach you.
I like that the game puts more emphasis on the system this time, having to actually use the camera more to see where Springtrap is and that it's essentially your lifeline as it's the only way to keep Springy from getting to your office, basically this game's version of the doors from Part 1. The Phantoms offer a interesting deterrent to your situation as well though after awhile they do become quite annoying since they don't cause any instant deaths other then buying Springy time to try and kill you. Rebooting the system also become a bit monotonous as well.
Springtrap himself is not bad as the lone antagonist but honestly I don't find him all that threatening considering he's the only one after you. Even his kill screen lacks the punch the first two games had and it not all that hard to keep him at bay once you learn how he works. Story-wise though it's excellent, the fact you have to play a part in it's conclusion through the hidden mini-games puts a nice cap on the overall story to the series and I applaud Scott for thinking outside the box.
It's not a bad game and has its creepiness but to me it feels like the weakest part of the series save the story. Still it's worth checking out of you want to see have the story unfold or more FNAF goodness for the heck of it.
Videogame Unfair and frustrating
As a piece of lore, this game is pretty good, continuing and expanding the interesting backstory, answering some questions and adding new ones. The atmosphere is nice, thanks to the facility and the sounds being appropriately creepy and so forth.
But as for the gameplay? In terms of that, FNAF3 is easily the worst out of the series.
The primary reason: it's cripplingly cryptic. When you watch other people play the previous games, you can quickly pick up what you're supposed to do and how to correctly deal with the animatronics. Here however, even if you're watching another person playing, you can still be completely stumped as to how this game works. Hell, if you are playing this yourself, then you are going to be stumped even if you looked up a walkthrough telling you how to deal with Springtrap.
Why is that? Well, two things.
If you DIDN'T look up a walkthrough, then you are invariably going to have absolutely no clue what the hell is going on. What do these various systems do? Why should I reboot them? What is the purpose of these jumpscares do if they don't kill me? What is this "Play Audio" thing for?
If you DID look up a walkthrough, then your primary and exceedingly frustrating problem will be the fact that most of the time, you have absolutely NO idea where Springtrap is. He's often hiding in the corners of the camera feed or even disappearing from cameras COMPLETELY. On top of that, the layout of the building makes it completely unclear how is he going to progress through the rooms. This ultimately results in your survival of the night being based on 30% skill and 70% pure dumb luck.
In previous games, if you knew how the game works, then your survival became majorly based on skill, and when you did fail, it was usually a result of your sloppiness combined with you not reacting to things fast enough and letting them pile up on you. Here however, many things are completely unclear and the game becomes an exercise in futility and frustration that isn't even a result of your own fault.
In order for the game to be actually playable, it would need to have both a straightforward tutorial (the previous games could use one too, but here it's especially crucial) and a clearer representation of where Springtrap is and how is he going to progress through the rooms.
Definitely not worth 9$.
Videogame The best out of all of them
The first one was scary, but easily exploitable in that you could ignore the camera feed (except for Foxy and Freddy) and just shut the doors on whoever would come at you. The second one was too much in that it pushed the limits of Nintendo Hard and stopped being scary and ended up being more of an endurance test. It became more frustrating than scary. The third one? While the scares have run a bit dry, this one is, bar none, the most technically well-made game out of all of them. The placement of the menus is perfect and preys on your paranoia to a degree that wasn't seen in the other games. The fact that Springtrap moves in random patterns makes predictability even less reliable, and so you're forced to direct him from place to place using sound devices. But you can't spam the devices, so you have to use it sparingly. The hallucinations, while a pain, are somewhat fair in that it is possible to outwit them if you study their patterns. While in the second one, they all just massacre you in an all-out attack, severely handicapping you. Here...you're still outnumbered, but you still have a legitimate chance of success if you're quick enough. It's the perfect version of FNAF, and it's a very fitting Grand Finale to the series at large. If it is...
Videogame Five Nights At Freddy's 3: Good story, some innovation but dull gameplay
The first Five Nights at Freddy's told us a story about dead children trapped in performer robots. The second Five Nights at Freddy's introduced the murderer of these children as an imposing figure. Fittingly enough, this sequel zones in on the murderer, completing the story and thus the first trilogy of the series on March 2, 2015.
Even as you start up the game, the various aesthetic shakeups are obvious. The U Is are more futuristic, use bright greens, the game takes place 30 years after the first, transforms said game's setting into a horror attraction and bills itself as having only one real antagonist: Springtrap. Your job, as usual, is to watch over the establishment from 12 to 6 AM. Only this time, you're a fake guard to capture the "urban legend" mood of the place. The shakeups make for a more unique experience compared to the second game, offering much stronger atmosphere.
Springtrap, your main villain this time around, is a golden bunny suit that can both be worn and used as a full animatronic. Its design is unique and highly detailed, but as you begin to notice fleshy bits within its body, it's apparent that there's more to it than meets the eye. Nonetheless, it's a pretty intimidating threat...until you factor in the gameplay.
The gameplay this time around consists of luring Springtrap away from you using an audio button on your monitor. You have no doors, so this is your only way of stopping it. Sometimes your equipment will break, forcing you to use a maintenance panel to do repairs. There's even a few vents, only one of which you can seal to block it. Despite all this, the gameplay is...easy. Maybe too easy, because you can lure spam until they break. Springtrap starts fairly far away, allowing players a lot of time to keep it in place. There actually are more animatronics who manifest as phantoms and can jumpscare you if they're seen for too long, but they can't kill you and instead break up the gameplay by forcing a system failure. It's cool starting off, but it quickly gets annoying and leads to their jumpscares losing impact. It doesn't feel organic, instead seeming like a band-aid solution to the ease of keeping Springtrap in one or two cameras. In the end, it starts to feel less fun and more tedious.
The story and lore are handled nicely, at least. Each night, you get a flashback to the murderer/Purple Guy dismantling one of the original four animatronics. He lures them to a room in the pizzeria that's mentioned in a few Phone Guy training tapes during normal gameplay, and the main twist revolves around what happens to the Purple Guy around this time. There's also a whole other slew of minigames players can interact with, giving them a chance to finally put the souls of the killed children to rest.
Despite this game having the most inventive ideas yet, the execution leaves a lot to be desired. The gameplay isn't engaging enough to be worth the full price, but if you're into the story, it's still worthwhile on sale. 6/10.