Olive Guardian 最近的评测

DISCLAIMER: This is going to be a long review so if you don't like reading you can skip this one, and SPOILERS!!!!!!!!!

Let me start off by saying I loved this series. I read the book, collected the merchandise, and consumed every theory video on Youtube like it was another clue to finding the Holy Grail. The story and the lore surrounding these games have been the focal point of my attention since the name "Purple Guy" was spoken into existence. I also have a tremendous amount of respect and admiration for Scott Cawthon. He has created one of the most successful independent game franchises to date, and it is in no small part to the hard work and dedication he has put into each FNaF game. Even after raising exactly $0 on Kickstarter for the original Five Nights at Freddy's he didn't give up, and his commitment has paid off. I truly think you would be hard pressed to find someone who is more devoted to their work than he is. His games have brought me more joy and entertainment than most AAA games that I own, and for that I say thank you Scott.

Now we come to the reason I am writing this review, and I take no pleasure in writing these words. I genuinely hope that I am being naive and can look back at this review and say that I had no clue what I was talking about.

Let me start by addressing the STORY of FNaF so far:

It all started with the box at the end of FNaF 4. In it, Scott said were the pieces of the story put together. The box represented what the FNaF community had been longing for; closure. What happened next acted as the catalyst for my departure from the FNaF world. Scott decided that he didn't want to open the box because he wasn't sure if "the community would accept it that way". As the creator of the series I have to respect that decision, but I disagree with it wholeheartedly. It shows me one of two things. Either Scott didn't have confidence in how he ended the story up to that point, or he didn't think the FNaF community could handle the truth. Either way I feel like this was the wrong thing to do. To bring a fan base as dedicated and passionate as this one so close to having the answers they have spent countless hours trying to find is no way to repay them for making this franchise what it is. Again, Scott is the only one who knows the masterplan and I hope I can look back and say I was wrong.

When I heard that Sister Location was being released, I was thrilled. I thought this might be the chance to finally have the answers to all of the questions we have been asking for so long. I couldn't have been more wrong. Instead what we received was a convoluted story that would take more of a stretch to connect to past FNaF games than even MatPat of Game Theory is capable of, and that's not even addressing how it answers almost none of the questions left behind by the past 4 FNaF games. Even if you took what this game did provide in the way of story for what it is and ignored the other 4 games, it still left me completely unsatisfied. Please Scott, I understand that you have more books coming and a potential FNaF movie being made, but if you keep overcomplicating the lore the way this game did you will be left with a fan base devoid of any motivation or energy to devote to this series. I know because I have reached that point.

Now let's address the GAMEPLAY:

Ask yourself this question. If you had no idea that this game was, in any way, related to the FNaF series would you enjoy playing it? Better yet, would you recommend it to someone else? I suggest you let your answers to those questions be your guide as you form your opinion about this game. Also, I am addressing Sister Location as a stand-alone game and will not compare it to the other FNaF games.

The BAD:
From a gameplay perspective, I didn't enjoy this game at all. The first night is literally following directions. That's it. For a game that consists of only five nights (If you count the hidden ending then you could say 5.5) to have 20% consist of clicking buttons when you're told to is disapointing from a player's point of view and poor design from a game making perspective. The rest of the game is, for lack of better terms, boring and frustrating. Night 2 is a glorified reskin of red light/green light and an exercise in holding down the mouse button to keep a door shut. Even the jump scares seem half-hearted. Night 3 consists of more "clicking where the narrator tells you to" and the most frustrating game of peek-a-boo I have ever played. Night 4 is essentially a game of "pay attention to me" with spring locks while shaking things off of your body, and is also one of the most frustrating things I have ever had to do in a video game. I understand wanting the player to discover solutions organically and on their own, but when the gameplay is as frustrating as this it quickly becomes disheartening and an exercies in frustration. Night 5 is unfortunately more of the same, and is criminally short lived. When I was done, the only thing I said was "That's it?". The final scene of the game was also equally disapointing. Needless to say, this was one of the most disapointing endings to a game I have ever experienced. And those soap opera clips at the end of every night?? I pray that they are there to serve as clues to the story or some other purpose because they were hard to watch. Before I move on to the good, I know that there is a secret "fake" ending that utilizes gameplay from the previous FNaF games. Because those games have been reviewed to death and the mechanics are well known and already established I didn't factor them in to this review. Yes, it was a nice throwback and evoked a warm feeling of nostalgia, but if you have to lean on those feelings to make up for the lack of meaningful gameplay mechanics in the main game there is a problem.

The GOOD:
The voice acting was fantastic. The voice of Baby (or Ennard, depending on what camp you are in) was comforting, helpful, and unsettling all at the same time. That is a very difficult thing to accomplish in voice acting and the voice actor did it wonderfully. The rest of the voice acting was equally impressive and played an invaluable part in creating the unsettling atmosphere of the game.

The writing was also very funny and made me laugh on more than one occasion (except for the soap opera clips, those were terrible). It was also unnerving, in a good way, at certain points. The highlight for me was the monologue Baby gives about the scooper and her musing about how a pint of ice cream would feel about a scooper. I thought that analogy for comparing seemingly lifeless animatronics to ice cream was well done in the given context.

The 8-bit mini game was also enjoyable. Trying to solve the puzzle on how to feed all the kids was done very well and was an excellent example of testing the skill of the player and rewarding them for their accomplishments. I also liked that this mini game was the key to unlocking the secret ending (that we know of at this point).

To (finally) conclude this review, I can sum up my feelings towards this game in two words (then why didn't I just do that at the beginning you ask). Missed Opportunity. I honestly thought we would be getting much more than what this game gave us. Scott worked on this game for almost a year, and given what he was able to accomplish in the past in a much smaller amount of time, it was hard not to get my hopes up. I want more than anything to say that I enjoyed this game and what it contributed to the lore and the overall story Scott has been telling for so long. I even tried to convince myself that it wasn't as bad as I thought by watching other people enjoy it. I just can't. The only hope I have now is that some amazing easter egg will be discovered that will finally satisfy the masses, including myself.