Deft Beck
Member
A lot of people debate whether or not there were any good interactive movie games released in the mid-90s. So many of them had the bare minimum of interactive elements, only serving to showcase the desire of film production companies to enter the scary medium of video gaming without bothering to make an actual game. But, Scott Cawthon, all by himself, managed to make one of the defining games of the genre back in 1996. The game was ported to the PS1 and the Jaguar CD, but I think that the Saturn version is superior due to the special qualities of the system.
The Saturn version is a technical showcase for the system; it rendered the environments in 3D, and lit them with an impressive occluded lighting algorithm; Quake's Saturn version had a similar use of lighting to achieve dramatic effect, and FNAF takes great advantage of this. The models of the robots are also fully redone for the Saturn's quadrilateral polygonal rendering. Several thousand polygons are used for each robot, and Freddy himself has a convincing Gaussian shading and irregular texture combination that makes him feel very realistic for the time.
Control-wise, it's very intuitive. The use of the mouse-like shoulder buttons to click between the security cameras is very immersive, and the superior d-pad allows easy access to many of the functions in the game. All buttons on the controller are used, and the cursor moves fast enough for everything to work well. If you happened to import one, you're also able to use a mouse and keyboard. Plus, If you have the 3D controller from NiGHTS into dreams... , you're able to control the bobbleheads on the desk, which I found to be a cute easter egg.
If there's one area that could have used some additional polish, it's in the sound department. To make the game fit onto the disk, they had to compress the voice clips. Though, if anything, it adds to the nostalgiac effect; it makes you feel like you're in some sort of manic environment where your perceptions are limited to that of your panicked, boxed-in state. Though some many find this to be a knock against this version, I find it to my taste.
It's a shame that the N64 version never came out, but there's a rumor that a collector bought a prototype off of Scott for about $5k, and that it'll be up at auction soon. Anyone on this forum have deep pockets?
I'm glad that this game is still remembered today.
The Saturn version is a technical showcase for the system; it rendered the environments in 3D, and lit them with an impressive occluded lighting algorithm; Quake's Saturn version had a similar use of lighting to achieve dramatic effect, and FNAF takes great advantage of this. The models of the robots are also fully redone for the Saturn's quadrilateral polygonal rendering. Several thousand polygons are used for each robot, and Freddy himself has a convincing Gaussian shading and irregular texture combination that makes him feel very realistic for the time.
Control-wise, it's very intuitive. The use of the mouse-like shoulder buttons to click between the security cameras is very immersive, and the superior d-pad allows easy access to many of the functions in the game. All buttons on the controller are used, and the cursor moves fast enough for everything to work well. If you happened to import one, you're also able to use a mouse and keyboard. Plus, If you have the 3D controller from NiGHTS into dreams... , you're able to control the bobbleheads on the desk, which I found to be a cute easter egg.
If there's one area that could have used some additional polish, it's in the sound department. To make the game fit onto the disk, they had to compress the voice clips. Though, if anything, it adds to the nostalgiac effect; it makes you feel like you're in some sort of manic environment where your perceptions are limited to that of your panicked, boxed-in state. Though some many find this to be a knock against this version, I find it to my taste.
It's a shame that the N64 version never came out, but there's a rumor that a collector bought a prototype off of Scott for about $5k, and that it'll be up at auction soon. Anyone on this forum have deep pockets?
I'm glad that this game is still remembered today.
