User blog:TheFazDude/Fan Game Reviews 35: Five Nights at Candy's 3 (Reassessed)

Hey guys, and welcome to another Fan Game Review!

Before I start this review, I want to explain what's up next for the series. Basically, reviews 35-39 will be reassessments of the top 5 games I've reviewed, which are the following: Note that the reassessments will determine these games' place on my score list. For example, if FNaC 3 scores lower on its reassessment, it'll no longer be #1 on the score list. I hope my explanation makes sense.
 * Five Nights at Candy's 3 (Review 35)
 * POPGOES (Review 36)
 * Dormitabis (Review 37)
 * Baby's Nightmare Circus (Review 38, will cover Classic Mode)
 * TJoC Story Mode (Review 39)

Reviews 40-44 will be reassessments on the worst games I've reviewed, and Reviews 45-49 will be reviews on the canon FNaF series (no World or FFPS). Review 50 will be another Top/Bottom 5 thing, like Review 25.

Alright, explanation over. Now, let's start the reassessment of Five Nights at Candy's 3 by Emil Macko. Without any further ado, let's start the review!

Story: 10/10
Five Nights at Candy's 3 picks up right where FNaC 2's bonus minigame left off. Mary Schmidt (the same Mary from FNaC 1) just saw the Rat doing something to her brother. It's never explained what exactly happened, but either way, Mary's traumatized and seeing a therapist.

The game begins and ends with Mary taking her weekly visit to the therapist, but for the five nights in between, she must fend off nightmares featuring monsterous versions of the Rat and Cat, and later Vinnie the puppet after Mary witnesses two employees being murdered by Vinnie's puppeteer.

I really enjoy how you don't play as the victim of the accidents, but rather a witness. In a world of awful stuff happening to night guards, it's nice to see that the protagonist isn't in any true danger. This game is pretty darn original just for that plot.

Gameplay: 8/10
The gameplay of the main nights is basically a 2v1 against the Monster Rat and Cat. That's it. A maximum of two animatronics per night, no "phantoms", no special music box you have to wind up. Granted, the Monster Rat and Cat are dangerous enough, especially Monster Rat, but other than that, there's not much else to worry about. The Monster Cat's more of a nuisance than anything, and Monster Vinnie is a pretty good final boss for a FNaF fan game.

There's a tape recorder, but this is more of an optional thing. While it's playing, the night goes much faster. Without it, the night's way longer, but the tape recorder isn't a life or death matter. It's nice that Emil gave us the option, but it's just kind of... there.

Anyway, that's the main gameplay taken care of. Before each night, you can go into the Deepscape. Here, you can gain more lore hints and find secret minigames, but you have to deal with the Shadow Rat and Shadow Cat. You can get the good ending just fine without even stepping foot into the Deepscape, but you might find some useful stuff there.

All in all, although FNaC 3's gameplay can be undermining at times, it still offers lots of options to the player and is still enjoyable.

Graphics: 9/10
FNaC 3's graphics are very well esablished. The pixel art is nice, and can even be quite calming at times. The main nights are your basic FNaF fare, but it's done pretty well. The monsters are actually kinda creepy, and I like that Emil made a departure from the traditional "Nightmare" designs.

Audio: 9/10
Emil Macko got some help from his father with making the game's soundtrack, and it produced some of the best music I've heard from a FNaF fangame. The tracks can be eerie, but also heartwarming. The musical blend creates for a great, athmospheric experience.

Replay Value: 9/10
This game's packed with replay value. It has: That's not mentioning the hidden ending, which will probably keep you busy for another hour or so. I think that if you tried getting everything in the game, it'd probably take you around four hours or so. Not bad for a FNaF game.
 * Full body and close-up shots of the three main enemies
 * Development sketches of the enemies (including their scrapped Nightmare counterparts)
 * Three unlockable minigames
 * Jumpscares (which can be slowed down and sped up)
 * Challenges
 * A detailed look into how the Monster Rat model was created (with developer commentary!)
 * Beta content from all 3 FNaC games
 * The traditional "Thank You!" image with all the characters from the series

Grand Total: 45/50 (90) (A-)
Surprisingly enough, FNaC 3's new score is just one point lower than its old score. Huh.

Anyway, FNaC 3 remains as a standard of a FNaF 4-style fan game done right. The athmosphere is well-set by the game's graphics and soundtrack, the story sets itself farther off than other games like it, and the gameplay, although lacking at times, is still enjoyable to an extent. Do yourself a favor and play this game. It's among the greats.

Next time, we'll be taking another look at POPGOES. Will its score gain serve as a Popgoes promotion or a demotion? Find out next time!

Until then, stay grand!