A second helping of terror at the world's scariest restaurant
If you didn't die of a heart attack playing Five Nights at Freddy's then get ready for the horrific follow-up, which takes you back to the world's scariest pizza joint for another stint as a night watchman. If you thought the jump scares in the first game were bad, wait until you play Five Nights at Freddy's 2.
Back on the job
Without giving too much away, the basic premise of Five Nights at Freddy's 2 is that the haunted pizza restaurant from the first game has reopened having undergone a refurbishment. As well as getting a lick of paint, Freddy's has acquired a bunch of new animatronic characters to join Freddy the bear and his old gang from the first game, who have themselves been made over.
Freddy's being Freddy's, things turn sour, and the supposedly cute and cuddly hosts malfunction again, giving them a preference for human brains over pizza.\n
As with the first game, Five Nights at Freddy's 2 sees you assume the role of security guard at the restaurant, over the course of a week. There are seven shifts to get through in the full game (including a day shift, for the first time), but only a meager one night is playable in the demo.
You're stationed in a control room much the same as the previous version. You must use the security cameras to keep an eye on the animatronic creatures and make sure they don't come into your office and savage you to death. This time around there are no doors to keep them out, which is disconcerting at first.
Instead, you are equipped with a Freddy Fazbear bear mask which you must quickly whip out and put on when one of the creatures gets close. This will stop them from attacking you because they'll think you're one of them. You also have a flashlight that allows you to look down the hallway to see what might be coming.
Fright night
With a total of 11 characters to keep tabs on, and without the comfort of having a sealable office, you feel a lot more vulnerable in Five Nights at Freddy's 2. Flicking through the CCTV cameras is simple enough but you'll need to be fast on the draw with the mask if you want to survive. Because of this, the game is much harder than the first Five Nights at Freddy's, and you really need your wits about you if you want to avoid jump scares - which, incidentally will make you scream louder than ever.
Besides the new characters and mask mechanic, Five Nights at Freddy's 2 adds a new feature where you can customize 10 of the animatronic characters, allowing you to tweak their difficulty levels. Upping these to the max for each essentially gives you no chance of finishing your shift with your face still stuck to your head.
Bear necessities
Graphically, Five Nights at Freddy's 2 hasn't improved upon the first game, and the style is very much the same. The 3D graphics aren't very sophisticated and animation is virtually non existent, but the good thing is that it doesn't really matter. In fact, in a way it adds to the chilling charm of the game.
One of the things that made the first game so darn terrifying were the sound effects, and thankfully Five Nights at Freddy's 2 excels in this area, too. From the bizarre shuffling sounds to the hiss of camera interference, everything is designed to set you on edge - and it does. My particular weak spot was the jack-in-the-box music which seems to play for an eternity, building in tempo and suspense with every loop.
Play it if you dare
Although on the surface it doesn't look much like an upgrade from the first version, the gameplay is significantly different to make Five Nights at Freddy's 2 worth playing. Be warned though, it's much harder than its predecessor, and the jump scares will have you whimpering on the floor like a little baby.
