CASE: Animatronics

CASE: Animatronics is clearly a game that is “inspired” by the whole Five Nights at Freddy’s craze that is still running wild all around the world. The idea here is one that I got behind right away before I started playing the game as I loved the premise of the Five Nights at Freddy’s series, but this one has you playing as a cop instead of a security guard.

Survive the Night!

The game sees you playing the role of a detective called John Bishop and you are working late one night, all alone in the police station when it comes under siege. You may think that CASE: Animatronics sounds like it could be kind of like Assault on Precinct 13 which would be awesome by the way. However, instead, the police station is under siege by animatronic creatures that want you dead!

The story is told to you via these weird telephone conversations and notes and other stuff that you find as you try to survive the night. I loved the idea of this story I really did and there were a few moments where it had me. However, it kind of throws it all away at one point, and that kind of spoiled the situation for me.

I Like To Move It!

Unlike the Five Nights at Freddy’s series, CASE: Animatronics actually allows you to move around. The game is a first-person survival horror game where you are free to move around this empty police station as you try to avoid these animatronic monsters that want you dead! The game plays well enough and it is pretty damn scary when you are hiding as one of these things is running rough shot through the police station!

You have a tablet and a flashlight and that is all you have with you as you try to survive. There are some very basic puzzles and fetch quests for you to do as you play, but the real draw of the game for me is the sense of terror and tension that it has as the AI of these things is very strange. One minute they can be super dumb and walk past you as you are hiding in a corner. The next they can be on you like the freaking T-1000 from Terminator 2!

Watch The Screens

CASE: Animatronics gives you a tablet that you can use. Do you use this tablet to call in the SWAT team to take these things down? Of course not! The tablet gives you access to various security cameras. I actually like the way the game handles this. You can have it in your hand and look at it that way, but if you want to get the full view you have to make it full screen, but this can leave you open to an attack!

Pros:

• I enjoyed the empty police station setting
• Playing as a detective is kind of cool
• It has some great jump scares
• Being able to go where you want is nice
• The story unfolds as you play

Cons:

• The story takes a very dumb and annoying turn
• The AI can sometimes be frustratingly too good!