Review: 4PM

 

4PM is a short, narrative driven game, made by one person as an attempt to tell a real, thriller story in the form of an interactive experience. 

Pros:

• beautiful graphics with some really nice locations.
• Great soundtrack that accompanies the narration perfectly.
• A game where you play as a woman who struggles with drink and has constant flashbacks. You replay memories of the night before whilst trying to run a normal life.
• Controls couldn’t be easier with WASD for movement and the mouse for interaction.
• Markers on screen to help you and icons to highlight what you can interact with.
• Terrific voice acting.
• Has actual gameplay set pieces including a stealth mission. I cannot say anymore due to spoilers.
• You have to make choices in game which can change the flow of the game.
• Fully working Breakout game! Get your retro on and sit there and play it for hours.
• Powerful emotional story that delivers a short cinematic masterpiece. It has dark undertones, surprise twists.
• Multiple endings.
• You can play the game from the beginning pick a time to jump between scenes.
• Has subtitles support as well as multi language support.
• Really atmospheric which is quite an achievement due to the many locations you visit.

Cons:

• Some of the movements wont sit right with players. One scene in particular is vomit inducing oweing to the blurry screen, shaky cam and warped music.
• No Steam achievements/Cards.
• You can finish the game easily in under 30 minutes. So the game is very short.
• No replayability.
• Character models look robotic in places, Face work can look scarier more than real but you let it go.

In Summary, The game is short, Lets get that straight right off the bat. Its not about length, its about quality and the game has loads of it. The story is really well done and plays like a fully interactive short film. The small actual proper gameplay sections are few but well done, Failing it always puts you back at the beginning of the section so worry not. the attention to detail is high with hilarious posters over the office or the leaflets in the cab. Your decisions don’t affect the game as much as you think but are well implemented. if the game is cheap then it is defiantly worth a look. its short but so nice to play. It makes you wonder what they could do with a full game release. Even the credits are well done and give you something new. In short a perfect example of how to grab a player, give them a short memorable experience and leave them content.Bravo