Games

Finding Frankie: 2 Hours of Horrible Parkour Horror

BBG News

In the game “Finding Frankie“, you initially find yourself trapped in a dimly lit room, with the only source of light coming from a big television screen greeting you to a malevolent game show. This is a first-person parkour-style challenge course that resembles a less polished version of games like “Mirror’s Edge” or “Dying Light“. Essentially, “Finding Frankie” is a horror game where you control one of several contestants who are subjected to grueling trials. You must navigate through a nightmarish labyrinth, evading malfunctioning robotic mascots that pose a constant threat of a gruesome demise. At times, this game can be quite harrowing, not just because death could strike at any moment, but also due to the overall bleak and oppressive atmosphere it creates.

The adventure starts off relatively tame, though the introduction is confusing, leading you into a vast, abandoned soft play center owned by Frankie, filled with menacing metallic creatures. They are waiting to chase you through a succession of obstacle courses reminiscent of Total Wipeout. However, the controls can be woolly and the parkour mechanics frustratingly loose, making these frantic chases less enjoyable. Your initial encounter with Frankie might leave you stuck on scenery or lost due to unclear directions, leaving you feeling a bit unfairly treated.

In the game “Finding Frankie”, such foot chases are fortunately rare, yet frustrating enough to be remembered annoyingly. The trial-and-error aspect makes them quite vexing, leading to numerous instances of capture before the path is memorized. Constantly having to halt and flip switches to create a pathway will test your patience. However, when you manage to pass these segments skillfully, it feels like a victory, mainly because one hopes never to encounter them again.

In moments when there’s no constant pursuit, the game Finding Frankie finds you scurrying around flipping circuit breaker switches to open shutters, pressing forward, navigating tracks, slipping under obstacles, swinging from overhead bars, jumping over chasms, bouncing off trampolines, and dodging the spinning blades of circular saws. Meeting an untimely, gory end is a frequent occurrence, and it’s unfortunate that the checkpoints can be stingy. Notably, some chase sequences must be completed in a single uninterrupted run; otherwise, you’ll have to start all over again.

As a gamer, I found that playing Finding Frankie was quite a tense two hours due to the somewhat imprecise mechanics in its platforming and parkour sections. Jumping from a giant whizzing fan onto a grind rail, or sliding down water slides, and navigating through the game’s vibrant, Fall Guys-inspired obstacle courses seems exhilarating on paper. However, the trial-and-error aspect of everything can make success feel more like a matter of luck than design. Each time I failed, it would prompt an eye roll or an exasperated gasp through clenched teeth. Contrary to its claim, it’s not particularly scary, although the ending did give me quite the chill down my spine.

Despite attempts to create suspense or fear while playing, the frequent distractions from the game’s awkward antagonists and the need to find switches within a time limit can diminish the experience. It becomes clear that there isn’t much depth to “Finding Frankie,” even though it’s relatively short, lasting around two hours at most. However, due to its current state, playing it can feel like a tedious task. The game has some promising concepts, but the execution leaves much to be desired. With improved controls and more lenient checkpoints, “Finding Frankie” could potentially become less of a hassle to play.

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2025-04-11 18:12

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