4 PM Review

4 PM could have been quite the adventure. I really, really wanted to enjoy it, but the game suffered from quite a number of glaring flaws. 4 PM describes itself as a “short, interactive drama, where you lead a character through several different scenes/locations during a day adding to a bigger story.” This is what the game is, stripped to its bare essentials. You take control of an alcoholic party animal, Caroline, waking up from a terrible hangover. Reality isn’t much better, as she finds herself with a crumbling family life and a jerk of a boss. The game starts at 10 A.M., and you guide Caroline through her exploits until 4 P.M. If you ever find yourself confused throughout the game, you’re not alone. My reasoning skills can be pretty bad from time to time, but I’m more than certain that 4 PM lacked when it came to a cohesive plot.

One minute, I’m hearing my boss give me an earful through the phone. The next, I’m revisiting a memory of me getting wasted on the dance floor last night. Then, I’m chilling out in the back of a taxi, carrying on a meaningless conversation with the driver. I see where 4 PM’s developers were going in terms of character development, but it could have been executed with much more efficiency. From the beginning of the game to the end, I felt next to nothing when I saw Caroline. This may be attributed to the game’s extremely short length - I finished the game in about 30 minutes.

The game’s “missions” were also lacking in the creativity department. While I revisited Caroline’s dancefloor disaster, I was charged with the task of finding a bathroom before Caroline expelled her innards on the bartender. Another quest had me attempt to sneak out of the office for a quick drink, only to lead me to the rooftop of the building for a final confrontation with a man I seemingly now know. The game succeeded when it came to mapping out the life of an average woman with a drinking problem. Unfortunately, the life of an average woman with a drinking problem can be kind of boring sometimes.

The graphics of 4 PM left a lot to be desired. The shadows of objects appeared to shimmer and ripple, as if all of my furniture was made out of liquid. Textures in the environments seemed almost dated, and the game’s objects appeared to have a warm, fuzzy glow surrounding them. Moving around the environments was rather clunky at times, and there was a noticeable delay between me pressing W, A, S, or D and Caroline actually moving.

The voice actors in this game were not bad for such a small studio, and I commend the developers for adding voiceover that didn’t feel out of place. I really felt like punching Caroline’s boss in the face for being such a tool, and I could sense the pleading urgency in Caroline’s mother’s voice. I can definitely say that the voiceover added to the overall experience, rather than detracting from it.

Proper voiceover is unfortunately not enough to save 4 PM from being an incoherent and dull affair. Honestly, the main thing that killed 4 PM was its length. 30 minutes was nowhere long enough to develop Caroline’s character or the story itself. The ending of the game was actually very interesting, and I would have enjoyed the game more if it focused on how Caroline got to know this strange man, and how his intimacy with Caroline drove his life over the edge. That would have been a great story, and I wouldn’t have minded investing a few hours into 4 PM if it explored their relationship. 4 PM could have been much more than it is now, but I just can’t recommend it to anyone else, even if only for £3/$5.