3/10
I was first drawn to this game by the premise and by the interesting graphical style. I like a good mystery, and I wanted to see what sort of twisted shenanigans transpired in Happyville.
Unfortunately, the game does not control well, at least with keyboard and mouse. The controlled panning with the flashlight that you see in the game's trailer would be difficult to recreate. To make matters worse, many of the game environments are extremely dark, compounding the flashlight issue. Navigation is made worse through the clumsy camera angles you are presented with. Amusingly, the developer seems to understand how awkward the camera angles can be and refrained from placing enemies in obscured locations.
In the game, you can attack with your fists, with an axe, or with a pistol. However, pistols only have 6 shots a piece, and you're given no indication of ammo count. Therefore, you may find yourself (as I did) repeatedly picking up empty pistols in certain areas, clicking blankly at enemies before you're shot yourself.
These issues might be more bearable if the game had an interesting tale to tell, but it doesn't. Some enemies laugh maniacally and others wear smiley-face masks, but as the game concluded, I still had no idea what happened in Happyville. The game ends abruptly, and you are sent back to the main menu without any more insight into what happened there.
