Friday the 13th: The Game (2017)
Developed by IllFonic
I went from not reviewing any video games to reviewing two this year, not sure if that is a good thing or not. Friday the 13th is such an iconic horror series and making a good video game off from it doesn’t seem like it would be difficult. That was the case though in the 80s when they made Friday the 13th for the Nintendo Entertainment System. The game was confusing, odd and not very faithful to the series. In 2015 IllFonic started making Slasher Vol 1: Summer Camp, a survival video game where you control the villain or a camper. The buzz around the game grew and Sean S. Cunningham and Gun games decided to collaborate with IllFonic and turn Slasher Vol 1 into a Friday the 13th game. They went to Kickstarter for funding, and made their budget in a short time.
The game launched as a digital download on May 26th, 2017 for PC, Xbox One and Playstation 4. On Friday October 13th of the same year, a physical copy was released as well. I own the physical copy and couldn’t wait to play it. Over the weekend I played around 8 matches. The game is online multiplayer only and a room consists of 2-9 people. When the match begins 1 person will be chosen at random to play as Jason while the others will be counselors. As Jason you are given powers such as warping to spots on the map, stalking the other players, the ability to move super-fast to catch up to counselors and the ability to see other players by a heat vision type sensory. There are a few different versions of Jason, you get the Jasons from Parts 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8 and 9 as well as a Jason made by Tom Savini just for the game. The movements and actions of Jason were made doing a motion capture of actor Kane Hodder, known for playing Jason numerous times. Each Jason has different traits, whether it be the ability to run, strength and weapons.
As a counselor you take control of a character (not from the movies) and you have to try to survive, escape, or kill Jason. You can grab weapons in cabins, search drawers and cabinets to find things such as maps, first aid products, keys to vehicles, gas for vehicles and so on. You can also call the cops to come rescue you, but first you have to find a fuse to fix the electricity, then make the call and wait for the to arrive. Another thing they can do is use a radio to call Tommy Jarvis from Part 6 to come and help fight Jason. Jarvis is controlled by one of the players that has died, but only after two people have died in the game. Jarvis carries a rifle and he is much stronger than the other characters. Escaping or hiding until the time runs out seems to be the easiest way to win as a counselor. Killing Jason is very difficult, a female character must find Jason’s house, put on Mrs. Voorhees’ sweater, cause Jason to kneel down, then Jarvis must use a machete on Jason to kill him.
The gameplay is rather fun, but can be glitchy at times. The kills are crazy and over the top, what you would expect from Friday the 13th. Some of the kills come straight from the movie such as squeezing a player’s head until his skull crushes and bending a character backwards and breaking their back. Obviously, I enjoy using Jason more than I do a counselor, but both are really fun to do. It really gets intense when Jason is right behind you and you have to run away. There is a great deal of strategy involved while playing as a counselor, but playing as Jason you just have to kill as much as you can. The game is so faithful to the film franchise that you feel like you are actually playing the movies. All the small details from each Jason having traits from the movies to Tommy Jarvis being a character and looking exactly like the actor from part 6. If you are a fan of the movies you have to play this, it is basically everything you could want in a Friday the 13th game. You can actually watch my friend and I play live, usually Monday nights after 10 on twitch, his username is iam_thecaptain. Fun stuff!
While there are many great aspects to the game, it does have its flaws. The main flaw in this entire game is match making. My lord does it take a long time to get a game going sometimes. I was playing the other night and it took at least 25 minutes for me to get into a lobby, have it NOT error out and for me to play. Even a few times it disconnected during gameplay. It is not my internet, I have 100mbps connection. There are some issues with lag sometimes, but heck that happens with Call of Duty a lot too. Another flaw for me is the lack of items outside of cabins. You might even find yourself running into cabins for weapons or items and they’re already gone, it is frustrating and sometimes you can be murdered before you even find a weapon. Some of the perks of Jason are difficult to use, at least for me. The fast moving “shift” ability that allows you to move really fast without the others seeing you move is great, but man sometimes it is too fast and doesn’t stop when you want it to so you really don’t end up any closer to a victim than you were before. More and more updates are coming out for the game so hopefully it gets some of the bugs out soon.
If you love slasher movies and if you love Friday the 13th, you have to play this game. It is everything I’ve wanted in a Friday the 13th game. You get the feeling that you are playing in a movie, some of the matches are better than some of the movies, that’s kind of funny if you think of it. Having a group of friends to play it with would be a blast, so far I only have 2 friends with the game, hopefully some others grab it so we can get a big party going online. The kills are great, the series is represented faithfully and it is fun regardless of glitches and poor match making. If you have an Xbox One, PS4 or PC check it out, you’ll have a good time. I give Friday the 13th: The Game an A-. I can’t go full A or A+ because of the poor match making, it is so incredibly frustrating but the gameplay and subject matter elevate it to an A- for me.
