MadCap's Game Reviews - "Friday the 13th: The Game"

I think anyone who comes around my blog in October knows that I'm a fan of the Friday the 13th franchise, particularly since I've reviewed the first three films in the original series and the 2009 remake (and have plans to review the others as well) and given all but one of them a glowing recommendation. They aren't the height of cinematic excellence, sure, but there's something to like about all of them in one way or another if someone's bothering to look.

That being said, I'm not an uber-fan in the same way I am for, let's say, the Halloween franchise. Luckily, I've found some people who are and they made this game. IllFonic, a Colorado-based developer known previously for Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric and Star Citizen, have shown a lot of love and dedication to the Friday the 13th franchise.  And I mean a lot of it. So much so that they made a Kickstarter and BackerKit for this game, and it became the 124th most crowdfunded project of all time, collecting just shy of $1.3 million through both platforms.

Ho. Lee. Crap.

Seriously, it's almost like this was something that people really, really wanted or something.


If that were all, that would be something. "But", in the words of Billy Mays, "wait! There's more!" Sean S. Cunningham, the producer of the original Friday film as well as several others in the franchise, offered IllFonic and their publisher Gun the license to the franchise so that they could upgrade it from their original concept, Slasher Vol. 1: Summer Camp, which would have likely been a more tongue-in-cheek, but loving tribute to the franchise. Harry Manfredini, composer for the first six Friday films, Jason Goes to Hell, and Jason X returned to score the game. And to top it all off, Kane Hodder - the man pretty much considered to be the definitive Jason Voorhees by most fans - returned to do motion capture for every variation of everyone's favorite hockey mask-clad killer.

It really seemed like there was no possible way for this to go wrong, right?

...well, you're right. It couldn't.

And I'm happy to say it didn't. I could pretty much stop the review right here and tell you that Friday the 13th: The Game is pretty damn awesome, there's no question. There is clearly a lot of love and respect for the franchise being poured into just about everything here, and I don't mean in the Aliens: Colonial Marines way of "we have the license, so let's use it to cover up the fact that we created a giant pile of crap". Even if they didn't outright state it themselves and show their work, it is clear that the creative hands behind the game love the series and have done the work necessary to show that off in full.

The game has multiple modes once you boot up. There's the online play, which allows you to play as either Jason or one of the meatshields...I mean, counselors. While I don't have Playstation Plus, I did watch one of my friends playing it through his Twitch and was witness to him scurrying around Crystal Lake's many cabins as he set traps, tried to avoid Jason, and searched for a radio in order to call on the legendary Tommy Jarvis (voiced by his Jason Lives actor Thom Matthews) to come and save the day. Also, there's a bit about trying to fix the car using a fuse and a gas car, but his three attempts to do so did not end well for him.

"Well, you can tell by the way I use my walk..."

And also, to call the police so that they can escape. I've also been informed that you can actually kill Jason, but it is rather difficult to the point where you might as well just avoid him and get the police in.

Jason, meanwhile, is a walking death machine in a variety of ways, and it is him that the player gets to play within the single player mod with counselor bots. For me, since I'm one of the people who vehemently refuses multiplayer when I have the option to do so, this where the game has its bread and butter.

Picking from between one of eight maps that have been lovingly crafted from locations in the films (yes, even the fifth one that nobody really likes), the player picks one of the variations of Jason that are available. Several are locked based upon level, though when I played the variations of Jason from Part 3 and 5 were unlocked immediately. My personal favorite version however, in terms of aesthetics, is the Tom Savini Jason depicting a version of Jason that came from Hell following the events of Jason Goes To Hell: The Final Friday

LOOK AT IT! LOOK AT IT!

I'm serious. Look at this thing! Look at it! It's a shambling monstrosity that was burned and scarred by the fires of Hell itself, tore the pitchfork of Lucifer from his own hands, and then walked out of Hell! I'm not even kidding, that's literally the entire concept behind this skin. And it. Is. GLORIOUS! I wish this could have made it into a film set after Jason Goes To Hell. It's literally just that good! There is, unfortunately, only one problem with it: I can't get it. In fact, if you didn't back the game originally, nobody can. While it apparently did show up by accident on the Playstation Store for a bit...I only got the game several months later, and apparently Gun is saying no-no to ever selling it again. Despite, y'know...some of us not having money for that at the time. C'mon guys, you're throwing away free money here!

So it sits in a glass case in the Virtual Cabin, taunting me...but I'll get to that in a few paragraphs.

When starting a new game in the single player, as I said, you pick one of the maps and then you pick a variation of Jason. All organized by the movie that they appeared in, each Jason has their own unique playstyle that come with sets of strengths and weaknesses. For example, Jason from Part 7 (my favorite looking variation apart from the aforementioned unobtainable glory) has enhanced speed underwater and a heightened grip strength, but cannot run, has fewer traps, and his Shift ability regenerates much more slowly. The Jason of Part 2 can run, has his Morph ability regenerate much faster, and has more traps, but has a slower Shift, a lower defense, and has slower underwater speed. And every variation has their own flavor and strategies.

Jason can also unlock grab kills, which are unique deaths - many ported over from the movies - where Jason does exactly what it says on the tin, grabs and kills a person. Some you have from the start, some you get by buying them with in-game Customization points.

But in the end, you all use them to the same effect - killing teenagers and killing a lot of them...or, at least, seven of them and one Tommy Jarvis, that is.

"Hello! Avon Calling!"

When you boot a new game up, there's a cute little cutscene set in Nineteen Eighty Something (the year doesn't necessarily depend on the film the map you've chosen is from) where a bunch of teenagers are gathered together and Jason brutally murders one of them, sending the others running and screaming. Then you appear in Jason's cabin, where the voice of Pamela Voorhees insists that Jason make them suffer for what they did. And so, you go about killing. Jason's four main abilities, as I've mentioned a few before are Sense, Stalk, Shift, and Morph.

Sense is exactly what you think it is, Jason's ability to seek out targets to destroy. The world goes into a grayscale view as your potential targets are highlighted with a red glow. Unless, of course, they're in a cabin, in which case you can't pin-point them specifically and have to go looking. Stalk gets lessens Jason's murder music for a brief time and allows him to sneak up on targets more easily - definitely good for those variations of him who can't run. Shift allows you to pull an Evil Dead and zoom across the map with superhuman speed in first person mode, but it can be somewhat difficult to control and changing direction while using it is not advised for beginners. And finally, Morph, which lets you open up the area map...and literally teleport anywhere you want.

It's literally the Slasher Film Villain Teleportation Technique, and it's awesome.

"Smile, you son of a-"

The counselors, as I mentioned before, have a variety of ways to either impede or evade Jason, however, such as traps and a variety of weapons that can stun him. Baseball bats, shotguns, flare guns, pen knives, and even firecrackers can either disorient Jason temporarily or knock him down and force his player into a short quick time event to get back up again.

It actually has some good balance that requires both the murder and the murderees to think strategically in order to hinder one another's efforts.

Of course, that's the game itself. "But MadCap!" I hear you cry. "What about that Virtual Cabin thingy you mentioned several paragraphs ago?" Well, I'm glad you asked, voices in my head! The Virtual Cabin is the pinnacle of the love, dedication, and outright nerd-dom that exists at the very heart of this project. When you boot it up, and yes there is a boot scene for this in a lovely little bit of retro-gaming homage, you appear in a cabin that has a cornucopia of interactables. Many of them giving some trivia about the movies or about the development of the game.

Totally not hiding secrets. Nope, nope.

And if that were all, then it would be an excellent tribute to the films and a celebration by the dev team of their glorious victory after the trials and tribulations that come from making a game this detailed and extensive. "But," as I said before was said by Billy Mays, "there's more!" And more there is. It seems that IllFonic and Gun hid some easter eggs within the place as well, putting some of the interactables to use in puzzles. The first of three loops will see you picking up various items from the films and putting them on pedestals as well as re-arranging a variety of Jason masks on a wall. Do this (among a few other steps) and you'll unlock the basement of the cabin. It has several glass cases, each of which hold one of the character models of Jason (including the Savini one, forever taunting me with its awesomeness).

You also get a phone call from Pamela Voorhees. The only antagonist of a Friday film who is more unnervingly creepy than Jason. And no, I don't consider Roy to be creepy. Actress Jennifer Ann Burton does the voice for Pamela and she does a fantastic job. Definitely one of the highlights in what is already a masterpiece of a product. I felt my skin crawling even in the single-player games.

There are two further loops that unlock further content within the Virtual Cabin and change it in...new and interesting ways that also tease future potential content. But, I won't spoil them for you. If you're really that interested, Google it.

Okay, maybe just one spoiler...

I will say, despite a few minor niggles with some of the gameplay (namely that Jason even when he can "run" doesn't really run so much as lurch, and that he bumps into objects like hills just a little too easily for my liking), that this game does not suck. It's really awesome. When the worst I can say about it is that there's a skin that I really, really want, but can't get, that's a red letter day for me. Friday the 13th: The Game is a labor of love. Gun and IllFonic dug deep, deep down into the film franchise and showed a love and dedication to recreating even the more obscure parts of even the less beloved films (such as Part 5 and Jason Goes To Hell) as well as some facets of the franchise that you would have never thought would see the light of day again (such as the NES game).

It's clear that the people who worked on this game love what they do and wanted to pay homage to the Friday the 13th franchise. It's clear to me, however, that even if this were Slasher Vol. 1: Summer Camp, it would have been a solid game on its own. The assets are all there for a fairly well-balanced game that would be fun to play. If you haven't gotten it, and you're into survival horror games, then I would definitely recommend it!

Friday the 13th: The Game is now available from IllFonic and GunMedia for Microsoft Windows, Playstation 4, and Xbox One.

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