FRIDAY THE 13TH: THE GAME (PS4 Video Game)

Producer: GUN MEDIA
Available Now!
Reviewer: Kletus Casidy

Dear Father, forgive me for I have sinned…I live to kill and I live to be killed. I rarely buy video games mainly because I don’t have the patience for long form games like SKYRIM or DESTINY. I love the BATMAN ARKHAM series and enjoy those thoroughly but besides that, there aren’t too many games out there that get me excited. Then I read about a company that made a camp slasher game that caught the eye of FRIDAY THE 13TH director Sean Cunningham, who had gave this company his blessing (and helped to some degree) to develop this game as a multiplayer FRIDAY THE 13TH slasher fest. As a huge fan of the FRIDAY THE 13TH series (my favorite of the franchise slashers), I had to have this game and I love it!

What’s great about this game is that it perfectly captures the dreadful camp atmosphere of FRIDAY THE 13TH. From the dark foggy forests, the rainy nights, and the eerie music that starts to build when Jason is near, all work to make you feel like you are immersed in the best part of a FRIDAY THE 13TH movie, which is basically when all the counselors realize Jason is real and that they are most likely going to die. The round starts as Jason comes out of the woods and kills some poor red shirt bastard and everyone scatters. You either start as a camp counselor or the main man himself Jason Vorhees. As a camp counselor, you have one goal…survive the night using various weapons and items which all aid in your escape (fixing a car, fixing a phone to call the cops or even using the radio to call Tommy Jarvis). As Jason, you have one purpose…KILL EVERYONE! The developers did a great job giving Jason “powers” that kind of reflect how and why Jason can seem to be anywhere at once and keep up with even the fastest victim with nothing more than an axe and a brisk power walk. For instance, As Jason you can can warp to anywhere on the map, you have a special sixth sense to help find people and if you are chasing someone you can “teleport” and be right next to them (which is scary as hell when you are on the receiving end), all the while Jason’s mother is giving you pep talks such as, “Kill them all sweety, don’t let any of them live!” Even though this game is simple, it is definitely not easy for either side, Jason can be stunned and is very slow. As a counselor, you can be hurt and if you get to close to Jason, unless you have a weapon or something to distract him, he will definitely kill you in the most gory of ways. The developers have pulled a multitude of specific kills from various movies throughout the years to punish these evil kids for letting that poor child drown all those years ago.

Kudos to the developers because I can tell they love the FRIDAY THE 13TH series as much as I do and it shows. I’m pretty sure you can unlock all of Jason’s various costumes throughout the years including the 8-bit purple and turquoise costume from the Nintendo game (notice how the score sounds 8-bit now?). The downside is the game can get kind of repetitive but repeating steps such as locking doors, checking cabins for keys and other survival told are what keep you alive, basically it’s the all the things you’d yell for the characters to do in these types of movies. I love this game, it’s scary, fun and perfect for someone like me that may not want to play a longer campaign based game. If you love FRIDAY THE 13TH, I’d say this game is a must have and the bonus is that its only $40. Now I just have to deal with reoccurring dreams where I’m either killing camp counselors as Jason or being killed as a camp counselor by Jason…not sure which is scarier.

If you’d like to hear more from Kletus Cassidy (I know, why would you right?), you can listen to him and his good buddy Steve discuss comics, comic news and more on the SANCTUM SEQUENTIAL podcast now on iTunes. Email questions, comments and hate mail here! Thanks!