Friday The 13th: The Game is an asymmetrical multiplayer-only game and is developed by Gun Media.
This game is an asymmetrical multiplayer experience that has you playing one of two roles: You will either spawn in as a counsellor or Jason from the popular 80’s movie franchise Friday The 13th.
Playing as a counsellor is where the majority of your time is going to be spent considering the probability of being Jason is ⅛, if you are playing in a full lobby that is. As a counsellor your job is to escape by any means necessary. This means that if you end you end up going against a group of friends in a public match you are probably going to be screwed as they will stick together rather than help you. You can choose from a few different characters when playing as a counsellor, and each character has their own set of strengths and weaknesses. For example, females are more stealthy than males. Although to counter this there is a perk system that has you picking three perks to put on your character to help you survive. Perks are difficult to obtain as it is a random loot system similar to Battlefield’sbattle packs system although you cannot spend real money you can only spend in game currency to obtain perks. There are a few decent perks that I have rolled. These perks range from starting with a walkie talkie (allows you to speak to counsellors that aren’t in close proximity) all the way to starting with a med pack. Some of these perks are great, however, the way you acquire them is kind of unfair and I would have prefered a limited time store or something else rather than a random system.
The core gameplay of a counsellor has you spawning in a place and searching around for objects, some of which are vital if you want to survive and win the game. These objects range from pocket knives, walkie talkies, maps, firecrackers and even car keys. There are a number of ways you can escape and win the game, but I am only going to mention one in this review so I don’t spoil the game, as there are some cool ways to escape. One way is by finding three parts (a battery, gasoline, and car keys) so you can fix a car. They are all hidden around the map but the car keys have always spawned in draws for me. There are two cars you can escape in, the yellow car which is a two seater and then there is a blue car which has four seats. This means that if you don’t have a part for a car you probably aren’t useful to your team and they will probably leave you behind.
The most interesting part of this title is when you are playing as Jason and are murdering teenagers. There are a few different character options you can choose from when you are playing as Jason, with each having their own advantages and disadvantages attached to the character instead of having a perk system. A few of the notable Jasons you can play as are Jason Part 2, Jason Part 7 and even Jason Part 6. Each Jason also has their own set of finishing kills that you can perform from a grab.
The core gameplay of Jason involves a lot of chasing people and tracking them down. When you are playing as Jason you have four abilities that are usable and recharge over time. Teleport (Morph) is pretty self explanatory: It lets you teleport to anywhere on the map, and is also useful because it shows where the hot spots on the maps are like the car and the boat. Jason’s second ability is Sense and allows Jason to see things within a certain proximity. For example, when the ability is active, if a counsellor goes into a nearby cabin that cabin will glow red. Sense is particularly helpful when you have lost track of the counsellors. Jason’s third ability is Shift, which has him go into a ghost-like form that can cover large distances really easily without being detected. Stalk is Jason’s last ability, which eliminates the music cues in the game that tell the counsellors Jason is nearby. I didn’t find this ability very useful as the counsellors could still hear my footsteps relatively easily.
The art in this game is beautiful and it pulls a lot from the films. Gun Media got all the official licences for this game, meaning that all the characters look like they are pulled directly from the movies. I have to say that my personal favourite is Jason Part Six and it looks looks so real in this game even down to the weapon that he carries. The finishing kills are also very realistic with most of them being from the movies, the notable one here is when Jason sticks his hand through the counsellor’s body and rips out their heart.
As this is a licenced game, the music is also from the movies, it does well to terrify you as you’re alone in the woods. When Jason is near, and then the music stops everything is silent and BOOM you are thrown through a window. It provides a sense of atmosphere and suspense that I have never experienced in a game before.
There is no single player experience available in this title just yet, however the developers have stated that single player is due to come in late 2017. This is a shame as solo players like myself have found this game somewhat frustrating when playing without any friends. Hopefully when the single player does come it will be as good as the movies were.
There are only three maps available right now: Camp Higgins, Camp Packnack and Camp Crystal Lake. There is a common theme here and that is the fact that they are all summer camps. As a result, the maps do all look similar and it is a missed opportunity as they could have implemented some cool, different and innovative maps. I wouldn’t have minded playing on the cruise ship from Part Eight.
