In this Friday the 13th game review, I talk about all of the things that are done well, the things that scrape by and the things that are horribly unacceptable by today’s gaming standards.
Friday the 13th the game is a massive piece of fan-service. Just like the movies, the game takes place in a variety of locales. Camp Crystal Lake, Packanack Lodge, Higgins Haven and the Jarvis residence are all here to explore and die in.
Friday the 13th Game Review Video
Friday the 13th Fan Service
The locations in the game are all recreated in stunning detail. I’ve gone back and watched the movies and can pick out environments from the game in the different movies. Seeing Packanack Lodge in Friday the 13th Part 3 after hiding out in it from Jason is pretty awesome!
All of the stereotypical counsellors are presented also. We’ve got the metalhead, jock, nerd, punk rocker and more. Each of these counsellors have different strengths and weaknesses and can be assigned collectible perks to enhance their stats.
Most of the Jasons from the films are included also with the exception of pseudo-Jason from Part 5, Jason X and Freddy vs. Jason. It would have been cool to see Pamela Voorhees as a playable character to fill in for Part 1 also.
It’s fantastic that Sean Cunningham, Kane Hodder and Harry Manfredini all leant their talents and approvals to the game.
Hopefully all of the Jasons will make their way into the game with future content updates.
Friday the 13th the Game is a lot of fun and we do have a lot of laughs and good times playing it.
Different Jasons for Different Play Styles
As with the counsellors, every Jason has different strengths and weaknesses. Some can run but have slowly recharging teleport abilities, others are faster in the water but have weak grip strength.
My favourite Jason is Jason from Part 6: Jason Lives. He can’t run, but he’s got a really fast recharge rate on both sense and shift, two favourite abilities of mine.
Sense allows Jason to see counsellors on the map that are hiding in cabins or running around outside and shift allows Jason to do a close range teleport.
Jason 6 is my favourite Jason from the films also, so I was glad to have that particular Jason work best for my play style.
Friday the 13th Graphics
The graphics are kinda hit and miss here. I find all of the Jasons have been recreated amazingly well and look just like their movie counterparts. It’s the counsellors where things tend to take a hit.
Their faces look very rubbery and facial animations are horrible and take us back a few console generations.
Clothing is very low detail and although they are customizable, there are very few changes and reasons to get excited.
DLC outfits have been introduced in the form of Halloween costumes and Bikini’s for the counsellors but it’s paid DLC and not worth the extra $3.
Environments look pretty good, although there needs to be more interaction available in each map with areas for Jason kills etc.
More Content, Please
One of my biggest gripes with the game in it’s current state is the lack of content.
Aside from a few counsellors, one map and one new Jason there hasn’t been any substantial content added.
All of the content that’s been dropped so far has been minor. Things like a skin for Jason, reworked smaller versions of existing maps, some paid DLC costumes and some collectibles in the form of Tommy and Pamela tapes.
If we contrast that with another very similar game in this space; Dead By Daylight, this game gets blown out of the water.
Dead by Daylight currently has 10 playable killers, that all play completely different than one another and way more maps than we have here.
Yes, they have a much bigger team but this game has been selling like hotcakes and has a large community of players, so more content needs to happen.
Illfonic and Gunn Media have rolled out a roadmap of updates and I hope they come sooner rather than later.
The game was delayed on kickstarter due to a single player mode being created, that we still haven’t seen any sight of yet post 3 months after launch.
Pre-2007 Networking Technology?
As dreadful as the content support has been so far, my biggest gripe has to be the networking technology (or lack thereof) present in the game.
Games are still a pain to get into and I’m still getting dropped out of matches when someone rage quits or drops connection.
Nothing is more frustrating that being kicked out of a match after Jason or another host rage-quits like a spoiled crying baby.
Host migration is not new technology. It’s been present for at least 10 years+, so to still deal with connection issues and no host migration in 2017 is unacceptable.
The team have been great at stamping out cheaters and glitches in the game, and I hope they get this networking situation resolved sooner rather than later.
Host migration isn’t a luxury in online gaming today, it’s a bloody necessity.
In Conclusion
Even though the content needs to arrive a lot faster and the networking is still in shambles, this game is fun.
Every match is totally random and that’s why I keep playing.
The excitement of narrowly escaping death via Jason or wiping out the entire campsite as the man behind the mask never gets old.
The levelling progression slows to a crawl which sucks, but there isn’t a lot of new stuff to shoot for so it makes sense to make it a snail’s pace.
Once the single-player portion and the rest of the Jasons and maps roll out I’ll be happy content wise.
Once the networking and connectivity issues are fixed, the game will go back into my regular gaming rotation.
Friday the 13th The Game is a good piece of fan-service that could be great with more content and better networking.
