THE RATING

THE LAIR EXPERTS

Matt: In this frustrating, much reviled 1989 Nintendo game, you can play as one of six camp counselors at Camp Crystal Lake, who all have varying character attributes (speed, jumping, rowing, etc). The object of the game is to survive three days and three nights while attempting to find and kill Jason. Along the way, you have six camp counselors from Jason before you even get to fight him. The counselors start with an arcing rock attack. The goal is to find and defeat Jason three times. Along the paths, players will find cabins, a lake, caves and wooded areas with all but the cabins having enemies such as zombies, crows, and wolves attacking the player. I'm not sure what any of those had to do with 'Friday The 13th', but it certainly made the game more challenging. Players may upgrade their weapon upon finding a new one. A timed alarm (very annoying!) appears at certain intervals, requiring players to find Jason before he kills one or more children or another counselor. Navigating the map, players must find their way to Jason's location or switch to the counselor being attacked and defeat him. If they do not make it there in time, Jason will kill the counselors or some of the children. That boggled my mind, because we all know Jason didn't kill any children in the movies, just scared them to draw out more adults to dispatch.

Upon nearing Jason's location, the hockey-masked killer may appear on the path or in the lake and attack the player. When he does this, it absurdly looks like he is ice skating. But, once inside the relative safety of a cabin, Jason finds his way there too, and will directly attack the player just like another Nintendo classic, 'Mike Tyson's Punch-Out'. Players may light the fireplaces inside of the larger cabins only. I guess the smaller ones didn't need heat. Upon lighting all fireplaces, a flashlight and torch weapon become available. Notes are found in some of the larger cabins leading you to other notes in other locations, eventually leading you to new items like a depraved scavenger hunt. Players may also battle Jason's mother, who is secretly hidden in a locked room in the cave (when was there a cave in the movies?) She is represented as a Medusa-like floating head that swoops down to attack the player. Funny, I can't remember characters turning to stone looking at Pamela in the films. Nonetheless, confusion soon sets in as the player navigating in the woods or cave are set up to purposely disorient the player, thus making them 'lost in the woods'. Several locked rooms and cabins are hidden throughout the campground, and if all the counselors or children die, the game is over.

Overall, I realize they had to take certain creative liberties in order to make a game out of this, but the whole thing is just absurd, even for 1989. It would take many years before they finally get it right and make a game worthy of the name 'Friday The 13th'. 2 out of 10.



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