For anyone who has been into this hobby for a long time, there can be a type of interactive media that instills fear: licensed games. Yes, things have changed over the past 20 years or so as licensed games have dwindled and those that exist aren’t the dumpster fire they used to be.
Movies in particular were usually thought to be worth ignoring. However, there have been good ones to come out. In this roundtable, the VGU crew discusses the movie-based video games that they loved sinking time into, starting with…
Josh Miller – The Family Man
Friday the 13th: The Game
Lo-and-behold, a prime example of a movie game thought to be trash. The original Friday the 13th on the Nintendo Entertainment System was an unplayable nightmare. When Friday the 13th: The Game was announced, I was excited. Maybe this franchise could be redeemed?! While many would disagree with me, I wholeheartedly think this release is incredibly fun.
The worst thing isn’t the character models, the weird bugs, or glitches that can break the experience. No, the worst thing is the Friday the 13th lawsuit that was going on around the time of release. So different costumes and maps were suddenly out the window, and the developer was stuck in a position of doing the bare minimum. Yet, I had an absolute blast. Whether it was by myself with bots, doing the virtual cabin, or playing with friends; i found myself filled with so much happiness as a Friday the 13th fan. So much so, that it was my game of the year for 2017.
I understand it has its problems and Friday the 13th isn’t for everyone. However, almost 5 years later and still minimum content in the game gives me a great time to this day. Playing as Jason is a rush, playing as a counselor can be terrifying, and playing with friends is flat-out fun. Friday the 13th: The Game may be my favorite movie-based video game. It also stands well above the NES version that burnt itself in my brain for all the wrong reasons. I’m glad there’s at least a good Friday the 13th experience now.
Now do Michael Myers and Halloween!