I am going to warn you, this going to be a very short review of what has happened since Friday last week when the game was released. May 26th was the digital release date and if you downloaded the game on the 26th and spent the $40 to play.
I am going to jump in with the game play. It was about as expected as it could be. The game begins with the same cut scene every time a match begins. No matter if you’re Jason or a councilor. Which is completely random, if you do not pick a Jason skin or different councilor it will choose one for you. I got this douche looking blond guy who had his sweater tied around his neck, my kids nicknamed him, “Captain Pee Pants”. His stats showed he is one of the fastest, so he should be good to get away from Jason. Each councilor has different stats and you can choose what you think would be best for the way you want to play, or just keep it random. I seemed to get worse with each time I played. I lasted about 10 minutes, the matches are set at 20, the first time. I actually fixed the phones and called the police. But I was killed while waiting for the police. Each time after, I ran in to Jason within 3 or 4 minutes or got kicked from the game. Most of the times, the player spots were not filled and once it was me and Jason and that was it.
It is super intense as the music builds when Jason is close. When you turn a corner and he pops up, the heart begins to race as you try to save yourself by escaping. If he does grab you, you have the chance to escape, but you may be damaged. There are different weapons to fight back with and even some first aid spray or some kind of health drink. You can call the cops, find the keys, battery and gas for the car. Calling the cops, you have to survive for another 5 minutes until they arrive, then go to the their location.
Playing as Jason is cool, but sometimes hard to control, well for me. There are different abilities to each Jason, I played with the default, which is designed from Friday the 13th part 3. He can run, which is key. The reason I say it is key, well I played with Jason Lives, Jason and he is slow as fuck. I mean you have to use his morph ability a lot. Plus, he uses a spear and it seems to be weak, unlike the ax used by Part 3. The attack is clunky, but it adds to the experience of being Jason. There are two forms of fast travel and a sense to find councilors. One of them is called Morph, where you look at the map and choose a location, it is kind of random. The other, I am not sure what it is called off hand, but you go into first person and kind of fly though the map looking for councilors. It is hard to control and if a door is open in a cabin, you can go inside. The best part is you can just pop up next to someone and it scares the shit out of them.
Playing as Jason would need some fine tuning from me and with each level up you get closer to different Jason skins and the abilities that come along with that skin. For now, I am going to stick the Part 3, he can run and that is a huge plus. But I am excited about Jason Takes Manhattan and Part 2, the sack masked Jason. This game has so much potential for game play. It is different every single time.
I look forward to the single player mode that is due out later this year.
So, the problems over the course of this weekend. The servers have been jammed up and have made the game completely unplayable. At launch the game is all about multiplayer, no question. The demand for this game on both PS4 and XboxOne has been so huge, I can only image how hard it has been for the team. As of this morning it is supposed to be fixed. But, I have tried every single day, on PS4 and XboxOne and have only played for one solid hour before being kicked. All of my stats were erased as well. So, Gun Media and whoever else did not expect such a huge launch, but never underestimate horror fans filled with nostalgia, never underestimate gamers who love horror.
The servers should be fixed, I am going to get online and play with Bryan from the Horror Syndicate and hope we kill each other. Enjoy the game if you can.