Review: Friday the 13th (C64)

[Flack]

I can still remember the night I first downloaded Friday the 13th for my Commodore 64 computer. My friends and I were all big fans of the big 80's horror icons like Jason, Freddy, and Michael Myers, and the thought of owning a videogame based off of one of those movies at that time was both exciting and a little scary for us youngin's. Fortunately for our young minds, the scariest thing about Friday the 13th for the Commodore 64 was the game itself.

Players begin the game as one of ten kids stuck at Camp Crystal Lake, Jason's stomping grounds. Unfortunately for you, one of the kids isn't a kid at all, it's Jason in disguise (gasp). Your mission is always the same -- find Jason and kill him before he kills you and your friends.

To do this, you'll need a weapon. Fortunately, someone has littered a dozen or so weapons around the grounds of Camp Crystal Lake for the wayward youths to use, so after wandering around for just a moment or so you should be able to find a chainsaw, dagger, pitchfork, or my personal favorite, an axe.


Just your normal, everyday church, complete with two pews, a pulpit, an axe and a corpse. Preach on!

The game's screen is divided into halves. The top half shows the area you're in. The bottom shows you useful information. Of course your score and current weapon are listed, but there are a few other items of use to you here. On the left is your "Scare-O-Meter". The more scared you are, the higher your hair stands up on your head (seriously). Next to that is your health meter, measured graphically with a barbell. Next to that is the creepy Jason Face-O-Meter (I don't know if these things really have names or not; these are simply what I call them). Jason's Face-O-Meter slowly fills in with each kill. I think this represents how close he is to winning. On the right is your roster of friends. Those who have taken an axe to the face or a chainsaw to the gut are peacefully replaced with little tombstones.


What a great place to drop your kids off for the summer!

The game field consists of about a five by five matrix of screens. You'll pass the church, a field, the cottage, another field or two, and then the church again. There are also three buildings you can go into (the church, the barn, and the cabin). Logically it plays a lot like Superman for the Atari 2600, except the playing field is much smaller. There's no way to actually get lost in this game -- not that you're going anywhere specific, mind you. Your goal is to wander around, looking for Jason who is disguised as one of the other kids.

So, how do you find Jason? The easiest way is to start attacking the other kids. When Jason is hit, the graphic will change from the kid's disguise to Jason (who looks like a regular person, only he's wearing black). The problem with the game is, many of the other characters are wimpy, so once you've hit them in the head two or three times with your weapon of choice, YOU kill them instead of Jason! Oh well.


Lizzy Borden ain't got nothing on this chick.

That's Jason right there in his ultra-rare never-before-seen black jumpsuit.

The game ends when either Jason kills all the other kids, or you. The round ends when you kill Jason. Each round is identical, except you play a different kid. Since the kids all play exactly the same, it's basically just like playing the same game over, and over, and over.

To throw some shock value into the game, whenever you stumble over a corpse, the game will randomly flash a gruesome picture on the screen for about 2-3 seconds, along with a (badly) digitized scream. It seems to happen about once every twenty or so corpses. The first time you see them they can catch you off guard, but after that they just kind of make you laugh.I spend more time trying to get these come up than anything else in the game.

--
Rated E for Everybody.

Friday the 13th includes some fun musical tunes. Depending on where you are in the game, the songs will change from Teddy Bear's Picnic to Old Macdonald to other classics. They all relate to where you are, and are funny if you get the jokes (for example, the lyrics to Teddy Bear Picnic begin with, "If you go out in the woods today/You're sure of a big surprise/If you go out in the woods today/You'd better go in disguise." Of course the songs don't have lyrics in the game, so you kind of have to know them to get the jokes). In general the songs are so upbeat and happy you would never know you are playing a horror game. There's something weird about stabbing a dude while Old Macdonald plays in the background.

Every time I pull out my old Commodore, this is one of the games I play. It's got fun music, fun graphics, and allows you to throw hatchets at small children. Friday the 13th isn't hard to learn how to play or master, but it is kind of fun to play and reminds me a lot of "those days".

[boatofcar]

Flack, if you ever publish a book of your C64 reviews, with full color game screens, I'd buy it in a second. Great work!

[skoldpadda]

Great review!

So what do you rate it for each of the categories? (audio, graphics, etc)

[Flack]

Flack, if you ever publish a book of your C64 reviews, with full color game screens, I'd buy it in a second. Great work!

You know what? You may have just inspired something.

[Flack]

Great review!

So what do you rate it for each of the categories? (audio, graphics, etc)

That's always the toughest part for me to do.

Comparing the game to other C64 games, I'd say the graphics are probably a 6.5. They are colorful and bright and you can tell what everything is supposed to be. It's not great great, and of course as the C64 matured the graphics improved, but for basic sprites and backgrounds it's not bad. Plus those creepy pop up pictures look good.

For sound, I have to go 7. The music is really catchy and you will find yourself humming or whistling. The digitized screams that you hear occasionally add to the ambience of the game.

For gameplay, I have to go 6. Everything is easy to control, so there are no control related frustrations.

For overall, I also go 6. It's a fun game but in the long run its pretty shallow and doesn't offer a lot of reason for replay other than nostalgia or showing it off to friends. Once you've beaten a level you've beat the game. It doesn't get any harder as you go along.

[SoulBlazer]

You know, I always liked Friday the 13th for the NES.

But I never heard of a C64 version. I'll have to check it out.

[Mayhem]

Rather amusingly, both major C64 magazines here at the time of its release gave it 13%... and yes I have played it, and yes I think it's shockingly bad, for all the wrong reasons!

[NintendoMan]

That's an awesome review!! I always wanted to know how that game played, just never knew anyone with a C64. Great pics too!

Maybe alittle off topic hear but I absolutey love all the 80's horror flicks too. That's why I have every single jason and freddy on dvd, as well as about 50 other 80's horror flicks. But anyways, how does this game compare to the NES version? I don't know if you can even compare the two, but I really enjoyed the NES version. (I know only about every 1 out of 50 people like Friday the 13th for the nes)

[Flack]

Rather amusingly, both major C64 magazines here at the time of its release gave it 13%... and yes I have played it, and yes I think it's shockingly bad, for all the wrong reasons!

That's why it's so hard for me to give these games ratings ... I think I let nostalgia get in the way of my numbers. It's not a great game by any means, but for some reason I always got a kick out of a game that just let you kill innocent kids around the camp.

But anyways, how does this game compare to the NES version? I don't know if you can even compare the two, but I really enjoyed the NES version.

Completely different games. I always preferred the C64 one, but then again I grew up on it and have only played the NES one on emulators.

[SamuraiSmurfette]

man,. I had that for the C64. At the time, when I was like 7 years old, I played it. The scream scared me SO MUCH! I shut of the computer, and RAN out of the room.

..and I never played it again

[Kid Ice]

To throw some shock value into the game, whenever you stumble over a corpse, the game will randomly flash a gruesome picture on the screen for about 2-3 seconds, along with a (badly) digitized scream. It seems to happen about once every twenty or so corpses. The first time you see them they can catch you off guard, but after that they just kind of make you laugh.I spend more time trying to get these come up than anything else in the game.

I had played the game for a pretty good amount of time before this happened, and it was a huge surprise. It might be corny now, but it was not something you saw a lot back in those days. I have not played the game since the 80s, and I can still hear that scream...the low tech actually makes it more creepy.

I can still hear "Whiter Shade of Pale" too Cool touches like that elevated the game from just being average. The gameplay reminded me of 2600 Superman.

BTW did anyone actually PAY for this game?

[KJN]

It's amusing for a coupple of minutes but not somehing you would have wanted to pay full price for. Still remember the scream though. Played it at a friend of mine who had it, he said he didn't dare to play the game alone because of the sudden screams. I think he had an original copy which he got along with lots of other games when he bought his C128d second hand. He didn't have the blood capsules though (the original game came with two blood capsules).

But yes magazines at the time hated it. Here are the scores from the review in Zzap64, issue 10, 1986

Presentation 41%
Attractive packaging disguises lack of options and a horrid game.

Graphics 16%
Amazing programming technique puts the machine into Vic 20 emulation mode with fatty sprites wobbling unconvincingly around on a cardboard cut out backgrounds.

Sound 28%
Incongruous music, thin screams and the odd hacking 'bop' as another victim hits the ground.

Hookability 19%
The graphical disaster area tells the tale.

Lastability 16%
Really, there isn't much.

Value For Money 17%
Blood capsules are fun.

Total 13%
Surely Fridays were never this dire?

[Flack]

BTW did anyone actually PAY for this game?

Out of the thousands of Commodore games I had, I paid for about ten of them. Friday the 13th was not one of them.

[SoulBlazer]

As was VERY common back in the day. As a long time Commodore gamer from 1985 to 1994, I can speak first hand about that.

[vision89]

I'm sold. Once I start a C64 collection this will be a "must get", right after Fight Night

[fahrvergnugen]

Great review!

So what do you rate it for each of the categories? (audio, graphics, etc)

That's always the toughest part for me to do.

I would like to posit the idea that you shouldn't do it.

We don't listen to an album, and then assign an individual score to instruments, songwriting, lryicism, vocals. Likewise, we don't watch a film and assign an individual score to screenplay, acting, direction, and soundtrack. We don't read a book and then assign an individual score to cadence, grammar, imagery, plot, and characterization. When books, music, and film are reviewed, the review only describes the work being reviewed, and reports as to whether the reviewer thinks it's any good, and why. The individual elements are only mentioned if they are exceptionally good or exceptionally bad. So too should it be with games.

Great review, Flack.