Friday The 13th has had an uneven history with games. The NES game is rather infamous and the recent multiplayer game has received acclaim, but there is another game that deserves mention as well. Friday the 13th Killer Puzzle is based on developer Blue Wizard Digital’s earlier game Slayaway Camp and carries on a humorous tone with its murder action. You must guide Jason to his victims via a series of puzzles.
This may not sound attractive at first, but the game manages to do three things well and that is maintain a genuinely funny tone and witty writing, craft well thought out puzzles to solve while also giving aid to players who get stuck and providing more gameplay options, and lastly it provides a lot of fan service. The game manages to keep things lighthearted as you kills teens and more and even has a PG mode to make things more family friendly ( well as family friendly as a game about a serial killer can be. Of course there is also a rated R mode for the full force of the gore.
There are several main episodes of puzzles to go through as you play, consisting of a large variety of puzzles. You will have to navigate Jason through traps, and enemies like cops and Swat Teams, and more mundane obstacles like cats. If you are ever stuck, you can get a hint from Mrs. Voorhees who gives loving encouragement as you slaughter your way through. There is also a Daily Death mode that offers new special puzzles every day, and these are great for when you want something a bit different, or a Murder Marathon Mode if you want to just go all out on the mayhem.
While the controls may seem odd to some, as it is based on navigating Jason around the area, it actually works surprisingly well. Jason has a large variety of different looks he can use in addition to classic Jason and you can level him up as well and gain new weapons. There is a lot of love for the franchise here and Blue Wizard Digital were smart about how they handled the game. You will be in different areas based on the films besides Crystal Lake, including Manhattan and it provides a nice amount of variety.
To sum up, this may not be an all out Hack n Slash game, but it is a well designed puzzle game that serves as a beautiful tribute to the beloved slasher films. I highly recommend checking this out, and you will not regret it.