Alright people, I’m phoning it in this week and next. It’s crunch time in school, and with this being my senior year, I am in the midst’s of writing my final research paper. Needless to say it’s eating my life at the moment, so I figured this is how we’ll handle things. This week it’ll be a mailbag and a short commentary from me after that. Next week I’m going to dust off a review I applied here with but never got published for your viewing pleasure, so at least it’ll look like I put a hell of a lot of effort into next week’s offering. Anyway’s last week I finished my guilty pleasure gaming piece and I was pretty damn pleased to actually get some e-mail (THREE! For me this is a big deal.) and some comments from my fellow IP Staffers within the article itself. Unfortunately I’ve been so busy I couldn’t even answer these e-mails yet, so I figure I need to make up for that. So I’ll publish what I got. First off we have a short one from Joey Jones.
I enjoyed your top 5 guilty pleasures article, except I didn’t think F13 was that bad. I played through this game for the first time this summer, and thoroughly enjoyed it. It’s not the greatest by any means, but I think it’s more ‘misunderstood’ than bad. I thought it was pretty cool that you could go around the lake with your stronger characters, and find better weapons and items for the weaker ones, while at the same time protecting the children from Jason. I also liked how time passes in the game, and basically you can’t defeat Jason till the third day, after certain weapons are available (pitchfork and torch, we all know how the undead hate torches).
After finishing F13, I put in Nightmare on Elm Street, and played it through. It’s pretty good too. Not as good, but decent.
Keep up the good work
Joey
Thanks for the mail Joey, and judging by the other mail I received Friday the 13th is a guilty pleasure game for at least a few people out there. I think misunderstood is an apt word, but I still stand by my awesomely bad description of the game, because let’s face it: It really is bad, but at least in a misunderstood funny kind of way. Somewhere I’m sure the developers are scowling, because they didn’t mean it that way. But hey, comical genius usually is accidental. Friday the 13th was as big of an accident as it gets. How else do you explain a horror game based on a hugely successful franchise ending up like that? Anyways next we have Brian Sulpher.
I have finished Friday the 13th, and I love the misunderstood game to death. However, no matter how good I am at it, I do not compare to my compadre and fellow co-author (we co-wrote a FAQ found at here.) Daniel Teixeira. The following is a link to his verified World Record for fastest completion of this game:
In case you are in disbelief, he has indeed done this feat in 3 minutes and 55 seconds (all three days) on the console (none of that slow motion, re-record emulator run crap either). Anyhow, just wanted to let you know that it is possible, but you really need to track down the Torch (my buddy has also beat the game using nothing but Rocks and no Medicine).
Brian P. Sulpher
Very cool stuff Brian. I can not imagine myself ever spending that much time with Friday the 13th to get that good at it, but kudos to your friend for his hardcore gaming accomplishment. And beating the game with no rocks or medicine? That’s more insane than my mind as ever thought to go. The word misunderstood pops up again here. Reminds me of the old column on 411 I used to read; Misunderstood Masterpieces in their movies zone. Come to think of it, this game probably does fit the bill then, because if anyone ever read the movies he covered, the video game equivalent of those kinds of movies would be Friday the 13th without a doubt. Lastly we have Burke, who (surprise, surprise) also has come comments on Friday the 13th.
I absolutely loved the Friday the 13th game for NES. I’ve not only beaten it, but keep coming back for more. It’s just a really fun thing to do to kill half an hour or so. It’s probably because I’m a certified Friday the 13th nut, owning all the movies on DVD, including the recent box set of the Paramount films that just came out. Or maybe, just maybe, this game is really fun and no-one else knows.
Burke
Your obsession with Friday the 13th reminds me of my obsession with Dragon Ball Z. But that’s getting off target. I won’t deny this game is fun. It’s so bad, it somehow ends up as fun. You chase Jason (or vice versa) with rocks, looking for crude weapons to somehow thwart him, while never really knowing where the hell you’re going. That is the very definition of fun, and I am not being the least sarcastic when I say that. It has to be experienced to be believed. Play it with a group of friends and you’ll end up rolling, I promise.
So, yeah, I promised you a bit of commentary. With less than a week to the launch of the Nintendo DS I find myself giddy with anticipation. Everyone needs to check out the Inside Pulse DS Launch Feature now. I’ll wait. Alright, good. Now that you know the goods on the DS, what’s stopping you from buying one? I know I’m a Nintendo fanatic, I can tell because Eric S. reminds me in his pimps (which are just about the coolest thing to see, because honestly people, does it get any better than being pimped by Eric S? I think not.) But, seriously, the DS is the first new and innovative system we have seen in ages. It has so much potential that any gamer should at least be curious to see what the buzz is all about. So think it over. In two weeks I will, and I imagine other Games staff members, have first impressions of using the system up. Until next week I’ll being patiently waiting for my DS. And writing a very long paper on John Brown. I think that’s the catch to getting my DS. But it will still be worth it.