Overview
In this guide I will try to explain how to correctly play the character Tommy Jarvis in Friday the 13th: The Game.
Basics of Tommy Jarvis
Let’s start off with the basics of the actual character himself. For anybody who doesn’t know, Tommy Jarvis enters a game when a counselor calls him using a radio which can be found in a house somewhere in any one of the maps. Tommy appears in the objectives menu and it is possible to track the progress of him by simply pressing ‘m’ on the keyboard or by pressing the view button on a Microsoft Windows controller. In the menu you can see whether or not he has been called and also whether or not he is ‘On the scene’, indicating an either deceased or escaped player has respawned as him. Jarvis spawns in with a walkie talkie, a map and a shotgun. Unlike the counselors in the game, Tommy has 10 in every stat ( Luck, Speed, Intelligence Etc.). This effectively makes him the best playable character in the game (except Jason of course) and also makes him exactly two times better than Kenny Riedell stat-wise, giving him the best chance of survival against Jason.
The Purpose of Tommy Jarvis
Prior to the belief of many people online, the goal of Tommy Jarvis is not to shoot Jason in the face and then suicide into him, but rather to help any surviving counselors escape or ultimately kill Jason. He is extremely useful for repairing things such as the phone or the cars due to his intelligence being on par with Eric and Deborah. His high speed and stamina also make him very useful for leading and distracting Jason while any surviving counselors make their escape. The only time Jarvis should escape is when nobody has died and everyone else has escaped as this will give all players in the game except Jason an XP bonus of 250XP. As Jarvis it is also a good idea to complete as many tasks as possible, maximising the amount of XP earned by the end of the match.
What NOT to do as Tommy Jarvis
Now that I have explained the purpose of Jarvis himself, I will now outline key issues which players constantly make. The first and main one is: solo escaping. Solo escaping as Jarvis is one of the stupidest things you can do in the game. Jumping in the 4 seater car and driving off leaving 2 or 3 other counselors behind to be slain by Jason is not a nice thing for anyone to do, especially if its Jarvis whose objective is to assist the other counselors. Ignoring or not helping other counselors is also another issue which frequently occurs among the people playing as Tommy, in a situation where Jason has 2 people cornered, with one of them being Jarvis the other a counselor, Tommy should be the one to die as he is effectively the least important player. The person who is playing as Tommy has already either escaped or has died, Jarvis is a gift for all the players in a server (except Jason obviously). As Tommy you should be establishing your own agenda as soon as you spawn in to the server, this agenda should primarily include providing assistance to the other surviving counselors. Many people simply just run around and search houses till Jason finds and kills them. As Jarvis also as the last survivor, it is better to allow Jason to kill you than to escape or try and duke till the end of the match. The only exception in this case is the team escaped bonus which everyone will get if the entire team manages to escape without Jason killing them, the 20 minute timer expiring while Jarvis or any other counselors are still alive will not give this bonus as it classifies as ‘survived’ not escaped.
Summary
In short, Tommy Jarvis exists in the game Friday the 13th: The Game to assist, not to escape. Think about it, why would Tommy answer a call for help only to show up, hop in a car and leave all the surviving counselors behind at the mercy of Jason. It doesn’t make sense because it’s not what the developers intended him for. You also run the risk of angering other players and causing them to remember your slight in a later game and potentially screwing you over in return for your terrible play as Jarvis.
This was written based on my personal experiences with Tommy Jarvis players in the game and is the way he is intended to be played. Remember, it doesn’t matter if you die as Tommy, you lost your chance to escape/escaped already in order to get him, you have simply been given to the surviving players as a gift to assist their own escapes from the clutches of Jason…