It only seems like moments ago since the last Jackbox release, yet here we are once again with another five party games to gather your crew together for. A mini game collection that employs your mobile device of choice as the primary input, get the snacks out and grab Granny once more for another bout of goofy gaming. In this latest collection, we’re treated to a varied mix of genres employing artistic creativity, vocal ability and general knowledge to name but a few required skills.
Starting things off, “Doominate” will have you writing punchlines to make good things turn bad. Can you spoil a day at the beach? What about “but Peter Andre is reshooting Mysterious Girl”? You go to your favourite restaurant and “they’ve closed to film an episode of “Kitchen Nightmares”! It’s a game of witty one liners that’s easy to grasp and it’s always fun to shatter the dreams of your loved ones. Go for the laugh every time and win the vote to come out on top. Simple yet very effective.
“Legends of Trivia” is a medieval RPG themed quiz game, tasking your party to answer the general knowledge questions posed by all manner of goblins, ogres and monsters. It’s PvE rather than the usual head to head action of staple Jackbox games and encourages tactical play when faced with trivia outside of your wheelhouse. Whilst usually a trivia fiend, this plays a little too slowly for my liking, focussing more on genre tropes for laughs. Still fun but it could do with a faster pace.
“Hear Say” has been the surprise hit this time around, the game where you’ll record noises using your device’s microphone based on the screen prompts provided, doing your best impression of a crying cat or maybe a creaking door. It’s a cacophony whilst recording and only gets funnier as each winning sound is set to some surprising video footage. Not for those with too much self-awareness, it’s hilarious for those of us with very little shame. It’s the best in the pack and would be the one I’d return to most. It’s the juxtaposition of repeating stupid noises over seemingly unrelated FMV that just gets me every time.
“Cookie Haus” sees each player decorating cookies on their screen after being given requests from a line of rather odd customers. “Something you’d find at the Oscar’s” or “Something from Grandma’s Attic” make for open-ended briefs to create your sweet, sweet masterpiece. It’s tough to draw on a mobile phone screen and this suffered all the more for it. Great for a younger audience, especially after changing your settings to make things more family friendly, it wasn’t quite as much fun for a bunch of adults, most of whom don’t have an artistic bone in their body.
Following a brief survey completed by each player, “Suspective” pits your detective prowess against each other, based on how well you know your fellow gumshoes and your interrogation technique, to wheedle out the criminal among you. A logic puzzle at heart but with an added touch of outright lying, you must narrow down the suspects en masse to finally confront the killer. With the help of a lie detector to narrow the options, it’s an interactive race to find the real perp in a final voting showdown. I can see this being best played with 6 to 8 players, as this loses something in smaller groups. With four being the absolute minimum number of participants, this adds more of a barrier to entry than many of the other games in the pack. Saying that, it’s a great chance to roleplay and let your inner Keyser Söze out.
As ever, visuals are clean and bold, leaving little room for confusion as to what you should be doing at any given moment, if a little basic at times. Voice acting is pretty good with “Jim Reaper” being a stand out as he goads you into ruining other players most treasured memories.
Whilst this by no means a bad collection, it certainly feels like one of the weaker releases when compared to earlier games in the series. With no real mini game jumping out as an instant classic, it’s hard to recommend this above the recent Survey Scramble or packs including the all timer, Fibbage. Still, mileage will vary based on the preferences your own group of players and there’s certainly fun to be had.
