Fantastic humor, accessible gameplay, and great longevity make Jack's latest a must-have for any trivia fan.
You Don't Know Jack is a trivia game with a simple, but functional framework. Players use the controllers (or the Scene It? Big Button controllers, which are thankfully supported) to answer questions from multiple choices. Buzzing in with a correct answer earns you cash, wrong answers deduct cash. Fast correct answers are rewarded with more cash. Whoever has the most cash by the game's end wins. It's a formula that makes the game interestingly approachable from both ends of the trivia spectrum. The game does tend to reward reflexes over knowledge at times, especially in the final round (more on that later), but there still are multiple ways to triumph in You Don't Know Jack. It's a game that anyone can jump into.
Despite having a rather plain layout and reusing intros to questions almost ad nauseum, You Don't Know Jack thrives on its clever, witty, and remarkably high-brow humor. The "game show" host Cookie Masterson leads the players through every round with lighthearted pokes at celebrities, historical figures, scientific facts, and especially wordplay. The voice acting is superb, occasionally crass, but always entertaining. Tom Gottlieb's performance as Cookie gives the game a bottomless reserve of style. The way he almost analytically explains correct answer or condemns wrong answers just never gets old.
Each game offers typical questions, but other question types make appearances over the course of the game's many episodes. Struggling players can earn back cash amount in Dis or Dat, where players must decide whether a name is in one of two categories (or in some cases, both). These can range from types of adult diapers to high rated TV shows, and opposing players can take advantages of others' wrong answers by stealing cash. Frequent nuances like the laughably phrased "Who's the Dummy?" sequences or scenes where a forgetful crew member for the show tries to describe a movie with crudely drawn pictures and a good amount of "uh's" and "likes." Finally, there's the climactic Jack Attack round. Players must match connecting names under certain conditions, with the fastest correct answer earning the points. This is the point which can literally change a game's outcome, and putting so much impact on a reflex-testing round than full on trivia will turn off trivia fans. Still, You Don't Know Jack remains a hilarious game, and even sitting through the credits for the commercials has its funny rewards.
While You Don't Know Jack has a wicked sense of humor, it is a trivia game, so are the questions challenging, relevant, and interesting? Yes, yes, and yes. Each question is presented with answers in multiple-choice style, but the way the questions are worded really changes things up from other trivia titles. For example, one question may ask what historical figure Lady Gaga would be representing if she was riding naked through town. It's obscure and can be confusing at first, but the questions are very clever and remarkably relevant for 2011. Don't worry, pop culture newbies; there are questions that dive deep into subjects beyond what goes on on television. Science, history, geography, mathematics, and practically every subject under the sun are all up for grabs in You Don't Know Jack. The diversity in the questions helps, and some actually require some thought to even understand what kind of answer that the game could be looking for. By mixing the humor with unique question construction, You Don't Know Jack strikes a solid chord with both trivia buffs and your everyday party animal.
But You Don't Know Jack doesn't stop there. There are a few twists to gameplay that can make or break a round. The first is Screw move. If you happen to think that your opponent doesn't know the answer to a question, put them on the spot with a Screw move, where the player must answer the proposed question in five seconds or they lose a chunk of change. Another addition is the Wrong Answer of the Game, where if a player picks a wrong answer that is related to a sponsor of the episode, they get a good chunk of cash. The game rewards players for either understanding its humor or just getting lucky (as it has when I play the game with my family). These wacky additions give the game character, but also prove important when trying to win against a friend or rival.
You Don't Know Jack is composed of about 70, ten-round episodes, each with a pre-set collection of questions. The questions are predefined, which means that every new episode you play means brand new questions (along with brand new commentary from Cookie Masterson), without repeating questions. The negative aspect is that once all of the episodes are complete, you won't have any new questions to answer. Still, with over 70 episodes to go through, along with recently released DLC packs, the game has an extensive lifespan. Though You Don't Know Jack does have online play, the lack of variation can make the game simply come down to memorizing answers and buzzing in quickly than pure trivia fun. If you want a good party multiplayer game, though, You Don't Know Jack delivers in spades.
Pros
+ Eccentric and hilarious humor
+ Huge amount of non-repetitive content
+ Great voice acting
+ Amazing party multiplayer
Cons
- Online multiplayer relies on memorization
- Non-random content means once all episodes are done, you're done
- Some rounds demand reflexes over trivia knowledge
You Don't Know Jack puts all other trivia games currently on the system to shame. Thanks to superb humor and hilariously creative question delivery, You Don't Know Jack is a fantastic party game, one that will get everyone laughing and playing along. The online multiplayer is pretty bad and it's not endless in its replay value, but with over 70 episodes, solid DLC support, and hidden bonuses like the Wrong Answer of the Game, you're sure to find that Jellyvision's latest has staying power to spare. Trivia games seemed to have passed their prime, but all it took was a revisiting from Jack to make the entire genre feel relevant again. If you're looking for a trivia game unlike any other released since…oh say, 1998, You Don't Know Jack will keep you engaged through every round. Make your next get-together a real party, and pick up one of the best trivia titles of the past decade.