Over the last few years, the Jackbox series has taken a downturn in complete package-ness and entertainment. The series has taken a hit on quality and creativity, which stinks considering how wonderful Jackbox Party Pack 7 is, thanks in part to Quiplash 3, Champ’d Up, and the team-oriented The Devils and the Details. With the seventh edition of the game, it looked like creativity in the series had turned in an upward swing, and we were going to see some amazing new games in the next iteration. But then the gears shifted in the wrong direction.
Starting with Jackbox Party Pack 8, where nothing worked well, and then followed up with Jackbox Party Pack 9, which relied on Fibbage 4 and a very clever team-based order-of-operation game Quixort to pull it through, the series seemed to slip again. To say that the series needed a quick jolt of entertainment and excitement would be an incredible understatement.
Now, after a year removed from the last, the 10th game in the Jackbox series was released this past week in Jackbox Party Pack 10. While the game series still included the failsafe Tee K.O.’d 2, which brought more of the same as the last game, the rest was new creative works that were either very much hit or missed. Regardless, they’re still better than the previous two iterations.
On that note, let’s break down each game and talk about what worked and what didn’t.
Credit where credit is due
Jackbox Party Pack 10 takes a chance by bringing mostly new content to the table. The content is wildly different from the variety of gameplay, so the devs did their best to not rely on games we have seen before. That doesn’t mean we’re not getting a sequel to something. Oh, we are in this pack, and people are probably incredibly thrilled with Tee K.O.’d making its appearance again, as it is a fan favorite. What if I told you that it wasn’t the most creative and best part of this pack? Well, you may not believe that, but it wasn’t the reason I wanted to play this pack. With that insanity said, let’s break each game down:
Tee K.O.’d 2 – This game is thoroughly enjoyable, as was the first. You draw up some beautiful artwork, tag it with wonderful sayings, and then you pair it together to create the funniest t-shirts you can make. This time around, you have a tournament-style organization with the game, and you have various types of shirts (tank tops, sweaters, etc.). As entertaining as the first game was and as entertaining as this one is, there isn’t anything new about it. It’s just basically cosmetic at best. While that doesn’t take away from its purpose and how much people love it, I would expect it to be considerably different than the first and show some sort of separation in how it works. But there isn’t much there. Now, in its defense, it was nearly perfect the way it was in the first game. There is little that needs changing about it. It is essentially the same game, though, which makes it the safe bet in the bunch.
Fixy Text – While my family of Jackbox snobs didn’t love this game, I begged to differ. Fixy Text was a long-winded wonderment that allows you to type text as a team in response to an AI text. That typed text is judged by players, then points are given based on the best responses. The humor in this game comes from the creativity of the players and from the fact that you cannot correct your words if you misspell them. It’s a one-time texting opportunity. The gameplay lasts a long time and if you aren’t into being creative with words, it may not be your thing, but for me, it was fun as heck. I enjoyed the chaos of typing with friends and the basic mistakes that were made the first time out. It turned out to be some funny material. I could see this being improved and refined in the future just to make it a bit deeper with humor and options. As it stands, Fixy Text was a solid game.
Dodo Re Mi – Think Guitar Hero with friends, recording it, and then playing it back. Now, imagine that music game played with wacky sounds as instruments. Playing the songs was hilarious. Choosing the type of sounds you wanted to make to form a single song was brilliant. The playback? Well, I have yet to hear playback in this game because it takes forever to mix and deliver. I can only imagine that there is some server work going on behind the scenes that is slowing the process. Whatever the case might be, audio generally doesn’t produce a big enough file size to take as long as it was with Dodo Re Mi. I think this needs to go back to the drawing board with how the backend functions. Until then, this game was a hard pass. It simply doesn’t work.
Time Jinx – So, I love Time Jinx. It’s essentially a quiz game that covers years of entertainment. It asks you a question about when you think something happened and players guess a year range to see who is the closest to said year. The points in the game are determined by the proximity of the year guessed, which means that this can be anyone’s game. It’s a bit more flexible and feels far more complete than other quiz games in the Jackbox family, and it’s quite fun because everyone is focused on logically breaking down what could be the best possible answer. This was a big plus in Jackbox Party Pack 10.
Hypnotorious – This was the last game played during this review session. This is a game where you’re guessing who everyone is and what group they belong with, if any. This game was fun because the game will ask a question that is related to the occupation it assigns you. For example, you might be assigned the role of ‘A Karen’. You must keep people from guessing the type of person or thing you are, while at the same time giving clues and hints about who you might be. After you give clues, they are displayed on the screen, then you are asked who you think belongs with your group. Staying with Karen, I was in a group called ‘A type of human’. There was another person in the game who was also a type of human. Then there was a person who was a type of animal. The game requires you to identify the group you belong to, while also calling out the outlier who doesn’t have a group. The more accurate you are, and the quicker, the more points you score. It’s simple, fun, and easy to get into. The communication might be the best part of it.
Overall, I think mostly what you get with Jackbox Party Pack 10 is solid. I do feel like Tee K.O.’d 2 was dialed in and that Dodo Re Mi needs more time in the oven before it can be seen as finished. The rest of the games were entertaining, creative, and fun time. This party pack was a cut above the last two, which may not be saying a whole lot, but I’m glad it is shifting in the right direction.
On that note, let’s wrap this review up.
Conclusion
Jackbox Party Pack 10 is a step in the right direction for the series. What works is mostly new content with Fixy Text, Time Jinx, and Hypnotorious. The inclusion of Tee K.O.’d 2 is a firm reminder of why the first Tee K.O.’d is considered the best game in the Jackbox family, but also shows us that not much has changed with the sequel. As for the Dodo Re Mi game, it needs to get fixed on the backend side for it to be entertaining. The overall package is worth a look.
