- Publisher: THQ
- Developer: Jellyvision
- ESRB Rating: “T" for Teen
- Genre: Trivia
- Pros: Really, really funny; great multiplayer; Scene-It controller support; $30 price tag
- Cons: Bland visuals; you'll run out of questions eventually
You've probably heard of You Don't Know Jack before even if you haven't played it. It was a popular PC title in the 90's back when people would have had to crowd around a 15" monitor to play multiplayer. Horrifying, I know. The new You Don't Know Jack is pretty much the same as the old one, which is a good thing. The sense of humor, presentation, and even announcer Cookie Masterson are all back in fine form.
You Don't Know Jack is presented in an episodic format with 10 questions (plus a bonus "Jack Attack" round) in each episode. The episodes all only have one set of questions, so if you play the same episode more than once you'll already know all of the answers. That is kind of a bummer, but the episodes were carefully planned out with the jokes and commentary all working with specific questions, so they can't just plug new questions into the jokes. It just wouldn't work.
THQ
Gameplay
The game can be played by yourself (which is sad, and the game makes fun of you if you do) or in local or Xbox Live multiplayer. You can use a normal Xbox 360 controller or the Big Button Controllers from Scene-It (and the game even changes the multiple choice question onscreen layout to match the different controllers). In multiplayer the game gives you the opportunity to screw over another player by challenging them if you don't think they know the answer to a particular question. There is a great risk/reward to using the "Screw" tactic, and can make multiplayer games very interesting.
Each episode also has a "Jack Attack" at the end where a word appears onscreen while other words flash on and off, and you have to push the "A" button when the two phrases onscreen match up with a clue given to you before hand. An example would be a clue asking for students and masters, and things like "Luke Skywalker" would pop up onscreen, and you would wait for "Obi Wan Kenobi" to come up before you pushed "A".
Occasionally the questions will be asked in a different way, or with slightly different presentation. Some questions are asked by host Cookie Masterson doing a terrible ventriloquism act where he can't pronounce certain letters, so you have to decipher what he's actually trying to say. Sometimes an intern will try to ask a question from memory (because he totally forgot the paper). Sometimes Cookie will describe a dream he had. Etc.
THQ
It is also really, genuinely funny a lot of the time. The jokes are told in a funny way. The answers are usually funny. The commentary from Cookie is funny. And, honestly, getting wrong answers is usually when the funniest stuff happens, so even if you do poorly the game is still a ton of fun. There are funny radio-style commercials during the credits, and even a "Wrong Question of the Game" (sponsored by the same fake companies as the credits commercials) that rewards you if you get a specific wrong answer during the episode. The game is just plain funny.
Presentation
YDKJ is a pretty simple game graphically, with mostly just text coming up onscreen to ask questions. The menus are also really simple. But it all works just fine. This is just a trivia game, after all. The sound, however, is very well done with great commentary and voice work from all involved.
Bottom Line
In the end, the new You Don't Know Jack is pretty spectacular. The price is right, the jokes are funny, and the trivia is solid. It is a great party game as well. For $30, it is highly recommended for a purchase.
