My Review Of The Jackbox Party Pack 4

The Jackbox Party Pack 4 poster.

Due to scheduling conflicts with my Masters dissertation and coursework, I have had to release two Party Pack reviews around the same time due to the fourth game Talking Points recently being announced before the upload of my third review. The Party Pack 3 review is meant to accompany the third game whilst this review is meant to accompany the fourth game.

Anyway, my mistake! Let's crack on with the games already, shall we? X)

Also just a warning - there is a rather lewd screenshot in the Civic Doodle section that is most likely NSFW. I could have avoided using it, but I needed to emphasise a point I was making. Just thought I'd give you a reminder.

Fibbage 3.

Fibbage is back and it has had an extreme makeover. By that, I mean the art-style has now changed completely. Just look at the colourful retro-styled artwork in it! It also has a catchy new theme song. Otherwise, the gameplay is still the same as the previous games and still on top - they also have new picture rounds, which are fun.

A new addition to this game is "Enough About Me, Over To You", in which people can come up with prompts about themselves (for example, "Which of these is MamzelleBoomstick's favourite TV show?"). The first round works like any normal Fibbage round would, but the second one consists of one truth and one lie about yourself. Overall, not much really to say about this other than the fact that it's a fun sequel that adds even more to its series.

Monster Seeking Monster.

A game with a very strange premise, yet still works and is highly enjoyable. Hosted by the sultry Felicia (voiced by Erica Elam), players spend six nights sending texts to each other in the hopes that they score a date and win hearts. There's a twist though - all of the "normal" humans are actually monsters in disguise.

Each monster has a different function that can help them out in different ways. I will not reveal exactly what these functions are in fear of spoilers, but I will say one thing - some of these functions work better if your identity is kept secret. If you are in the lead at the end of a round, your identity is revealed and that can sometimes screw you over.

At the end of the game, everyone's identity is revealed and the monster with the most hearts wins...though one of the monsters has a chance to snatch victory from the potential winner if they fulfill a certain requirement. Again, I will not reveal this in fear of spoilers, but it gets downright crazy.

In general, this is just such a fun and quirky game. The gameplay works well, the artwork is fantastic and the music downright catchy. Definitely worth checking out.

Bracketeering.

So as it turns out, no Jackbox Party Pack is complete without Party Pack regular Phil Ridarelli. He makes his grand return as the host of this game, a larger-than-life character who oozes enthusiasm throughout every round. And as always, he nails the role. In fact, it's just what you need for a crazy fun game like this. X)

The premise of the game itself is essentially a bracket tournament. Players answer the unusual prompt given (for example, "The Best Grandma Name") and then the answers are placed into brackets. The players then vote on which answer proceeds to the next round in each bracket. You won't just win points (known as money in this game) for gaining the most votes on your answers though - you can also win cash for placing bets on the correct answer to go through.

The gameplay during the voting stages is very fast-paced and thus makes the game particularly enjoyable. Up to sixteen players can join the game along with an audience and the theme of gambling in space is a fun one. Furthermore, the tournaments get more varied as gameplay progresses. The second tournament is a "blind" one, meaning you answer one prompt such as "name a type of chocolate" but you don't know what the real prompt is until the answers are sent it (it could be "best name for a clown", for example). The third round is a "triple blind" bracket, meaning the prompts change every round. It certainly keeps the gameplay fresh in the meantime.

The problem I would warn potential gamers about is that due to the fast-paced nature of the game, if your internet connection is not great, it can cause the screen to flicker furiously during the voting stages. Otherwise, the pacing is great, the prompts downright priceless, the space gambling theme fits in well and voila! A treat for everyone to enjoy.

Survive The Internet.

If I had to pick a favourite out of the games in this pack, it would have to be this one. Both extremely cringeworthy, but also downright hysterical, it takes what would potentially be a messed-up premise and somehow makes it work.

Players answer random questions and then other players receive said answers...which they must twist in such a way that it makes the comment look ridiculous. How? By providing a video title, newspaper headline, hashtag or whatever that goes against what the comment is about. The final round changes this so that players choose a random picture and other players provide silly captions for it instead.

For instance, say that someone gets asked what they think of a particular celebrity and they answer "Never cared about that asshole". You receive this answer and must think up a name for a video. You could write "Goku's Deaths In Dragonball" or "Batman's Greatest Moments" and therefore make it look like the other player was hating on a popular and well-liked hero. You win points from votes and your "victim" gets "pity points" to make up for this, with the winning answers getting bonus points.

This game is potentially a haven for trolls due to its premise, which is one potential downside. Fortunately, the V.I.P. has the option of blocking the more problematic answers, which reduces any potential issues. In fact, quite a few of the livestreams I have seen of this game managed to avoid having troll problems, which the more offensive answers mainly due to players who were not familiar with the game - once the first round finished, the answers became (somewhat) more tasteful.

Tom Haley voices Todd, your host in this game, and he does a pretty good job. The real highlight though is Gene, an artificial A.I. who you can play against if you don't have enough players. Gene has become quite a fan favourite amongst Jackbox gamers for good reason, and the bizarre answers he comes up with at times are downright priceless. Overall, this game is definitely worth trying out.

Civic Doodle.

The Old Man from You Don't Know Jack has returned, but this time he has swapped his stagehand job for the role of the Doodle Valley mayor. He now has the (actually pretty ingenious) idea of "beautifying" the town with murals, but unfortunately the initial painters only finished off some of them. It's the players' jobs to finish off these murals.

Unlike most drawing games from Jackbox, people don't get single drawings to complete. Instead, two people make their contributions to their own copies of the mural and then people vote on which is the best. The next two players then make additions to the winning design and then so on until every player has taken part. Afterwards, everyone comes up with a name for the mural and everyone votes on that as well. For the final round, everyone gets the same starter prompt (a portrait for the town hall) and then makes additions to it. Again, it goes for four rounds at most.

This gameplay gets a lot of millage. Some people like this style and some people find it tedious. I personally like it, as it is reminiscent of those old drawing games where one person adds something to a drawing and then the next person does the same. In particular, it becomes comedy gold if the players taking part have dirty minds. As a result, you may be consistently forced to keep looking at some lewd pictures. It's especially painful if you were the one who unwittingly started it. Heck, they may not even be lewd. Just very strange and sometimes political. Always funny though.

"Why is he parading with a burning flag? [...] Am I, like, making a Banksy statement here?" (Note: This screenshot is from one of the Jackbox Games livestreams, which can be seen here.)

The emoji system is particularly interesting - players can give out emojis based on what they think of the drawings, and particular ones can sometimes add to your score if your drawing received the majority of them (for example, a player may score points for gaining the most laughing faces).

Overall, I found this to be a pretty entertaining game. It's the weakest in the pack compared to the others, but it's still a good decent romp (unlike, say, Word Spud). Add Alyssa Davis' brilliant portrayal of the put-upon Mayor's Assistant (the host of the game), the catchy music and the return of a classic YDKJ character, and you've got something memorable, for better and for worst.


I would say in general that this is indeed a good party pack. It may not be on the same level as the third one, but it's still a classic. Now to actually get my schedule on track now so I don't post the Party Pack 5 review too late! XD

My Review Of The Jackbox Party Pack 3

The Jackbox Party Pack 3 poster.

For the upcoming Jackbox Party Pack 7, the third game Champ'd Up has been announced. And with every new Party Pack game announced comes a new Party Pack review on this site! It's time to review Party Pack 3! :D

This is definitely one of the strongest party packs that Jackbox has released. None the games on this pack could really be considered to be "weak", thus making it the first party pack to have a consistent level of quality throughout. Anyway, here are the games!

Trivia Murder Party.

One of my favourite Jackbox games of all time, along with it being part of my all-time favourite Jackbox series. Despite not normally being a fan of the slasher genre (mainly due to the same old tired cliches associated with it such as the "final girl"), I love the way this game pays homage to it and not only that, it features my favourite host of all of the Jackbox games. Plus, it has some really cool music.

A twisted serial killer (often referred to as [REDACTED] by fans and Jackbox staff) has kidnapped a group of players (or sometimes even one if you're playing solo) and is forcing them to take part in "trivia night". These players are represented by adorable little dolls representing the Deadly Sins. If players gets the answers to the questions wrong, they are forced into a variety of mini-games (ranging from a rock-paper-scissors game called Arena to memory-based games). Those who fail are then "killed" and are turned into ghosts. Whilst they are still in the game, it means that they did not get a head-start in the final round. The overall winner of the final round escapes the killer's house and lives to fight another day. The rest are consumed by the shadows and lost forever.

Unlike many of the other party pack hosts who are voiced by Chicago-based comedians or voice actors who were part of the original You Don't Know Jack series before the reboot in 2011, [REDACTED] is voiced by Spencer Ham, one of the major writers for Jackbox games since 2011 and later on director of Survive The Internet, Split The Room and Joke Boat. His voice has been pitch-filtered to sound much deeper (kinda like Oogie Boogie from The Nightmare Before Christmas), which makes it all the more hilarious when he moves on from being all creepy to suddenly geeking out over music, movies or whatever. Oh [REDACTED]. He tries so hard to be menacing (and he actually succeeds on many occasions), but his geeky enthusiasm for trivia as well as his more vulnerable side (who'd expect a serial killer of all people to start crying over the infamous beginning of Up, for instance?) certainly endear him to many people like myself, even the ones who disagree with his killing streak.

Overall, the minigames are challenging and fun and the questions are varied. The best questions are definitely the ones that try to trick the player (the Up question being my favourite one for this reason) with the unusual way they are formatted - it really takes me back to the YDKJ games. Add a crazy and enjoyable host with a memorable voice and a nerdy side to himself and you end up getting one of the most effective slasher parodies out there.

Quiplash 2.

I thought the first Quiplash game was already bright and colourful, but this one goes even further with the spiralling backgrounds, additional colour palettes and even more quirky characters. And like the first game, it keeps the outrageous nature of the prompts, leading to equally outrageous answers from the players.

Like with Fibbage 2 and Drawful 2, I don't really need to explain too much about gameplay here except for the fact that there are even more hilarious prompts and the audience now gets to play along too by answering prompts from the previous game. Additionally, if you have any annoying trolls (like, I don't know, Jacksepticeye's girlfriend? Are they even dating anymore?) who are trying to offend or insult the other players, the VIP can now manually censor them for the rest of the game.

Additionally, this sequel makes major improvements on the final round. This time, either a key word, an acronym or even a comic book panel is given to the players who must then answer the prompt associated with them. Gold, silver and bronze medals are then given out by the other players to each prompt. Overall, very different to the first game's final round - which was like the other rounds but with everyone answering the same prompt - and definitely more varied.

Fun fact: This was the first ever Jackbox Party Pack game to be localised to other countries, which happened this year. It comes in French, Spanish, Italian and German with a different host for each one. It actually got released earlier than it was supposed to in order to keep people entertained during the COVID-19 pandemic, in a rare instance of something getting released earlier rather than later due to said pandemic.

Tee K.O.

A particularly fascinating drawing game with a fun theme to it. Guided by the Tournament Master, a mysterious and quirky old mentor voiced by Shaun Bowers, players must come up with images and slogans that can be used on T-shirts that either they or other players can use. Once they think they'd found the perfect combination of images and words, they must then pit their t-shirt up against another one, with players voting for their favourite t-shirt in each round.

What I particularly love about this game is the reference to the "yokai" from Japanese mythology, supernatural creatures associated with the Shinto religion. All of the player characters are types of yokai ranging from a karakasa (an umbrella with one eye) to two oni twins (one red and one blue). The game is set on an island with East Asian themes, which helps to emphasise the yokai theme even further.

In general, it's such a fun game with an interesting theme, and it's particularly fun seeing some of the crazier t-shirt designs for the first time.

Guesspionage.

The title for the Live edition.

Now for a game that goes for the opposite of artistic and instead relies on logic and numbers! The host (voiced by Adal Rifai) works for the government and in this universe's reality, they have all the data they need on your daily life! [Note: In reality, the percentage results come from an online survey. X)]

Each player gets a chance to answer a question (e.g. "How many people have taken a ride in the back of a police van?") and makes an estimate on the percentage of people that may have complied with said question. Other players must then guess whether the true answer is higher or lower than what the chosen player guessed, and more points are dished out to those who made the correct guess. The final round involves people answering the same question, making guesses as to which is the most popular film, most popular band, least popular talk show host, etc.

Despite the usual negative connotations of maths and numbers, this is yet another Jackbox game that handles its subject well. The fact that many of the online gamers I watch have played it more than twice is already a good sign with how well it went over. The spy theme is also an interesting add-on.

Another fun feature is when you're waiting in the lobby for other players to arrive. During that time, you can hear the government members having their own discussions (mainly to do with their jobs). Not only does this give you something to listen to whilst not playing the game, but many of these conversations are very funny. Definitely one to check out.

Fakin' It.

At first I was somewhat confused by the inclusion of Cookie Masterson. Sure, he's very popular with Jackbox fans, but now he's presenting a "Simon Says"-esque game rather than a trivia game? Luckily, his dry wit remains and is a great addition to said game.

In Fakin' It, players are given prompts to follow, such as making a funny face or pointing at someone. However, the "faker" is not given the same prompt as the others and must simply try and fit in. The players then have three chances (or two, if only three people are playing) to uncover the faker.

I particularly like the retro aesthetic for this game. It has the same look to those old timey-wimey board games you may have played when you were younger, only now in a video game format. The real highlight of this game though is seeing some of the different answers that players come up with and how some fakers make themselves extremely obvious - especially in the "Text You Up" challenge at the end.

I mean, I guess some people do have a thing or two for Willy Wonka. (Note: This screenshot was taken from Jackbox Games' debut livestream of the game, which can be seen here.)

The only real problem with this game is that you won't be able to play it online with a livestream audience because of the nature of said game. Nevertheless, it's always nice to see a game like this that operates differently to others, similar to Bomb Corp.


Overall, I would say that Trivia Murder Party and Quiplash 2 stand out the most, but the other games are brilliant in their own right. One of my favourite party packs from Jackbox and definitely one to check out.

[Note: Due to conflicts with coursework and Masters dissertations, this post was uploaded after the announcement of the fourth Party Pack 7 game. More on it will be explained in the Party Pack 4 review.]