The Jackbox Party Pack 6 Review
Every year since 2014, Jackbox Games has released a new Jackbox Party Pack, giving party game fans the chance to try out a new batch of mini-games with their friends. Jackbox Party Pack games usually feature a mix of play-it-safe games and others that are highly experimental, and as a result, not all of them come through. Jackbox Party Pack 6, the latest entry in the long-running party game series, has arguably the most well-rounded lineup of party games yet, though there is one game in the group that falls a bit short.
The weakest game in The Jackbox Party Pack 6 is Dictionarium, where players have to make up fake words and definitions. In a party setting, Dictionarium plays too slowly compared to other games in the lineup, and isn’t as immediately fun as some of the other offerings. It’s nowhere near the worst mini-game featured in The Jackbox Party Pack series, but it doesn’t look like something many fans will revisit often when entertaining guests.
Something that is probably one of the most played games in The Jackbox Party Pack 6 is the headlining game, Trivia Murder Party 2. Trivia Murder Party 2 is very similar to the first iteration of the game (it appeared in The Jackbox Party Pack 3), where players have to answer difficult trivia questions and will be killed if they fail. However, Trivia Murder Party 2 shakes things up a bit with some new twists, notably forcing players to get the last question before they actually win the game, making the final moments even more intense than the first Trivia Murder Party. .
Trivia Murder Party 2 is the only sequel game in The Jackbox Party Pack 6, with the other games being completely original. Besides the previously mentioned Dictionarium, The Jackbox Party Pack 6 also includes Role Models, Joke Boat, and Push the Button. All of these games are different levels of fun, and even better, almost all of them support up to eight players, giving fans a lot of flexibility when it comes to playing the game in larger groups. Role Models is the exception, only allowing six people to play, but it’s still good for a few laughs.
In Role Models, Jackbox Party Pack 6 players have to match fellow players to the roles they feel best suit them. So for example, if the category is Heist Jobs, players have to match each other with roles like getaway driver, the mastermind of the operation, etc. It’s somewhat reminiscent of the PS4 PlayLink game You Are!, and while not as expansive as that game, it’s still fun with the right group of people.
One game that definitely depends on the quality of people one plays with is Joke Boat. Joke Boat is best compared to the rapping robot game from The Jackbox Party Pack 5, because it really depends on the player to make their fun out of it. In Joke Boat, players first have to come up with nouns, adjectives, and such like they would put together a mad-lib, and then they have to write jokes using those words. Later, Joke Boat has players rewrite jokes written by others, and the room votes on the best. Whether or not someone enjoys Joke Boat depends largely on the group playing the game, but it can be one of the funniest games in The Jackbox Party Pack 6.
The final game in The Jackbox Party Pack 6 lineup is Push the Button, and it’s one of the most ambitious mini-games the series has seen yet, putting it right at the top as one of the best multiplayer games of the year. Push the Button is like a Werewolf party game, where some players are designated as “werewolves” and the other players have to figure out who they are. However, in Push the Button, the imposters are aliens instead of werewolves, and players have various tricks they can use to try to figure out the aliens’ identities.
Players are given a decent amount of time (we played an 18-minute game with eight people, but they take longer with more players) to test each other and try to figure out who the aliens are. Aliens, meanwhile, can sabotage things by hacking players. So for example, if human players are given a drawing prompt to draw Mario, aliens might get a prompt to draw a man with a mustache. It’s close enough that aliens can draw it and some might think they’re human, but aliens can hack human players to give them alien writing prompts as well. This can potentially make people think that an innocent person is a foreigner, which can have dire consequences.
The ultimate goal in Push the Button is to find out who the aliens are and then shoot them into space. Once the players are confident that they have discovered the identities of the aliens, they can push at any time to start the voting process. Through unanimous votes, players can clear themselves of accused aliens. The humans win if they pick the right aliens, but the aliens win if the players accidentally kill an innocent person.
There’s a lot going on in Push the Button, and it’s the longest and most complete mini-game featured in The Jackbox Party Pack series. There’s enough to make it work as a standalone party game. Considering how many players Push the Button can handle, it’s nice that the game allows players to go through an optional narrator to let them know what everyone is doing while not constantly interrupting the flow. of gameplay. Those who have played Push the Button a few times may turn off the narrator, but it is useful when introducing new players to the game.
Push the Button will probably go down as one of the best Jackbox Party Pack mini-games to date. It’s the standout mini-game in The Jackbox Party Pack 6, given how ambitious it is compared to the other offerings, and it’ll be interesting to see how it fares in Jackbox Games’ inevitable Jackbox Party Pack 7 next year. year.
Between Push the Button, Joke Boat, Trivia Murder Party 2, and Role Models, Jackbox Party Pack 6 is possibly the most well-rounded collection of mini-games we’ve ever seen in a Jackbox Party Pack game. The only real weak point is the dictionary, and even then it’s still fun with the right friends. So as always, The Jackbox Party Pack 6 is a safe bet for anyone looking for a fun party game to entertain friends or family, and could be a smart purchase this coming holiday.
Jackbox Party Pack 6 is out now for PC, PS4, Switch, Xbox One, and various iOS and Android devices. Today Technology reviewed the game on Xbox One.