“Once again, the new Jackbox Party Pack proves to be the whole package.”
The only thing better than seeing your friends again in 2021 is the release of the latest Jackbox Party Pack to play with them. Yep, you read that headline correctly; this year’s release is the 8th instalment of the popular comedic game collections which social gamers have come to know and love over these past many years. With an adaptation of one returning favourite and four brand-new titles in this Autumn’s offering, there has been much to look forward to for fans in the build up. I myself have been counting the days, so let’s dive right in and examine what the eccentric minds at Jackbox Games have crafted for us this year!
Drawful: Animate
Drawful, and more notably its successor Drawful 2, have been a staple drawing game of the Jackbox series for yonks now. Challenging players to draw a perplexing and unusual prompt and then having their friends try to guess what exactly they are seeing has been an entertaining pastime for many a gamer, but Jackbox Games knew that the 3rd entry in the titular minigame had to be something new, fresh and even more extraordinary… Enter Drawful: Animate; a fundamentally parallel game wherein players now draw two interchanging images in response to their prompt as opposed to a single static artwork. It is a simple change which mildly but surely bumps up the entertainment and appeal of the fan favourite title, and does just enough to demonstrate that these game’s have moved with the times over the years. When compared with it’s compatriots in the new Pack, Drawful: Animate comes across decidedly normal and perhaps even “basic” by some accounts. Nevertheless, the return of a timeless classic with a new and intriguing twist is a welcome introduction to the new flurry of minigames on offer.
The Wheel of Enormous Proportions
An initially complicated set of rules made me question the existence of The Wheel of Enormous Proportions; not in so much as I didn’t believe it was real, but more in the sense that it felt… hard to understand for a Jackbox game. That being said, once you have played a few times and the rules have become apparent and natural, this is a highly enjoyable, and indeed strategic, trivia game. Essentially, this minigame takes places in phases. First, you must answer trivia questions of various styles and on various topics to earn “slices” (or wedges, if that is easier to remember). You also earn points for your successes in this phase, which will help you towards winning the game. Phase two sees you placing your acquired slices onto the wheel itself, with each slice being an opportunity to win further points towards victory if a spin of the wheel lands on your selected slice. Additionally, one player will have come out of the trivia phase with a “power slice”, which means segments of the wheel will award them and them alone with large flurries of points should a spin land on such segments. Still with me? You can see why I said it was complex! Upon a player attaining 20,000 points and the wheel landing on one of their slices, that player has a chance to win the game, if a further, final successful spin comes their way. And thus, the cycle of play proceeds until this event finally occurs. The victor is awarded with the spoils of an “answer” to a grand question of their choosing, but not all answers provide satisfaction, and not all knowledge is as straightforward as trivia-goers might hope. Even with its challenging and tantalising questions, The Wheel of Enormous Proportions provides the joint-steepest learning curve in this year’s pack, but it also makes for a fun, unique and strategic trivia game nonetheless.
Job Job
Job Job is a game about jobs. It is also the primary funny game in Party Pack 8. In Job Job, players answer unusual yet relatively normal questions in whatever way they choose. These responses are then put through a shredder and individual words and punctuation are spat out the other end. Then, using combinations of the available words on their individual screens, players answer interview-style questions to try and acquire the fictional job at the end of the game. With a 90’s/early 2000’s WordArt aesthetic and the patented Jackbox sense of humour, Job Job holds up its end of the comedic bargain and the more fun and risqué your friends are feeling the more entertained you will be. The game is both the most straightforward in the pack and by far the most hilarity-inducing. A great introductory game for newcomers to Jackbox games and up there with the best of the roster for returning fans, Job Job is an easy competitor for this year’s top Party Pack title.
Poll Mine
For me, Poll Mine takes the award for best game of the pack this year. Whilst not all of my friends agreed with this analysis, I felt that the game was intellectual, player-led and well-thought-out, not to mention a refinement of a formula which Jackbox Games have been trying, but not quite landing, for years. There are two key steps to the game. First, divided into two teams, players vote on a poll provided by the game. The nature of this can be anything from scariest encounters to most popular apps, and is based on individual opinions. Then, players have to identify specific results from the polls depending on the stage of the game. A fantastic team-based and discussion-focussed game with consistently different and intriguing results based on your player group, Poll Mine is a party game through and through as well as an ideal ice breaker and family friendly option. It offers whatever your group might need from the experience, with fun conversations guaranteed game after game. A clear frontrunner for me and a great example of what a Jackbox Party Pack minigame should look like.
Weapons Drawn
Social deduction games have been a big hit in the video games and board games worlds in recent years. Jackbox’s best answer to the trend in previous packs has been the complex but entertaining Push the Button, but Weapons Drawn is something of a different beast. Combining Jackbox Games’ understanding of what makes group social deduction tick with their ever popular drawing game meta, Weapons Drawn is literally a game about drawing weapons, committing murders and hiding in plain sight. Players take on the roles of master detectives at a party, where a game is being played which rewards successful and subtle murders. Murder weapons are actually drawn by players at the beginning of the game, with a letter from the player’s name needing to be hidden in the image. Then, players must attempt to commit successful murders of their peers’ party guests whilst attempting to detect the murder culprits by examining the methods of massacre they have used. It comes across as complex in both description and the first run at the game, but transpires to be an exciting, deep and multidimensional experience once the rules are established and understood amongst your group. It isn’t the pack’s top title for me, but it is a great rounding out of the offering which provides a unique style of play and the most competitive game on the roster.
Conclusions
There is yet to be a bad year in the annual release schedule of Jackbox Games’ Party Packs, and 8 is no exception. With five wholly entertaining games of various styles and complexities, there is plenty to be enjoyed by any and all players, both new and old, who choose to go in on the experience. Maintaining an absurdly reasonable price tag which only the host player need play, and continuing its high-player-count trend, Party Pack 8 is ideal both in person and streamed online. A continued dedication to perfecting the accessibility features of the game, such as text-to-speech, subtitles and even the ability to remove all of the game’s timers further improve the openness of the ever enjoyable experience, as does the continuation of the US-centric question filter which is ideal for UK players like myself and beyond. Once again, the new Jackbox Party Pack proves to be the whole package. An easy game to recommend for another year running.
Choose your version of the game to buy and own here – https://www.jackboxgames.com/party-pack-eight/
Jackbox Party Pack 8 is avialable on PC, PlayStation, Xbox, Switch and Mobile.
This review is based on the PC version of the game
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