The Jackbox Party Pack 11 Review – Starting to Feel Familiar

Jackbox Party Pack 11 Review

Jackbox Party Packs are collections of casual party games that use smartphones. These are often unique takes on classic games like Pictionary or Balderdash. It's been a couple of years since we got the main line Party Jackbox Set. Last year we had a Family Feud theme. Jackbox Research Scramblebut it was only one game. Those waiting for a full slate of new games had to wait a little longer. But the wait is over, and Jackbox Games has five new games in the form of The Jackbox Party Pack 11. Read on to find out if this latest installment is worth adding to your Jackbox library.

The way The Jackbox Party Pack games work is by downloading the base game to your console. Each time you play one of the five games in The Jackbox Party Pack 11, you are provided with a 4-digit room code. Everyone who wants to take part must have a smartphone. Participants open their smartphone's web browser, go to jackbox.tv and enter the room code. It is a very simple structure that allows casual participants with no prior knowledge of video games to use a familiar device as a controller.

Dominate

The first game in Jackbox Party Pack 11 is Doominate. It is designed for 3-8 players and takes about 20 minutes per game. Players are given a word or phrase and must enter a way that the thing can be ruined. For example, some might be given the clue “boy band” and to spoil it they might write “but they're all addicted to meth.” After everyone has typed their answers into their phones, the game compares the two answers with the same clue and players vote on who gave the best answer. Points are awarded to the winners of each head-to-head game, and the winner is determined after several rounds.

The second game in Jackbox Party Pack 11 is Hear Say. The game is designed for 2-8 players and takes approximately 20 minutes to complete. This is similar to Doominate, in which the points are centered around voting. This time, players are given a hint and asked to make noise into the phone microphone. For example, the player could be asked to make the sound of a werewolf eating something. All player responses are then compared and voted on. Between rounds there are mini-games where players must make sounds into their phones to use their volume to control Angry Birds-like challenges.

Cookie House

The third game in Jackbox Party Pack 11 is Cookie Haus. The game is designed for 3-8 players and takes about 20 minutes. Cookie Haus is another voting game, but this time players draw. Everyone gets to decorate and name a cookie. In the final round, players are given the opportunity to change a previous cookie created by another player.

I really liked Doominate, Hear Say and Cookie Haus. The problem with them is that they all feel the same because they all use the same “players vote on each other's work” system. All of them are also variations of the classic Jackbox Party Pack games, just with a more specific theme. If anyone doesn't have the Jack Box Party Packs, they make a great introductory collection of games. But for those who have a collection of Jackbox Games, there's nothing new here.

“Hear Say” also doesn't work if everyone is sitting together. Unfortunately, the game doesn't encourage players to run around different rooms while recording sounds. Without this, the mini-games are completely unplayable because the phone microphones will pick up the loud volume of other players. The game encourages loud volume, but if someone tries to record next to someone louder than them, the recording will be ruined.

Suspects

The fourth game in Jackbox Party Pack 11 is Suspectives, which is for 4-8 players and takes about 20 minutes to play. The game begins with each player answering a series of personal opinion questions. After this, everyone is told that a crime has been committed, one of the players is guilty, and that the evidence is their answers to the survey questions. Everyone plays mini-games to try to guess which player gave the answers found in the clues.

Suspectives is the first truly unique game in The Jackbox Party Pack 11. It's good to play it a few times to get people comfortable. Players don't want their answers to give away too much of them, and this may require some finesse. This is a fun party game because it creates different dynamics depending on how well the players know each other. I could see The Usual Suspects being a great icebreaker for people.

Trivia Legends

The latest game in Jackbox Party Pack 11 is Legends of Trivia. It is designed for 1-6 players and takes about 30 minutes. This is a fantasy themed quiz. Players choose a class with different attack, health and gold characteristics. The group's goal is to collect enough gold to reach the final boss. Players choose one of the branching paths and fight monsters. Monsters attack with various quizzes and riddles. Players work together to get as far as possible in the adventure without dying.

Legends of Trivia is worth the price of admission alone. Jackbox Games should be very proud of how they distilled the essence of an RPG and applied it to a quiz game. I tested The Jackbox Party Pack 11 with some older players and they never had a problem with the Legends of Trivia mechanics because it was so simplistic. The addition of puzzles shook up the gameplay. And some of the question formats were very interesting, for example: “Together, make a list of seven actors who played Batman in live-action films.” Co-op play was also unique from all other competitive games.

Connection problems

As with past games, we experienced some connectivity issues with our phones while playing The Jackbox Party Pack 11. Some of the blame lay with users, some with Wi-Fi, some with smartphones, but also with the Jackbox Party Pack itself. If a player's phone goes off between turns, they can usually just turn the screen back on and play, but sometimes they may need to refresh the jackbox.tv web page. Experienced smartphone users got the hang of it pretty quickly, but some older players never got used to it.

Jackbox Party Pack 11 is another fantastic pack. One of its strengths is that it has three games that are variations of classic Jackbox Games titles. But this could also be a deterrent for people who already own the Jackbox Party Packs. However, Suspectives and Legends of Trivia are fantastic and unique additions to the Jackbox Games library. Like previous Jackbox Party Packs, The Jackbox Party Pack 11 is half the price of the Triple-A game. This is very valuable. Whether this game is a must-buy for Jackbox veterans will largely depend on their love of trivia.

***PS5 code provided by publisher***