The Jackbox Party Pack 4

Genre: Compilation / Party Games

Players: 2-16 Competitive (Local) (4 Recommended)

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Review:

The Jackbox Party Pack series of games are a collection of various Party Games that generally fall in the realm of trivia games and social silly-inducing games much along the same lines of physical games like Cards Against Humanity. In every game within these collections, players play not with a game controller, but with their smartphone or internet-connected device with a current browser. The game creates a private room on the Jackbox.tv website that players log into using a four-letter code on their own personal devices. This way, every player has their own private screen to feed them information, input responses, and even make crude drawings in some games.

This method of play means that even though the game is played locally, the Nintendo Switch must be connected online to work properly, and every player must have their own browser-capable internet-connected device, although on the bright side, it is a multiplayer game that does not require more than one single controller.

I should note that while some Jackbox games offer options to play family-friendly versions, many of the games in these collections either contain mature content, or will likely prompt players to create their own mature content, so this may not be the best game to play with little ones.

After the absolute pinnacle of the series that was the third Jackbox Party Pack, I feel that The Jackbox Party Pack 4 is the absolute worst of the series. Three of the games here are outright garbage, with game-breaking bugs, pointless and confusing game design, and horrible pacing issues. And while this collection contains what may very well be the best entry in the acclaimed Fibbage series, that one success doesn’t change the fact that this package contains a lot of failure.

In reviewing these games, I did something a bit different than usual – I got together a group of players and we all graded these games individually, averaging together our scores. Our group included both expert gamers as well as casual players who don’t usually play videogames, but our assessment of these games was usually pretty close to one another. Here’s what we thought of each game in this collection:

Game	Genre	# of Players	Score
Fibbage 3	Party Game (Trivia)	2-8 Competitive (Local)	A
tl;dr Like the first two games in the series, Fibbage 3 is a Party Game where players are given an obscure question and prompted to create their own fake answer. Then players try to guess the correct answer from within all of the fake ones. The third game in the series adds more variety into the sorts of questions it has, plus an entirely new game mode where the series’ gameplay is turned towards “facts” about the players themselves. All told, this sequel takes what was already great about the earlier games and expands on it, and fans of the earlier games would do well to give it a look.
Survive the Internet	Party Game	3-8 Competitive (Local)	C+
tl;dr Survive the Internet is a Party Game where players basically troll each other by trying to put each others’ answers in the worst possible context. It’s a decent distraction, but once you get used to its gimmick there’s not really much here to keep you interested.
Monster Seeking Monster	Party Game	3-7 Competitive? (Local)	F
tl;dr Monster Seeking Monster is a Party Game where players all secretly take the role of monsters dating one another, each with secret goals. Unfortunately, the rules here are poorly explained and the goals are vague and not well thought-out, resulting in the whole thing becoming an aimless, confusing mess.
Bracketeering	Party Game	3-7 Competitive (Local)	F
tl;dr Bracketeering is a Party game where players all come up with an answer to the same question, and then vote on their favorite answers in one-on-one matchups. This way of doing things really drags the game out to be far longer than it needs to be, making it absurdly tedious for such a simple concept. As a result, this game is so dull that it effectively killed the fun when we tried to play it.
Civic Doodle	Party Game	3-8 Competitive (Local)	F
tl;dr Civic Doodle is a Party Game where players compete using their touchscreens to take the same drawings and make the best improvements on them. Unfortunately, multiple players had difficulties getting the touchscreen to properly register their drawings in this game, making it essentially unplayable.

For the first time in this series, three of the games were deemed not only bad by our group, but outright failures. Civic Doodle is a great concept, but the game is so busted that our group couldn’t play it, Bracketeering has to be the most boring game concept Jackbox has ever come up with, and Monster Seeking Monster is confusing and aimless to the point where our group found themselves unsure what the point of the whole thing was. Survive the Internet was mildly amusing, but not the sort of thing we’d likely return to. And yet, the most tragic part of this collection is possible Fibbage 3, a truly fantastic game that’s arguably the best this wonderful series has ever been… but it’s trapped in a collection with all of these other losers.

As before, each game has its own distinct presentation, making this really feel like five distinct games instead of one game segmented into five sections. The $25 price tag, even now multiple years after launch, is a bit steep, and given that you’re essentially paying it primarily just for Fibbage 3 makes it an even harder pill to swallow.

Like I said above, The Jackbox Party Pack 4 is my pick for the worst collection in the series. Of the five Party Games here, three of them are outright terrible, and only one is a truly great game. If you’re willing to plunk down any amount of cash for the best version of Fibbage, this collection might interest you, but otherwise you’re better off going for Party Packs 1 or 2 as each of those gives you a version of Fibbage along with other actual good games.

tl;dr – The Jackbox Party Pack 4 is a Collection of Party Games that includes five games that players play using their Smartphone instead of a controller. Of all the Jackbox collections so far, this is my least favorite, with three of the games here being absolute trash. If it wasn’t for the brilliant Fibbage 3 being in this collection, it would be a complete waste, and since you can get the earlier Fibbage games in Party Pack 1 and 2 (along with other good games), there’s little reason to get this one unless you’ve exhausted those and absolutely need more Fibbage.

Grade: D

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