Just Black Jack

Genre: Card Game (Blackjack)

Players: 1

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Review:

(Note: This game is included in 3 in 1 – Logical Bundle, along with History 2048 and Miniature – The Story Puzzle.)

Just Black Jack, released on Nintendo Switch in 2019, is a Card Game that’s… well, just Blackjack. As this game is a classic card game and likely older than anyone currently reading this review, I’ll be focusing mainly on the presentation, features, options, and performance of this game.

The presentation here is pretty bad. This game looks and feels cheaply-made, the framerates are terrible, and the interface seems quickly tossed-together last-minute. This is backed by decent but forgettable acoustic guitar music.

The controls here are extremely dumbed- down – you have buttons for hit, stand, and double, and that’s about it. Buttons are either pressed with the touchscreen or by using a corresponding button on the controller.

As for the gameplay… well, it’s blackjack. There aren’t any options here, no multiplayer play, nothing except you, $100 in chips, and a personality-free dealer. However, this is worse than bare bones, because players are limited in the amount they can bet on a hand. Players are only given three betting options – $5, $10, and $25. That’s it, and no, you can’t add multiple chips of one type.

As if this game’s lack of options wasn’t bad enough, the pricing of this game is so clearly trying to game the Nintendo Switch eShop it’s despicable. Upon release, this game was priced at $2, dropping down to $1 every other month or so to spur on sales. That’s pretty normal for low-effort indie games on the Nintendo Switch, though. What really makes this despicable is that the moment Nintendo changed the eShop so that games priced under $2 aren’t given a featured spot on the eShop, this game was raised in price to $3, just so it could continue dropping a buck down in price to go on sale every month, now for $2.

Just Black Jack is not worth $3. It’s not worth $2. I don’t even think it’s worth the $1 it used to go on sale for. This is a bare-bones version of the classic card game that performs poorly, has little in the way of options, limits the player’s ability to bet as they like, and is clearly a cynical cash grab. Do not be fooled into buying this, even if you’re aching for a good Blackjack game on Nintendo Switch.

tl;dr – Just Black Jack is about as bare-bones a version of the classic card game as they come, but it can’t even do that much right, not only lacking features, but performing poorly, and inexplicably limiting the player’s ability to bet. On top of that, the cynical way this game has been priced on the eShop is really sleazy. Don’t be scammed into spending your money on this low-effort game.

Grade: D-

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