The Jackbox Party Pack 6 (Nintendo Switch) Review

Here is a quick overview of what this is about for those that do not know. Each 'Pack' has five mini-games in it that can be selected, and this game hosts it online (without needing the paid Nintendo account) and waits for players to connect with their phones or tablets. For streamers or anyone else watching, they can join as well to be part of the audience and often give out small point bonuses. Each game is typically a short 10-15-minute affair, such as answering trivia questions or trying to guess certain things. After this, a winner is announced before it's possible to play again or pick a new one.

The five new ones are much darker and more involved in this pack. Though there were always options in the past to turn on censoring, it was largely not needed too much, excluding the very occasional question or language that was adult-oriented. For this one, the developer has specifically mentioned that it is for adults, with heavier tones, language, and subjects.

Starting with the return of 'Trivia Murder Party 2,' players are captured by a crazed murderer and forced to answer questions with only one person getting out alive. The original was by far the darkest mini-game (especially considering the rest of the third one were light-hearted) and this one continues with dark violence. While players are represented as dolls, the fact you are stabbing, poisoning, or otherwise killing the other players might be a bit too much for some. As it is, this game is pretty fun, and it is clear it was popular as they brought it back. The final burst round of trivia is almost always filled with yelling and cheering as players jockey back and forth for the final escape.

The next couple of games show much more of this 'involved' gameplay which can be a little negative. The next game, 'Role Models', is a type of group personality test. It might be something like 'assign each player a season' and points are rewarded if you correctly pick the group's choice. The pacing of the game is a little slow, and while the reveals can generate a little chuckle, the time-to-reward ratio doesn't feel as good as some others in the past.

'Joke Boat' is likely to either be a hit or a flop with certain groups. This game is very much like the old 'T.K.O.' where instead of drawing t-shirts based on prompts, this walks you through creating your own joke. It takes a while, and there is a fair amount to it. Jokes are then either displayed on the screen, or can be read by the player themselves. While okay, it was not the type of game that is likely to see too much action as it just takes too long to get to the 'good stuff,' which isn't that much.

The fourth game is also one of the weaker ones. Called 'Dictionarium', it is similar to 'Joke Boat' as there is a group construction effort. Given a random word, each player writes a plausible or funny definition. From here the group votes, then tries to come up with a synonym for the word. Lastly it ends with using the synonymy in a sentence. This might sound more confusing than it is. For example, one word was 'Peast' which the winning definition the group selected was a feast for nations celebrating peace. The winner synonym was 'Prinner' and the winning sentence was 'The prinner will be at 5 pm'. It's good for a chuckle or two, but the general flow didn't lead it to be a stand out game.

The final game was likely the best. Called 'Push the button,' it is a social deduction game with a very good twist. Playing astronauts on a spaceship, someone is randomly assigned as being the alien. With 15 minutes to figure it out, players take turns making two players compete against each other - the complicating factor is that the alien gets the wrong prompt. So a prompt might be 'draw Moses from the Bible' and the alien gets 'draw a hipster'. This seems like it might be easy enough to figure out, but the genius comes from that the alien gets a few 'hacks' that can be used on any player and force them to get an alien prompt - confusing players big time. The game is a little complicated, and exemplifies needing some lead up and involvement in the game, like all of them in this pack, but for those who give it a chance it can be great fun.

This set of games has the downside of being much more complicated, as they are less like the 'sit down and play' ones of older mini-games in the series. All things considered, there is not a single bad game in it; just a few that come off as slow. All of them will produce a lot of laughs and for any groups that play regularly some of the games are likely to be great hits.