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Most of the time, a one-person party just isn’t a party -- at least not a fun one. And sadly, that’s true with the iOS version of You Don’t Know Jack, which pretty much ruins an otherwise wonderful, evilly clever game by forcing it into a single-player-only coffin.
The You Don’t Know Jack series has been around forever, debuting on Macs back in 1995. A quiz-show game, it quickly became beloved for its genius combo of snarky, modern humor and tricky, intelligent trivia…then spawned a slew of forgettable sequels and faded away for a few years. It came roaring back in 2011 with an inspired new version for PCs and videogame consoles, so we were thrilled to see our Apple gear get some love at last with an iOS app.
Which is probably why it was such a blow to learn that this version of Jack supports no multiplayer -- no local Wi-Fi, no same screen, no nothing. See, the fun of Jack comes from gathering a few friends to laugh at the game’s wicked, wicked humor and then compete fiercely to answer its surprisingly intelligent trivia questions. Playing by yourself is like playing poker or quarters alone -- you can do it, sure, but most of us will prefer the company of friends to enjoy those games as they were intended to be enjoyed. Why would developer Jellyvision not make this game shine by including some kind of online multiplayer, or at least a huddle-around-the-iPad-and-buzz-in option?
It’s a mystery, and one that crushes an otherwise terrific presentation. (They promise they're working on it, but it should have been here from the beginning.) The questions are as awesome as ever; we never expected it to be hard to suss out whether a list presented the names of Britney Spears songs or dead popes, but maybe we were laughing too hard to think straight. Announcer Cookie Masterson’s deranged delivery keeps the show humming along perfectly, and the questions mix the academic and the asinine as wonderfully as always.
The bottom line. We love You Don’t Know Jack, but this iOS version delivers only a small, sad sliver of what makes this series so terrific. So skip it and try the Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3 version, or drop Jellyvision a line and remind them that, given their roots, they really should’ve made a Mac version in the first place!
The You Don’t Know Jack series has been around forever, debuting on Macs back in 1995. A quiz-show game, it quickly became beloved for its genius combo of snarky, modern humor and tricky, intelligent trivia…then spawned a slew of forgettable sequels and faded away for a few years. It came roaring back in 2011 with an inspired new version for PCs and videogame consoles, so we were thrilled to see our Apple gear get some love at last with an iOS app.
Which is probably why it was such a blow to learn that this version of Jack supports no multiplayer -- no local Wi-Fi, no same screen, no nothing. See, the fun of Jack comes from gathering a few friends to laugh at the game’s wicked, wicked humor and then compete fiercely to answer its surprisingly intelligent trivia questions. Playing by yourself is like playing poker or quarters alone -- you can do it, sure, but most of us will prefer the company of friends to enjoy those games as they were intended to be enjoyed. Why would developer Jellyvision not make this game shine by including some kind of online multiplayer, or at least a huddle-around-the-iPad-and-buzz-in option?
It’s a mystery, and one that crushes an otherwise terrific presentation. (They promise they're working on it, but it should have been here from the beginning.) The questions are as awesome as ever; we never expected it to be hard to suss out whether a list presented the names of Britney Spears songs or dead popes, but maybe we were laughing too hard to think straight. Announcer Cookie Masterson’s deranged delivery keeps the show humming along perfectly, and the questions mix the academic and the asinine as wonderfully as always.
The bottom line. We love You Don’t Know Jack, but this iOS version delivers only a small, sad sliver of what makes this series so terrific. So skip it and try the Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3 version, or drop Jellyvision a line and remind them that, given their roots, they really should’ve made a Mac version in the first place!