The Jackbox Party Pack 8 | Xbox Review

The Jackbox series is pretty much an annual tradition for me here at The Gaming Outsider. Every year, I gather my friends (both gamers and non-gamers) together to see what Jackbox Games has in store for us this time. It should come as no surprise that I had a great time playing these titles. Three out of the five titles are well-worth the price of admission, but the other two fall into the “take it or leave it” category for me.

If you’re unfamiliar with these games, let me explain. Each party pack comes with a selections of games designed to be played with a larger group. Each player uses their own Internet-connected device to play with the group. Friends input their answers remotely on their own device so they are hidden from the group until the appropriate time. Depending on the game, hilarity is sure to ensue.

What’s great is that only one person from your friends group needs to own the game. You can play in person or stream the game online to play with others who don’t live near you. These have become a favorite this time of year, and Jackbox Party Pack 8 doesn’t disappoint. Let’s dive into the individual games.

Drawful Animate

Fans of Jackbox Games will more than likely be familiar with Drawful. In previous versions, players are given a word or phrase and instructed to draw it on their device. Then, one by one, each piece of art is displayed on the screen for everyone to see. Players must guess what the original word or phrase is, then all of the responses (both correct and incorrect) appear on the screen. Everyone makes a guess as to what the original prompt was, and those who fool their friends are awarded points, as are those who made a correct guess.

Drawful Animate takes the formula one step further by allowing you to animate your drawings. Granted, this animation is very simplistic. You’ll basically have the opportunity to draw two images instead of just one. When displayed, your drawings will alternate back and forth, giving a rudimentary animation. It’s a small touch, but a welcome one. Drawing your second image is easier than it sounds as well, since it overlays on top of your original drawing. This allows you make the changes you want for clever animation.

We had a decent time with this one, although it’s starting to feel like they’re scraping the bottom of the barrel for phrases. Some of the answers were so far out of left field that it became difficult to come up with a single drawing, much less two. Still, laughs were had. But it was far from a group favorite.

Job Job

This is the game that got the most laughs from our group. Nearly everyone wanted to play this one multiple times, once we understood what it was going for.

The premise of Job Job is this: you’re applying for a job, but your resume (along with everyone else’s) accidentally finds its way into the shredder. In an effort to keep the interviews going, your potential employer provides you with random pieces of everyone else’s resume. This means you’ll get words and punctuation that don’t make a lot of sense. You must answer interview questions by writing sentences using only the words provided to you.

If it sounds confusing, that’s because it is (at first). By the second round, we were laughing at everyone’s awkward responses. In usual fashion, the most clever (read: filthy) received the most votes. Job Job is the reason to pick up Jackbox Party Pack 8. It’s my personal favorite, as it was for everyone else in my group.

The Poll Mine

The Poll Mine was another favorite that took a round or two to understand. Everyone must answer a poll question first. These questions are not trivia questions, but completely random. For instance, our first poll was, “What would be the best name for a space theme park?” We had to choose from 8 different responses.

After we answered all of our questions, the group was split into two teams. Each team had to collaborate to guess the most popular answers that the whole group chose. It’s more or less a test of how well you know your friends. What made the game more interesting was when you had to determine the least popular selection or even the second, third, and fourth place responses.

Although this game would probably work best with people who know each other well, it still made for a fun social experiment. I’m definitely looking forward to playing this one again with close friends.

Weapons Drawn

As much as I love Jackbox Games, there’s usually one game in each pack that’s very difficult to understand. Weapons Drawn was that game for me this time around. I had high hopes for this one, considering how much fun I had with Murder Trivia Party in past iterations. Sadly, this one missed the mark for me.

Players assume the role of a random stranger invited to a mansion a la the film Clue. Unsurprisingly, one of the guests winds up murdered, and it’s up to the rest of the group to uncover the murderer. In a strange take on the premise, each player draws a murder weapon in their device. The catch is that the drawing must include that character’s predetermined “calling card,” which is a random shape. The goal of each player is to “hide” their calling card within a drawing of some kind of death device.

When it’s time for everyone to do their research, the team looks at each murder weapon and the murderer’s calling card. If they can find the random symbol somewhere within the drawing, the case is solved.

This game is a clever idea in concept, but not in execution. I will admit that I was playing with online friends instead of in-person, which probably added to the difficulty. But try as we might, we couldn’t wrap our heads around how this one works. And sadly, no one really wanted to give it another chance after two rounds.

The Wheel of Enormous Proportions

Another personal favorite from the collection for me was The Wheel of Enormous Proportions. I’m a big fan of games of chance, and this one mashes luck with trivia in a way that was incredibly fun.

Each. round starts with a completely “out there” trivia question that more than likely no one will actually know. It reminds me of questions found in the You Don’t Know Jack! or Fibbage games. The difference here is that there are a vast amount of answers to choose from, many of which are correct. Players with the most number of correct guesses are awarded extra placements on the aptly-named Wheel of Enormous Proportions.

This is where the aspect of luck comes in. Obviously, the more times your name shows up on the wheel, the better chance you have of the wheel landing on yours. If it does, you’re awarded points, and the first to reach a predetermined number of points wins the game. It’s pretty simple, but is a fun way to give everyone a chance to win, even if you have bad luck with random trivia.

Jackbox Party Pack 8 Final Verdict

All in all, I’m very pleased with Jackbox Party Pack 8. Only one title failed to strike a chord with my group, and three of them were downright fun to play. You really can’t beat the price for this package, especially if you have a group of friends who love party games. On top of all of that, this edition offers a “kid friendly” mode to keep the inappropriate themes as bay as much as possible.

I’d almost guarantee that you’ll have multiple laughs. The sense of humor present here is just as strong as previous entries, and I can’t wait to get a group together again to play.

To hear me talk more about Jackbox Party Pack 8, be sure to listen to Episode 368 of The Gaming Outsider Podcast around the 53:15 time stamp.

This review is based on an Xbox copy of The Jackbox Party Pack 8 provided by Sandbox Strategies for coverage purposes. It is also available on PlayStation, Nintendo Switch, Mac, and PC via Steam, Epic Games Store, Fanatical, and Humble Store.