Surviving the Internet…

The fourth Jack Box Party Pack is an interesting one. A very mixed bag of games, many of which honestly go on for way too fucking long. The five games are a little all over the place. Although for a while for us there were only four games because Civic Doodle didn’t work for some stupid reason. I’ve been playing these with the siblings, the parents and some friends and it’s just mixed everywhere. Mostly.

Fibbage 3 is just like Fibbage 1 and 2, it isn’t amazingly new or anything even if the art is kinda nice. There’s a new game mode for it, but eh, we’ve already had two Fibbage games, we don’t really need another one, do we? The aesthetic IS really nice though

Civic Doodle is mostly a really good game. The whole drawing on each others’ drawings is pretty funny, there’s always a risk of someone drawing something rude by accident and, like Drawful, because there’s little time for much finesse, whatever comes out always looks utterly stupid and utterly hilarious. But FUCKING SHUT UP YOU STUPID FUCKING NARRATORS. Seriously too much fucking talking. Shut the fuck up and let us draw.

Bracketeering is dumb, basically a crappier version of Quiplash and way more of a pain in the ass. Quiplash is quick and to the point. Bracketeering just isn’t.

Monster Seeking Monster DOES NOT WORK with family members and honestly could make a party with friends really awkward as well considering you’re supposed to be flirting with each other. Like Civic Doodle and Bracketeering it drags on for fucking ages, and it’s really easy for people with specific in-game abilities to rig the whole thing and win. This game really needs a very particular set of players to work right.

Survive the Internet though… Holy fuck is this game fun. It’s really simple. You answer a question, then the next player twists your words and makes you look stupid. People vote on which person looks the stupidest, or which ever one sounds the funniest. The game’s decorated with a sort of old school Windows XP vibe with matching music, adding to the nostalgia, so its looks will probably appeal to more people.

Really, the reason why Survive the Internet works is because, like Quiplash, it’s fast and funny and to the point. You write your answer to the totally normal question you’re given, then you take someone else’s answer to their totally normal question and make them look like an idiot. Then you vote and move on to the next round. That’s it. Simple fun. Although maybe not clean. It depends on who you play with.

For example, you get asked to describe your girlfriend. The next player then twists your words and makes it look like you’re describing Donald Trump or something. Everyone then sees the combined description and answer, you look silly and everyone has a good laugh.

 

There’s several other bonuses with Survive the Internet. Compared to the other games, it’s pretty short, but it doesn’t FEEL short, nor does it drag on. In particular, the tutorial intro is easily skip-able, and while the narrator sounds kinda disinterested in the whole thing, he’s probably the best one yet. There’s no droning on, less shitty ‘jokes’ like the Quiplash narrator Schmitty and you’re not being insulted either like the narrator from Drawful tends to do.

Like many of the other Jackbox games, you can share your results at the end. Unfortunately, it doesn’t allow you to share the last round, in which you have to write a caption for an image your victim chose. Which is a huge shame because these are always the funniest.

Survive the Internet’s only real problem is that, like Monster Seeking Monster, it needs a good group of players who are willing to make fun at each other. You need to be able to laugh at yourself, because everyone is going to be the butt of the jokes made by everyone else.

Is Survive the Internet as good as Quiplash and Drawful? I’m not sure. But that doesn’t matter when it’s so much fun.