The Blogtastic Blogfest That Is Getmeoutofthis.net!

An episode of You Don’t Know Jack is a precious thing. It’s funny. It’s entertaining. It’s interesting. The last thing I want to do is waste it by only experiencing it alone. Thus, I never play games of Jack on the 360 or otherwise without friends about. This, of course, limits my consumption considerably.

Because of this, in a way, I’m kind of glad that You Don’t Know Jack for iOS is a single-player affair. Finally, I can feel good about enjoying all the Jack I want without feeling like I’m ruining some theoretical future fun time with my friends on the couch. Sure, it would be better if it had some sort of multiplayer. For example, on the iPad only version, I don’t understand why two people couldn’t hold the sides of the iPad and buzz in by tapping on one side of the screen. And, sure, 20 episodes isn’t a huge amount of content, especially considering the ridiculous amount of game you can get on iOS for a buck nowadays. Still, it’s a blast, like Jack always is.

While iOS Jack uses all the same animations and question types (such as Who’s the Dummy? and Funky Trash) as the latest console and PC version of the game, the questions are all new. Cookie has recorded new jokes, dialog, and quips for every single episode, and thus every single one is a hilarious time. The demo calls the game “engorged with humor” and if you’ve ever played a Jack game before, you know that to be true. (Well, or you don’t like the game’s sense of humor, I guess, and already know you wouldn’t like this version.) The game plays just fine, of course. You’re simply tapping on answers instead of selecting them with a controller, and areas of the screen are denoted for situations like Dis or Dats. It’s not the sort of game you’re going to play without sitting down to commit to it, of course, because it just doesn’t work without being able to hear Cookie, but for a car ride, or just fucking around on your iDevice like I do, the game is fantastic.

I bought the HD version, which probably was a mistake. The leaderboards aren’t shared with the non-HD version, so I can’t compare scores with everyone else on Talking Time who’s playing, and let’s face it: Jack is just showing text, so it’s not really a better experience being slightly higher in definition. It also cost $2 more, but I don’t mind that, as Jellyvision deserves all my money forever, and I’m glad to pay them a bit extra. Still, if you’re going to get the game, grab the iPhone version. Not worth the premium if you aren’t out to support a favorite developer like I was.

I know Jellyvision is going to do this version of the game right. They’ll probably have paid and free episode updates, and I’m all for that. Hell, they already had a little “stealth” DLC update by having the demo have completely different questions than the full version. (So play the demo, if nothing else, dammit!) But basically, if you like trivia at all, buy this app. Then buy a second copy of the console reboot of the franchise. Then buy a copy on Steam. Do everything you can to get more Jack into the world. Because more Jack is a wonderful thing.