You Don’t Know Jack is one of those game series that feels so inextricably linked to the ‘90s, that I was honestly shocked when I heard THQ was giving the team at Jellyvision another stab at the hugely popular original series. It’s been ten years since the last time we got mocked and derided by Cookie Masterson (the once and still host of the “show”), and I am already settling back in, finger firmly ready on the buzzer.

If you somehow managed to miss this game series fifteen or so years ago, boy, are you in for a treat. You Don’t Know Jack presents players with a clever blend of pop culture references and actual trivia, most often in the same question. A great deal of the difficulty comes not just from knowing the correct answer to the question, but knowing what the question is asking you in the first place.  If you are asked, “Which of these shows would NOT violate one of the Ten commandments,” it might not be immediately apparent that the answer is “Prison Break.” Wrong. Play a few rounds of the game, though, and your mind will start to acclimate and you’ll start spotting the right answer with lightning proficiency.  All the while, the host of the show will be spewing a near endless stream of sarcastic barbs and self-deprecating jabs at you, himself, and anyone mentioned in a particular question.

 

It is this sort of snarky humor and overall glossy presentation that really elevates this game over something like, say, 1 Vs. 100. Don’t get me wrong, I played the hell out of that last season, but the complete lack of sarcasm, irony, or anything resembling humor means you might be better off watching Jeopardy, since at least those questions are consistent in their difficulty. You Don’t Know Jack is its own beast, which isn’t to say that this new game is exactly unfamiliar territory. The game plays out almost exactly as it did over a decade ago. Questions are divided into a series of ten, dubbed an “Episode” this time around (and of which, there are over 70 with more to come via DLC). You are presented four answers to every question, and you are challenged to see how fast you can buzz in. Money is earned and lost, and along the way you’ll encounter bonus rounds with clever names and premises of their own (Nocturnal Admissions, Who’s the Dummy?, etc.). Classic bonus rounds like “Dis or Dat” and the “Jack Attack” are back, but play largely the same as they did in the original games.

The game reinforces the conceit of being a television game show right from the very moment you boot it up. There is producer chatter in the background, camera coordinators calling out their cues, and a whole bunch of subtle audio inclusions throughout. There are even fake commercials for joke products if you let things linger for too long on a given screen. It’s all pretty endearing, and really adds to the overall charm of the game. More than that, it’s entirely consistent with the feeling of past games in the series. Cookie Masterson has the same fast-paced wit and charm as he always did, and he still makes you feel like a moron when you get a question wrong.

 

Unfortunately, it may have been this strict adherence to precedents set with the first title that ended up hurting this new game the most. Despite the fact that the questions and quips were new, I was always feeling like I had played the hell out of this game before (and to be fair, I did play a whole lot of You Don’t Know Jack way back when). That feeling was compounded when playing by myself, as the incentive to do well was pretty much lost. Though I enjoyed trying to better my previous Episode’s score with each subsequent episode, I was never able to find that legitimate hook to keep me playing on my own for hours on end.