Latest title in quiz show series doesn't feel like 'Jack'

April 7, 2000
Web posted at: 1:29 PM EDT (1729 GMT)

By D. Ian Hopper
CNN Interactive Technology Editor

(CNN) -- It seems these days every game has a multiplayer component. In fact, some are panned if it's overlooked, and some developers have let the single-player game suffer in favor of beefing up multiplay.

Berkeley Systems, owned by Sierra, and developer Jellyvision have known how to put together a good multiplayer game for a long time now. Their "You Don't Know Jack" quiz game series combines clever questions, a quick pace and attitude to make a fun party game, or just a way to bring your spouse into your gaming habit.

But after several vanilla iterations, an Internet game and several themed versions, the series seems to be losing steam.

Sierra recently released "You Don't Know Jack Offline," a collection of questions from the online version, called the "Netshow." While a bit bland, it wasn't especially bad. Now there is "You Don't Know Jack: Louder! Faster! Funnier!" This, if Berkeley Systems and Sierra aren't careful, may end up killing a wonderful series.

First off, we have the problem of truth in advertising. It's certainly not louder. It may be called faster, simply because the games only last 15 questions. Previous versions went for 21 questions, or seven for a short game.

And "YDKJ: LFF" is definitely less funny.

In an apparent attempt to spice up the formula, the game is episode-based. At the beginning, players choose a theme for the game. The subsequent questions loosely fit within it. This isn't all that new, since "YDKJ: The Ride" did it far better by asking a "moral question" and drawing a theme from the players' answer. For some bizarre reason, LFF brags that it's "customizable" since you can save the theme and play it again later. Why anyone would do such a thing is mind-boggling, unless perhaps you want to cheat by already knowing the questions.

In the very first try of the game, I was offered questions that I already passed on. There are 1,000 questions in total, but the rigid theme detracts from the replayability.

The game only adds one new question type, called "Wendithap'n." An event is given, and players have to pick whether subsequent clues happened before or after the original one, or whether it never happened at all. It's rather difficult but not especially amusing.

The most glaring problem in the game is the poor production. The question number introductions, which fans of the game will recall as interesting animations, couldn't be more uninspired in LFF. Even worse, the writing is dull and some jokes are lifted straight from previous versions in the series.

The host, played by Phil Ridarelli, doesn't make the script any better. He speaks in a stilted, bored monotone; he makes YDKJ vets yearn for the original host, Cookie, even more.

"You Don't Know Jack: Louder! Faster! Funnier!" smacks of a publisher, in this case Berkeley Systems, cashing in on a series. Shame on you, Jellyvision, for offering this performance that's so obviously phoned-in. If you've never tried YDKJ, though, don't let this bomb warn you away from this usually fun series. Pick up "The Ride," which should have a healthy discount by now, or one of the value packs containing several of the titles in one box.

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Berkeley Systems Toasted
Sierra

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