Parent's Guide: Jackbox Party Pack 2 - Age rating, mature content and difficulty

Jackbox Party Pack 2 is a collection of five games, each designed to be played by a small (or not so small) group of friends. Weirdly enough, you won't need several controllers to go round, as you instead use your smartphone or tablet as a controller. All you need to do is go to jackbox.tv, and enter your unique room code, and your phone will turn into your very own personal controller, letting you input answers, or even sketch your own masterpiece, as you compete across the games.

The five games on offer here are pretty varied. First up is Fibbage 2, a game about lying. Here, you'll be given a sentence with a blank in it, and it's up to you to come up with a convincing answer to fill that blank. At the end, everyone's answers are shown alongside the truth, and it's up to you to figure out where the truth lies. If people pick your lie as being the truth, you'll get even more points. Earwax challenges you to respond to various category cards by choosing a pair of sound effects that best represent the topic at hand, whether it's the craziest half time football show, or Weird Al Yankovic's wardrobe. It's trickier than it sounds. Bidiots, meanwhile, gives you two people/places/items to draw in 60 seconds, in a kind of pictionary style, and puts them up for auction by your fellow players. The twist here is that each picture has its own set worth according to the game's art critics, but you only know the title and value of three of the pictures, making guessing what scribble represents what picture somewhat tricky. Next up is Quiplash XL, a game that challenges two players to think of the wittiest response to a question, then lets the other players vote on which is best ("What's the worst name for a tanning salon?"), while finally Bomb Corp asks you to work together to defuse bombs, by figuring out which wires need to be cut. The only issue is, there are several rules that need to be followed to figure out the right wires, and those rules are split across everyone's phones, so communication is key.

In terms of accessibility, a lot of the games on Jackbox Party Pack 2 rely on two things - speed and wit. You'll need to be quick witted to think of a funny answer, and fast enough with your fingers to put it in within the fairly short time limit. This is something some adults may struggle with, but younger children may find that little bit too tricky. Certain games are more accessible than others, too - while Bomb Corp trips up most groups of adults, everyone should be able to at least have a good go at Fibbage, Earwax and Quiplash. Older (and particularly funny) children should have few issues here - and the built in family content filter ensures they won't see anything too risqué.

With nothing in the way of violence, and only very, very mild bad language (words like "jackass" are occasionally used), there isn't too much for parents to worry about here. What there is is the odd mild reference to sex, but any such mature content can be handily disabled thanks to the built in family filter. All you need to do is tick a box in the main menu, to ensure the questions you get asked are as family friendly as can be.

Age Ratings

Format Reviewed: Playstation 4