Recent reviews by Panzer

♥♥♥♥ this game. It is anti-player. There is ZERO reason to nerf weapons and strategies in a game that is solely player vs environment. I mean, for ♥♥♥♥♥ sake there isn't even a global leader-board! Why can't you let your players have fun! Why can't you let us do well? You know what? I don't even care what your answers are. ♥♥♥♥ you. I'm going to get a refund if I still can after this latest round of nerfs.

Might as well shake things up this year and review something brand new. I bought Jackbox 6 at launch and have played it quite a few times with numerous people, it is a party game after all. At the moment I have over 8 hours on record with it. This review will be broken down game by game, first discussing the mechanics of the game and then my own thoughts on the game.

Joke Boat:
A stand up comedy style game where you and your friends try to create jokes. At the start everyone is prompted to type in words; verbs, nouns, places, companies, animals, etc. Then everyone is given a classic set up to a joke that has a blank in it and that's also missing a punchline (i.e. "Why did ___ cross the road, ..."). You get three of the words that other people typed in to fill in the blank and it's up to you to come up with the punchline. Then the jokes go head to head with each other to see who's the funniest. In the games finale you get to rewrite another players joke and the original joke is judged against your joke. Whoever has the most points at the end wins.

This one is probably the strongest game in the pack, but it's only as good as the people you're playing with, even more so than most Jackbox games. I find it's best to suggest that the words everyone types in at the start be related to your group of friends and your own personal in-jokes and sense of humor. Things flow much smoother and funnier if you do that.

Trivia Murder Party 2:
More or less the same game as Trivia Murder Party 1. You need to answer trivia questions with your fellow players in order to "stay alive" and hopefully get the chance to escape a serial killer. You first answer a trivia question and then everyone who got it wrong needs to complete a minigame in order to see if they survive. The loser of the minigame gets killed off and the next trivia round starts. Once there's one person left the game shifts into the escape portion where you answer rapid fire trivia questions to escape.

The new minigames are much better made than the first, but it's still more or less the same game albeit with different trivia. If you liked the first one, you'll probably like this.

Dictionarium:
A word game in which you decide the definition for made up words. The words you get are random and nonsensical, you come up with a definition for them and then the funniest ones advance. From there you come up with a synonym for the word and then you get to use the word in a sentence.

A very straightforward game, but honestly the weakest in the pack. After the first round you're stuck with whatever you came up with in the beginning. If no ones word and definition were particularly funny, well, too bad; it's here to stay for the rest of the game.

Push The Button:
Think 'Fakin' It' but on a grander scale...and in spaaaace! At the start everyone is assigned as either a human or an alien. The humans job is to find out who the aliens are and the aliens job is to blend in as well as possible while framing the humans as being the aliens. All players are tested to see who is an alien and who is human. All the humans get one prompt but aliens get a slightly different prompt, then everyone votes on who they think the alien was on that test, even if there is no alien on that test. Once a human player thinks they know who the aliens are they can name them and everyone will vote on if they believe they've had the right choice. The game is also on a time limit, if the aliens aren't discovered before the time runs out it's game over.

Finally, a version of 'Fakin' It' that doesn't require being in person with everyone else to play! The addition of a team element to it also makes things a lot more fun as it allows the aliens to coordinate and socially engineer the others if they're feeling particularly devious. It's a fun time and hosts up to ten people, the only downside is that each game can take quite a while to get through.

Role Models:
A smaller game that requires you to play with people who aren't total strangers. You're asked to match the other players, and yourself, up with different things. Which Batman actor are the other players like? Which role would each of the players have in a bank robbery? You get more points if the other players picked the same person for the same role. When a tie occurs, it starts a bonus round and if there's one person left out at the end another vote is held for the existing role and one additional role.

The rounds are short and the player count is low, only six people per game, but it's a fun time. The only downside is that you need to, at least on a base, level, need to know who you're playing with or else the game won't flow smoothly. Probably the second best game in the pack, I just wish it hosted more people.

Overall Jackbox 6 is an easy recommend, especially if you and your friends have enjoyed the previous games. I don't think it quite lives up to the legendary Jackbox 3, but it still has it's own charm to it and I would recommend it over Jackbox 5.

My friends hate me when I force them to play the new You Don't Know Jack.

Metal Gear Survive is a wave based, tower defense style, co-op game that supports up to four players in it's multiplayer form. Metal Gear Survive also features a single-player campaign with elements of the multiplayer integrated into it, but with more of a focus on survival mechanics such as health monitoring, eating, drinking, and an oxygen mechanic. Since little is know about the single-player this review with focus mostly on the multiplayer aspect of the game.

The main objective in the multiplayer is to project a drill as it extracts energy. As the drill does it's job, crystalline monsters will rush it in an attempt to destroy it. As the player, you and up to three others, are charged with protecting the drill at all costs. The easiest way to do this is to kill the crystalline monsters, but defenses can also be set up to slow down and even kill the monsters for you. Building defenses, as well as gathering materials in order to build those defenses, is a core mechanic in this game.

As mentioned the easiest way to deal with the crystalline monsters is to fight them head on. The combat mechanics and controls will be very familiar to anyone who has previously played Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. Movement controls are tight and intuitive allowing players to creep up on enemies for silent kills or break out into a full on sprint to move faster, but at the cost of stamina. The biggest difference this time around is that there is a much greater emphasis on melee fighting. Spears, machetes, and sledgehammers make up only some of the new melee weapons that you utilize in your fight to protect the objective. Firearms are still a viable means of dispatching enemies, but ammo is scare which makes firearms more of a weapon of last resort. Thrown objects such as lures can serve as a distraction, while other thrown objects like grenades and molotov cocktails take on a more offensive role.

After each round you are rewarded numerous crafting materials as well as blueprints for weapons, armors, and other items. This feed into the crafting element of the game as you are expected to improve your gear, customize it with attachments, and repair it when needed. Virtually every item you will use, from barricades to bullets, needs to be hand crafted.

If there's anything negative to be said about the game it's that the experience, at least from the beta, eventually gets repetitive as you play through the same maps, fighting the same enemies, with the same objective. The enemy AI also leaves a lot to be desired. Once you understand the game mechanics the most intimidating thing about the enemies becomes their numbers.

Overall Metal Gear Survive, from what is available in the beta at least, seems to be a promising game. The FOX engine makes for a beautiful, and more importantly smooth, in game experience. The combat is fun and satisfying. And the ability to play with up to three other friends makes for a great co-op experience.