izigame.me

The Jackbox Survey Scramble is a fun, fair priced game that forces yourself to think about how others would think about specific topics. Of course you could go with your own opinion, but are you sure that your own opinion is the most/least popular... Overall I rate the game an 8/10 and will go through each gamemode to show why I have come to this decision.
Hilo - 8.5/10
In my opinion, the most fun gamemode in the pack. Where you simply guess what words are most popular and least popular and see where they rank against your parties answers. Having to guess the bottom 10 is a nice spin on how they have made the game different to other similar games. Having to guess the top 10 is common is similar games like this but guessing the least favourite is a unique and enjoyable concept that works. My main criticism would be that they only reveal the top 10 at the end and they don't show the bottom 10 at all.
Speed - 6/10
Unfortunately this is just not my type of gamemode. But I don't think it's a bad gamemode to include by Jackbox. It is simply listing as many words as you can that relates to a topic. I feel like my brain just doesn't work this fast haha.
Squares - 8/10
Very enjoyable, unique concept. Team based game where you go up against the other team in a traditional game of Noughts & Crosses. The difference of course that in order to claim a square you need to get a word in the specified range. It is a nice touch that you get to see your teammates answers as well incase you're feeling stuck. You get a nice amount of time to think about everything. I also like how they added that if you get a square the other team can steal the square by getting another word in that category, it adds extra depth to the game and makes you more nervous because you are never safe even if you think you have good squares.
Bounce - 7.5/10
Honestly this gamemode on every review I have looked at is getting a lot of criticism. And personally I actually like it. I don't even know how to explain this gamemode without you playing it yourself but you are basically controlling platforms which a square needs to land on in order to keep your team in the round. But in order to control that platform you need to get words in the specified range of wherever you need the platform to move to. Sounds confusing but when you play you pick it up fast. This was the gamemode with the most chaos in the pack, and honestly that's why i found it enjoyable. It gave me and my friend group a lot of screaming moments which didn't happen much in the other gamemodes. Saying that it's definitely not the best gamemode and has a lot of flaws. The gamemode lasts way too long, the square moves slowly at first then faster as each round progresses. Even though I like this concept, they need to have the starting speed much quicker, because it is way too slow.
Conclusion
Overall, a very fun game. I definitely would recommend it, and it's just a very cool concept where the most popular/least popular are based on audience answers and constantly changing. I love how the gamemodes are a mixture of team and solo, as well as a mixture of slow/fast paced games. They have really nailed the different gamemodes, it doesn't feel like every gamemode is too similar to the previous one as they are all pretty different.
If you are thinking of buying the game but thinking it looks a bit 'basic' or 'boring' definitely give it a go. There are a lot of word games on Jackbox and even I have to admit when I see a new word-based game I sigh to myself because they aren't my favourite type of games compared to other games. But I found this very enjoyable. Yes at its foundation its a word game but it feels so much more of that with different gamemodes/different teams/different speeds/different topics and what is great is that there is also weird and inappropiate responses, this is good because it means responses are not as black as white as you might think when you originally see a topic. What is even better is that they are releasing free updates in the future with more content, which is an added bonus to an already great game.
I really think Jackbox have stepped it up this year. Not only with this game but the Jackbox Naughty Pack too. I know it got a lot of criticism but I really enjoyed it. I think the main criticism of the Jackbox Naughty Pack was that there was not enough content to justify the price tag or to make it enjoyable enough. But now that we see the release of this game, we can understand why that was. It was because they didn't want to commit to five games in a Naughty Pack when they knew that it is an entirely new genre that families and others wouldn't be able to play. So they decided to add three games and release this family friendly standalone game. In my opinion this standalone game definitely has enough content for it to feel like a game that is more than individual games in party packs. It feels like it counts for two games rather than one. If you add this price to the Jackbox Naughty Pack price you get close to £30 which is what Jackbox Party Packs game usually cost when they first release. And considering this standalone game has enough content to make it feel like it two games anyway, I think the price points make sense of what was released this year.
I have done a seperate review of the Jackbox Naughty Pack so i'm not going to repeat why I think that was great here. But overall I just think Jackbox have had a great year. I didn't enjoy the Jackbox Party Pack 10 at all. It is in my opinion one of the weakest packs they have ever released. But I don't blame them for it, because once you have created 10 party packs with over 50 games, it starts to get very difficult to think of new games/concepts that everyone is going to enjoy. They took on board the negativity that was seen in the Jackbox Party Pack 10 and acted on it by creating an entire new genre, but kept this game for the families/standard fans. Unfortunately their new genre was met with criticism, which I do not agree with since I think it was one of the best packs they have ever released. But even with that criticism at least they are trying things new. Releasing standalone games, releasing packs with new genres. They have identified the criticism and trying new ideas until they find what works. You learn from failures to find success, and that's exactly what they are doing. Keep it up Jackbox :)