You Don't Know Jack is not your average game. There are no 'characters,' no 'levels,' not even a 'board.' That's because You Don't Know Jack is not an adventure game, a strategy game, or even a board game. It's essentially a TV game show, produced in your house with you (and up to two friends) as the contestants. Because of this, the screen wouldn't really have to have much more than the screens that show the 'questions' in an actual game show on TV. You Don't Know Jack capitalizes on this incredibly low standard requirement by far exceeding it. Each question is introduced with an animated intro for that question's number. In fact, there are actually a few different animations for each number. Your player number is also animated, when you get a question correct - and another when you get it wrong. The music is funky game show music, and there are even 'commercials' between games. These are hilarious parodies, which alone are worth the price of admission. The best part is the 'host' - an unseen person, who comments throughout the entire game. He asks the questions, reads the answers, and then makes hilarious and irreverent quips when you answer (and when you don't).

This game is THE perfect, irreverent party game for the PlayStation. You HAVE to think (fast) to get anywhere. The questions are so incredibly off the wall, not only in topic, but in presentation, that you first have to figure out what the question is really asking. Then you have to try to figure out what you think the answer is. You Don't Know Jack mixes trivia, reflexes, pop culture, word association, and a (okay, big) touch of bathroom humor to make a game that is almost as much fun to watch as it is to play. You 'buzz-in' with your shoulder buttons, then choose your answer with action buttons. If there's a question you think one of the other players doesn't know, you can buzz in and hit 'SELECT' to 'screw' that player. This forces them to answer the question. Be warned, though, if they do know the answer, or even guess it right, then you're 'screwed' - you lose the value of that question, and the other player gains that amount. And so it goes...

The hardest part of You Don't Know Jack is trying to 'wrap your head around' the questions, as the game puts it. The questions are incredibly 'way out there.' They're not always about obscure topics, but the way that the questions are asked (and the way the answers are written) requires you to understand associations between things that might not normally be considered to have any. And you have to be quicker on the draw than anyone you're playing against.

You Don't Know Jack takes an idea for a game that requires very little, mechanically speaking, and then puts a great deal of work into presentation. In this case, the results are astounding. Add to this the fact that You Don't Know Jack has two discs worth of brain-bending questions. No PlayStation gamer that has friends or family members should be without it. You Don't Know Jack is a must have. Period.