That's You! Review: Immediate Friends and Family Only

First off, I want to give Sony some praise for trying with this game. Here are some of those praises. In the vein of Jackbox Party Packs you can grab your phone or table and connect to a game. There's a delightful backdrop for each area in the game and the style for each looks like a yet unreleased Wes Anderson film, so much so, that he should think about suing Sony. Friends of mine honestly wanted to visit the places showed on screen, buy products seen in the game and even purchase the backgrounds put on our phones based on the area of the game we were in. Actual game-play of choosing which friend would do what, fascinated us through multiple rounds. Taking pictures of ourselves and friends then being able to contort and make them look very weird, oh, just fun.

Y'know let's go over actual game play. That's You! is a recently released party game where you and up to five friends can play together answering questions about each other for PS4. It's part of a new PlayLink initiative that will see multiple games released on the PS4 that only require your phone or tablet as a controller. It's free with PS Plus this month, July 2017, but goes for $19.99. It requires you to download an app on your phone, doesn't matter if it's Android or an iPhone, and it becomes your controller. Then you and your friends can answer who would be the person more likely to do something of your group than the others. You do this buy choosing their photo from your phone and flicking it forward and seeing their  face put on screen of your game. The correct answer is always who the group most votes for to most likely to do something.

*You can multiply your points by sliding an extra Jester bottle cap with your answer. The more people that voted for your Jester equipped correct answer, the more points you get.

Wes Anderson called and it looks like the lawsuit could be feasible. The reason? The gorgeous backgrounds that chooses the question type. Randomly the game will jump you around ten different areas. You'll visit four areas in a four player match and seven in a 6 player match, the largest number the game can muster. So questions will be based about love if you end up in the French hotel. Questions will be about camping if you end up in a tent. All the while you be seeing Wes Anderson B-Roll.

Lighting Strikes

Who the Hell is Roscoe? A question I ask on the mind numbingly painful decision of host for the game. Oh, Roscoe isn't his name, it's his friends we keep hearing about for some unknown reason. Where the game loses praise and immediately deserves a swift kick in the arse instead is for the host. Better known as, "Shut up, you f*ck," by my friends and I.

Is the writing for him bad? Oh yeah. Like a train wreck you can't look away from, but with words. That's the faceless host of this game, who, if he did introduce himself, I don't remember his name, he sucks.

There's even an option for him to be turned off by going to Options and putting voice at 0. Which we did. But, guess what? It makes the game awkward. It's just dead silence when friends are choosing. So he has to stay there or it's just strange.

We beg Sony Europe to add a patch to the game and to just hire Jackbox's Cookie Masterston or even Striker from Burnout, because we hate the voice, we hate the voice so much.

Sony Europe made some other poor choices. Such as when playing online with a friend, only one person can play via their PS4 not a group at someone's house, like we tried. I invited a friend and found this out. The app has the option of adding questions and drawings you make to the game. The problem is it's only one question or drawing per game. Both of those problems don't exist in Jackbox Party Packs, which Sony Europe is more than likely trying to imitate.

I Don't Know You, Jack!

In possibly the biggest snafu for this game, kicking it to the a specialty area is that you have to know the people you're playing with. Somewhat intimately, I add. You see the questions asked are things you would know by having had talked or met the person. This is not a game for random people. This is a game for friends or and family...that have kept in touch. And that means everyone in the group. Not just two out of three.

We played a six player round over the weekend and two groups of friends of mine that haven't interacted that much made the game a slog, within the four player version the group enjoyed it a lot more, because we all knew each other quite well. 

The game only exists at that level; friends who know each other. Random people shouldn't play. Unlike all the models of the Jack Box Party Packs, this game has left itself in the friends only category.

So online is a bit questionable with people you may hardly know and if you're having a party with new people it in no way should be used. It's not a game where you start learning about them. You should already know! That's what the game thinks.

How this concept was allowed just blows my mind, pheww! After play-testing with random people, no one saw this problem?

This is where it hurts, I generally like parts of the game. The visuals, music, app interaction. And then you have friend only play, online for no reason and a painfully annoying host.

That's You! needed to be revised a long time before it came out to be some more inclusive to people trying to make new friends. If you want to spend a few games with some close friends and only close friends, do it. But only in person, in the same room and with no one new to the group. Maybe the the new person can be the host, because you might be wanting to turn the sound off on that turd of a voice after playing it once.

Sony Europe and Wish Studios you're on the right track, but so far this game seems like it should be part of some sort of a party pack and have better writing...hmmm what game series is like that. Not this one.

That's You!
for PS4 only $19.99