Drawful 2 Review

​Two Times the Colors, Two Times the Fun
By Edwin Velez
Reviewed on Xbox One
Released on June 21st for Xbox One, PS4, Steam and Mac.
Developer: Jackbox Games, Inc. Publisher: Jackbox Games, Inc.

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​Jackbox Games has been pumping out party-centric hit after hit on the current generation of consoles. All controlled with your phone, these lively games make any get together even better. From standalone titles like Fibbage and Quiplash, to the collective Jackbox Party Packs, there is no shortage on variety in their offerings. Drawful 2 is a follow up to the original Drawful, which is featured in the first Party Pack. This standalone title capitalizes on all the great things about the original while adding some slight changes that give it the edge. This title will also not be featured in the upcoming Jackbox Party Pack 3, so any fear of buying the same product twice is off the table unlike in previous packs. If you have friends and those friends like to get together at your place, Drawful 2 is yet again another safe bet for a good time as their titles have been over and over again.

Due to the brevity of the game, this review may not quite be as long as others, but I will certainly try to get my point across all the same. Drawful 2 is essentially a casually competitive doodle fest in the best way. With a group of three or more, players will log on to Jackbox.tv with their cellphone, tablet, or other mobile device which will then link them to the game with that device being their controller. After punching in unique usernames and drawing your own avatar, the real fun begins. Across two rounds, players will draw their own unique pieces of art that correspond to a prompt given to them and only them. After everyone’s drawings are in, it becomes a wild guessing game. Once a drawing goes up on screen, every player but the artist will put in an answer that seems like it could be right, which will then go into the answer pool. Much like Fibbage before it, you have to think creatively to score the big points. The true prompt will lie among the user created guesses, and if yours is picked, you snag points. Picking the correct answer will also net you points.
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Some of the prompts are straight up impossible to draw, so creativity is a plus in this matter. Thankfully this time around you get a whopping two colors to work with, where as in the predecessor you only got one. This makes it much easier to distinguish details between objects on a canvas. At the end of the two rounds, a winner is picked, and you can easily start anew at the touch of a button. As always, a runner-up of sorts is chosen too by way of the most “likes” earned on answers in a game. A new feature that is a stand out is the option to take a look at your gallery at the end of the game, and even tweet out a gif of the drawing being made. It is a great way to share your experiences with your friends, and possibly get them to join your audience the next time around. The final new feature is a doozy. You can actually create your own prompts and prompt packs, allowing for theoretically endless play. As long as your friends can get creative, this is a worthy edition to the title.

Check out this drawing of "Sexy singles in your area" from #Drawful2 https://t.co/yUZt5kqN4A pic.twitter.com/T9nGn4fhqn

— Dynamic Review-o Duo (@Player2Reviews) July 2, 2016

As with other Jackbox titles, the only downfall is that you may not have enough people around to keep the game going. Drawful 2, like others before it, is ultimately better when the crowd is bigger. It makes for a more engaging and hysterical event. Jackbox.tv is still running smooth, aside from the refresh issues (dropping the player from a round when the phone times out) still being a pain to deal with. Even though there are some literal head-scratch inducing prompts, many of them are great to see play out and make for a hilarious time. The uglier a drawing, the more laughs it draws it seems. If Jackbox could send me a bundle of styluses, that would be fantastic, but in the meantime I will continue to enjoy yet another great entry in their consistently good line-up of party-friendly games.

*Note: A copy of the game was provided for the purposes of the review

Final Score: 8/10

​+2 Colors
+Create Original Prompts
+Party Friendly

​-Less fun with less people

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