Photos provided by Experios (Virtual Escape)
Company: Experios (Virtual Escape)
Game: Jack's Hangover
Country: Australia 🇦🇺
Language: English
Type of Game: Digital Escape Game 💻
Genre: Mystery
Date Played: 3/25/2021
Difficulty (based on 5 players): 7/10
Size of Team: 2-6 Players
Time: Unlimited (you have 30 days to play the game after purchase)
Price: $45.00/ Team
🆃🅷🅴 🆂🆃🅾🆁🆈
Jack woke up with a major headache. He can't remember anything from last night. Can you help him back track his whereabouts and still be able to catch that flight back home?
🆃🅷🅴 🅶🅰🅼🅴 🅿🅻🅰🆈
We created a video conference meetup with our group and started the game with the same game code. The count down clock started right away at the 60 minute mark. If you want to get on the leaderboard. you'll need to finish the game within the 60 minutes. Or, you can play the game at your own leisure and not worry about the timer at all.
The game mainly used still photos, written narratives and other website links that would open in pop up windows. Hints were build into the game but it came with a price. You'll need to wait 2 minutes for a new hint to generate and every time you use a hint, there'll be a 30 second penalty. If you still can't figure out the answer after the 3rd hint, the solution will be given after that.
Once we started the game, there were a lot of tabs that had to be opened up for various puzzles. We weren't sure if we had to close them or not and which was still needed for a future puzzle. It would be great if the game could be more clear on which tabs to keep. Moreover, one of our teammates accidentally closed one of the windows that he had to input answers on and wasn't able to get back into the game. The creator informed that he should be able to but it would be nice if the game could keep most of the interaction within the game's interface rather than having to open up multiple windows to avoid incidences like this.
🆃🅷🅴 🅿🆄🆉🆉🅻🅴🆂
The puzzles had a mixture of regular logic puzzles, Math, and outside knowledge. Some Googling was required. We totally missed this in the intro but it's definitely good to know as we were struggling with some puzzles not knowing if we could use Google or not. I do like how the puzzles were build into the storyline. One minute you were on the Vegas strip trying to figure out which bar Jack went to last minute and seconds later, you were in the bar looking at the menu trying to figure out which drink he ordered. The graphics were fun and colorful. Make sure you are aware of which photos are mainly for the narratives and which are clues for the puzzle. It was a bit confusing to us by the end of the game since we didn't have to use some of them.
🅲🅻🅾🆂🅸🅽🅶 🆃🅷🅾🆄🅶🅷🆃🆂
When we played Experios' other games Time's Ticking and Ben's Big Heist, it required the use of Whatsapp. This game was a big improvement from that as it integrated everything to online. It also ran pretty smoothly without a GM as the hint system was pretty clear for the player's to guide themselves through the game. The pop up window thing is definitely something that is a personal pet peeve of mine. Some of our other players weren't as annoyed as I was with them. The great thing about this game was that it really did allow us to work together as a team. Some of our players were great at Google maps and others were really quick at the Math puzzle. We each had a moment to shine and that's why we ended up finishing in third place on the leaderboard. Huzzah!
𝔼𝕊ℂ𝔸ℙ𝔼𝕋ℍ𝔼ℝ𝕆𝕆𝕄𝕖𝕣𝕤 ℙ𝕒𝕥𝕣𝕠𝕟❜𝕤 𝕋𝕙𝕠𝕦𝕘𝕙𝕥𝕤
RJ G.
Pros Large images allowed for careful examination of the details Concise story helped the puzzles to stand out
Cons
None
This escape game was a great time for our group. Most of the puzzles were exactly the kind of challenge I find interesting and enjoyable to solve. The game told its story only through small bits of text introducing each puzzle. This made the experience almost entirely a puzzle solving affair, which was fine by me. I would recommend this game for experienced players who care more about solving puzzles than the story or art content of a game.
Jacqueline G.
This was a solid puzzle experience. The only thing is the incorrect verbiage that was used in the Math puzzle which earned us the 1 wrong on the leaderboard (update 4/6/21: the owner did inform us that this has already been fixed). I actually like the time penalty added when getting an answer wrong or getting a clue, especially if the clues are helpful (we didn't use any so I cannot report on this). There was one puzzle that had many ways to solve and was quite difficult even when we realized what it was. I like rooms that force me to use my brain in different ways. Overall I think the game was both user friendly and fun while still challenging.
Mike S.
Jack’s Hangover is an online puzzle game that follows the adventures of Jack trying to reconstruct his last night in Vegas after a night of partying. If this plot sounds familiar, it is almost an exact replica of the popular movie franchise, it has its own unique story beats though and holds up on its own when trying to solve puzzles in the day after.
The user experience is intuitive and simple to use and understand. Most of the pages, the participants will read some text and everything that is needed for the puzzle starts on that initial screen. The game also explicitly tells players what they are looking for in a final solution. Each page you will have a couple tabs open at the same time and although it is not required, having two monitors will greatly help solve puzzles faster.
Looking at the puzzle quality in this experience, the players will be able to tell that thought and care went into making a variety of puzzles that connect in the story Jack’s Hangover is trying to tell. Players will NEED to use every resource available to them to solve the puzzles, this means using external resources for information that is not given. All of the information that would be needed is placed in hints and made clear in the text boxes in each puzzle page, players should not have an issue when finding information (assuming players are correctly solving each puzzle). There are a multitude of different types of digital puzzles in this experience and all use the platform to their full advantage.
If players are looking for a puzzle evening with friends that include pop culture references, easy to use software, and creative puzzle design, this might be an experience for you. Each step in the story is well thought out and logical. Recovering from a hangover has never been easier.
(If you do decide to try this game, please remember to let them know that you heard it from"ESCAPETHEROOMers"!)
Disclosure: We thank Experios (Virtual Escape) for comping our tickets for this game. Although a complimentary experience was generously provided, it does not impact our opinion on the review whatsoever.
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