Despite the complex construction of the questions, a majority of them are well balanced, requiring only a moment's pause to discern their meaning and identify the proper answers. Here's an example of one of the multiple-choice questions: "Say the neighborhood boys are playing a variation of Cowboys and Indians. If one of the boys plays the part of Ratso Rizzo, what would be the best name of their game?" The answers (selected by the appropriate gamepad button) areas follows: "Urban Cowboys and Indians," "Midnight Cowboys and Indians," "Drugstore Cowboys and Indians," and "Dallas Cowboys and Indians." Finding the correct answer requires that you understand the dominant clue in the question: "Ratso Rizzo" (the Dustin Hoffman character in the famous movie Midnight Cowboy). A clever feature thrown in with the multiple-choice questions (once per player per game) for the sake of good-natured, mean-spirited competition is the "Screw Your Neighbor" option: if you think the question is particularly challenging, you can buzz in and then force one of your opponents to try to answer it.

Each correct answer is worth a certain amount of money, from $1,000 to $6,000, predetermined by the game's irreverent host. If you buzz in (or are screwed into answering) and mis-guess, you'll lose that dollar amount from your score. Speaking of the host, you'd think a smart alecky disembodied voice that teases you and sometimes belabors the conveyance of information that's of secondary or no importance to the game would annoy you after a while, but the fact is, thanks to the mostly witty writing by Jellyvision's Matthew B. Kelly and his staff and the sharp timing of Phil Ridarelli (the voice of Schmitty, the host), You Don't Know Jack: Mock 2 moves along at a nice clip, keeping you engaged all the while. There are occasions when Schmitty keeps talking after a question has already been answered, and you're just sitting there waiting patiently until the next question pops up, but because what Schmitty has to say is usually funny, cute, or interesting, those delays are tolerable.

Less-tolerable shortcomings include the absence of video or audio samples, a confusing category/sub-category system to each episode (a 15-questiongame is called an episode), and the lack of support for even one additional player. Considering the multimedia nature of the product, you'd expect the game to spice things up with pictures, videos, and songs, but no, you don't get those. All you get are words on the screen, and some basic fade-in/fade-out graphics. The category/sub-category system for each episode obstructs fluid gameplay rather than enhancing it. For instance, before each game, Schmitty randomly determines a main category (theme) for all the questions for that game, such as "Teen Angst" or "Toilet Humor." Then, each question in an episode has a more-specific theme (part of the lead-up in which Schmitty introduces the actual question). And then, you get the actual question. That's a lot of material to keep in mind when you're composing your frame of reference for each question. Add to that the part at the end of the Coinkydink questions when, for a bonus, you have to guess what all the clues during the Coinkydink round have in common, and you start to get a bit of a sense of information overload. Slightly less frustrating but still worth noting, because the game only supports up to three players, not four, it's not much of a party game: a couple who owns the game won't be able to play against both members of any other couple that they're currently entertaining.

Lastly, You Don't Know Jack: Mock 2 puts slow readers at a disadvantage. If you're playing against someone who can read faster than you, that person can buzz in and take a crack at answering the question before you've even finished reading it. Other trivia games have used a "legal buzz-in time" method, such as after the host has finished reading the question, which lets all players shoot from the same distance regardless of ability, so to speak. With a game such as this, in which all the questions are so much fun, it's a shame that some people will be left out from being able to put forth any kind of significant challenge.

Despite the relatively minor blemishes listed above, You Don't Know Jack: Mock 2 is another quality addition to Sierra's series. The game's greatest feat is that Schmitty comes off as 100% real and live, adding to the game's renowned gameshow effect. He responds to every answer you give, whether you're right or wrong; he offers up tutorial information for each type of question and responds in kind if you press a button and cut his instructions short; and he flows smoothly from narration to question-reading to joking without missing a beat. It would be nice if you could occasionally cut his commentary short by pressing a button (the way you can when he's giving the tutorial information for the question types), but the extra humor you're forced to sit through is usually only painful in a good way. Anyone looking for a peppy alternative to the staid standard of Jeopardy! and Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? would do well to pick up a copy of You Don't Know Jack: Mock 2 for the PlayStation.

Gameplay: 8.5.  
Each episode of You Don't Know Jack: Mock 2offers about twenty minutes' worth of absorbing entertainment. Give it another half a point if scatalogical humor happens to be up your, um, alley.

Graphics: 2.5.  
Only one step up from a pure text-based game, but that doesn't really get in the way of the fun. There's plenty of color, but some of the pastel background shapes clash with the words onscreen, occasionally reducing you to squinting (while your better-sighted opponents buzz-in for the lead).

Sound: 9. There are occasional glitches where two voice streams overlap. Otherwise, the audio is as perfect for a game like this as it could be: gameshow music, great voice work, funny sound effects.

Difficulty: 7.5.  
The game has a few counts against it here. Most of its shortcomings add up to make You Don't Know Jack: Mock 2 slightly more difficult than it should be in some places, and difficulty arising from oversights in development is counted as being artificial. Nevertheless, the questions in and of themselves are well balanced and challenging in a good way.

Concept: 8.  
Even though this is one of the latest products in a long-running series, You Don't Know Jack: Mock 2 still feels fresh and lively, especially compared to other trivia/gameshow games.

Multiplayer: 7.  
You'll have the most fun when playing You Don't Know Jack: Mock 2 with multiple players, but the game really should have supported four players, not just three.

Overall: 8.  
You really can't go wrong with this title. With force feedback support, the sultry sign-in/sign-out voice of announcer Kate Powers, and a bunch of random, zanily funny mock commercials during the credits sequence all thrown in for free, you'll definitely end up with more than you expected if you've never played a You Don't Know Jack game. Considering the subject matter of a good number of the questions, however, you might want to keep this one aside for more mature party guests and older children (it's rated T for Teen players and above).