Release: Jul 4 2008
Developer: Relentless
Publisher: Sony
Genre: Party Games
Perhaps the biggest challenge that faces game developers and publishers in today’s marketplace is to find the right formula to create a game that can appeal to a wide range of potential players. Trivia games tend to carry a sizable amount of appeal for many people; these games are easy to learn to use and very accessible for almost anyone and can bring out the competitive edge in any video game fan. Although we’ve already seen one trivia game (Jeopardy! via PSN) for the PlayStation 3, BUZZ! Quiz TV is really the first fully-featured trivia game for the platform.
The big question behind all of the questions (and answers) that BUZZ! Quiz TV offers: Is it worth a $60 investment and a spot in your collection?
The answer is a resounding yes; in fact, BUZZ! Quiz TV is the most accessible and fun-to-play quiz game to come out since the heyday of You Don’t Know Jack!, which is still hailed by many gamers to be arguably the best trivia video game around. While there are admittedly a few flaws that keep BUZZ! from receiving the highest marks, these flaws are generally overcome by other features within the game that are very strong.
Before getting into the actual game itself, it’s worth mentioning the new buzzers that are packed in with BUZZ! Quiz TV. Each buzzer sports one big red BUZZ! button and four colored smaller buttons that are used to navigate menus and answer questions. These buzzers have one major improvement over the buzzers that were included in the previous iterations of BUZZ! for the PlayStation 2: they are wireless. While the buzzer layout is the same as before, the lack of wires makes the buzzers far easier to store and easier to use during gameplay. There’s no delay in response time for these controllers, either, which is important during several of the different rounds of play in solo and multiplayer modes. Be aware that each buzzer needs 2 AA batteries. A USB dongle plugs into the PlayStation 3 to receive the wireless signals from the buzzers, and the reception range is quite good.
In order to break down BUZZ! Quiz TV, there are three areas of focus that the game includes: the single-player mode, the local multiplayer mode, and online play. The single-player mode, as mentioned in the previously posted in a previously posted feature that offered initial impressions of this game, consists of three rounds with six questions apiece. The objective is to quickly press the button on your buzzer that corresponds to the colored box in which the correct answer appears. A countdown clock gradually deducts points, so you have to be quick and accurate in order to nail down the highest scores. Online leaderboards will challenge you and the allure of Trophies will drive you to keep playing solo games for quite some time.
Multiplayer games are where BUZZ! Quiz TV really shines. Unlike solo games, which pit players solely against the clock, multiplayer games have consist of several different types of rounds. Local multiplayer games first ease participants in with a Point Builder round, which is all about accuracy. It doesn’t matter who answers first, but points are only awarded for correct answers. After that introduction, the Short Fuse round plays like Hot Potato; a bomb is tossed between players and the only way to rid yourself of the bomb is to answer a question correctly. The player who has possession of the bomb when it goes off loses points (and wears gunpowder burns for the duration of the round), and the sequence begins again. Next up is the Fastest Finger round, which awards points to all players who answer correctly, but awards more points to the player who answers correctly first. Pie Fight is next; it plays like Fastest Finger, but the player who buzzes in and answers correctly first gets to throw a pie at another player; two pie hits by a player knocks him (or her) out of the round and costs that player 1,000 points. The Point Stealer round is another fast finger kind of setup, but the reward for the fastest finger here is to steal points away from another player; this round is also different from the others in that all of the questions are multimedia questions as players must buzz when the correct picture displays on the video wall. High Stakes is similar to Jeopardy! in that players can wager a set amount of points based on the subject of the question. The final round, called The Final Countdown, boosts players on pedestals that rise higher based on how many points were accumulated as of the end of the previous round. Questions are then asked in rapid-fire succession as each player’s pedestal gradually descends towards the stage floor. Correct answers stop the descent and the fastest player can regain some height. The last player in the air wins the game.
These multiplayer games in BUZZ! Quiz TV offer a much more varied experience than the single-player game does. There’s a lot more in the way of multimedia support in multiplayer mode, as still pictures and movie clips roll on the video wall in the background as the questions are asked. The big similarity between the single-player and multiplayer modes is the need to be quick on your buzzer in order to succeed. While it is possible for a last-place player to turn things around during The Final Countdown and come back to win a game, it’s only going to be possible if that trailing player is quick on the buttons. Unfortunately, this may lend an edge to quicker players in the long run and may frustrate those who always seem to be just tenths of one second behind.
BUZZ! Quiz TV has some impressive online components that really extend the replay value of the base game. Online multiplayer is a huge asset, especially when you’ve alienated everyone else in your house after beating them repeatedly. There could be hundreds or thousands of potential opponents out there just waiting to test their skills against you. The BUZZ! servers also host online leaderboards, which track high scores from solo play as well as multiplayer win records. (Reviewer’s note: If you’re really fast, try shooting for my high score of 5.226 points out of a possible 5,400!)
Our very own Peter @ #1
Online multiplayer and leaderboards are great, but BUZZ! Quiz TV‘s greatest online asset lies in the ability to access hundreds of custom quizzes via the MyBUZZ! connection. The MyBUZZ! website has been open for a while now and users have been busy creating their own quizzes, which can all be used in solo and multiplayer games. Although a few of the quizzes may not be up to the same level of quality as the questions on the disc are, it’s still an awesome bonus to have so much extra content at your disposal in the BUZZ! universe. It’s quite possible to play this game for several hours each day for weeks and still not experience all of the questions that may be out there. Combine this with upcoming add-on question packs from Sony in the coming days and weeks, and you’ve got a quiz game with remarkable staying power.
Adding to the replay value for this game is Trophy support. 25 Trophies are waiting to be unlocked, including one Platinum Trophy. Trophy conditions range from playing a set number of games to answering questions quickly to creating a certain number of quizzes by going to the MyBUZZ! website. Although Trophy support is beginning to increase, we’re still seeing it by way of patches after release… so it’s always nice to have a game include Trophies from the get-go. What’s more, the Trophy requisites for BUZZ! Quiz TV are quite reasonable. You likely won’t unlock them all in a day, but there’s nothing impossible here, either; it’s a fair system.
As far as the visuals go, BUZZ! Quiz TV looks sharp. The quiz show set is just like one that you’d likely see on television, with lots of blinking lights, a video wall, and a decent crowd. As mentioned above, still pictures and movie clips will occasionally show on the video wall; the clarity of these items is quite impressive. The assortment of character models for the contestants is varied and they all look great, ranging from pop stars to female spies to cheerleaders and more. Each character also has several costume options. The quiz show host, Buzz, and all of the characters have occasionally funny animations and each character has his (or her) own humorous victory celebration that takes place with Buzz after each multiplayer game. The only real complaints here are more nitpicks than anything else; the frame rate is locked at 30 frames per second, despite no real continuous action on-screen, and the in-game character animations are arguably too few in number.
The sound in this game is effective and gets the job done. All of the questions that are included on the disc are read aloud by Greg the announcer, and Buzz does a lot of talking himself as he describes each round of play and makes occasionally caustic (and funny) observations about the players. After a few plays, you will notice some repetition in what Buzz has to say, but it’s still possible to hear new lines of dialog from the quizmaster at any time. The music in the game is purposefully upbeat, as it tries to emulate the game show theme style. It’s not catchy by any means, but it’s not annoying, either.
If you’ve a trivia fan, you’re probably already on your way to grab BUZZ! Quiz TV, and that’s an excellent move. The important thing to note here is that this game is not only fun for people with ridiculous amounts of useless knowledge, but it’s also fun for a family game night or maybe for a fun competition with a date or significant other. More hardcore players will get enjoyment out of the online competition and leaderboards here, while more laid back players will likely just enjoy a game that requires less of an emphasis on complex controls and more of an emphasis on just having fun and maybe even learning a thing or two. Hardcore or casual, male or female, adult or child… BUZZ! Quiz TV has something for everyone and can be played by anyone.
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