Buzz Master Quiz ^{(Sony PSP)}

Genre: Trivia Publisher: Relentless Software Developer: Relic Players: 1-6

By Scott N (31st Aug 2008)

Are you really smart but all of your mates think you're dumb? They may be right, but here's your chance to show them you know more than they think.

I don’t know about the rest of you out there in internet land, but I am a trivia personified. I am that annoying arrogant ‘know-it-all’ who chimes into random conversations because they got some insignificant fact wrong. Knowing that, you all certainly shouldn’t be surprised when I tell you that I was really hanging out for Buzz to be released on the PSP, and had already touted it (in my mind) as the game of the year. So the question is, does it rock in all senses of the word or is it a pile or rubbish barely worth the packaging? And who was King Henry the Eighths third wife? Stay tuned to find out.

The Buzz franchise has been around for a few years now, and is generally played as a multiplayer (up to 4) party style game.....basically an electronic Trivial Pursuit with a game show twist. Your host is Buzz, a Roger Ramjet-esque looking character with a loopy condescending tone that you would usually associate with game show hosts (funny that). Although a bit on the cheesy side, which I have no doubt was intentional, he isn’t quite as annoying as you first think he would be. Buzz guides you through a number of quiz segments ranging from standard beat the clock, through to picture based rounds and order based scenarios. All questions are multiple choice, but the clock is always your enemy. The longer you take, the lower the score you receive if you are correct.

In the past, the basis of Buzz games has been their appropriateness for group/party situations. Basically sitting down with a group of mates and prove that you have a superior intellect and rub it in for the rest of the night. As expected this is a little different with the PSP version. The single player mode, in my opinion, will be the most used mode by a large majority of users, mainly because of the single player nature of the PSP. However there are the Wi-Fi link and multiplayer options. The Wi-Fi version is quite ok, assuming you have a decent connection of course. The multiplayer option, however, is a bit ordinary. Given that there is no possibility of extra controllers it is a case of pass the parcel. This may be ok for some of you, but personally I think sitting with a few mates passing a PSP from one to another for a trivia game is a little sad. I suppose it doesn’t really detract from the other options, so isn’t the biggest deal, just a little silly from my angle.

Now for the nitty-gritty. I was a disappointed in general. Firstly, on a personal level, all of the rounds were time based and I prefer to take my time with my trivia. So the ‘rushed’ feel that the game portrays wasn’t quite for me, but it is based on a TV Quiz Show format where time is a factor, so it is running true to form. There wasn’t a great deal of variety in the rounds. Six different types in all that do get a bit on the boring side. There is a large bank of questions (3000), and I only saw one question twice in the time that I played, which was over quite a number of hours.

The single player mode is very short - I finished it within about 90 minutes, and that was with a number of snack breaks! So I really don’t see a lot of longevity on the game except fore those, like myself, who just like answering random question about stuff that no one gives two shakes about. There is one round that is more observation rather than quiz. In short you start with a picture, broken down into chunky pixels. It then slowly becomes clearer and you have to pick the right answer when you recognise the image. This round really sucks, so don’t get your hopes up! The image really isn’t clear until the very end, and by that point you barely have time to click the right answer.

The visuals are pretty good (aside from the previously mentioned pixel round). The characters are fun and comical, along with the host, and the menu’s amd interface are both pretty slick and serviceable. Animation wouldn’t have been overly difficult with this one as there really isn’t too many ‘moving parts’.

The audio is spot on the money. As mentioned earlier the host Buzz is over the top, which is very suited to the style of game. The voiceover and questionnaire voice is also very clear and concise, making it easy to hear the questions. Music-wise it is as expected, very game showy! Overall, criteria in the sound category was very good.

Was the game difficult? Well, I guess that really depends on where you rate on the old general knowledge scale, the highest being complete genius (or myself) and the lowest being IQ of a three month old carton of milk. Some of the questions were a little on the obscure side, unless you live in the UK, with a number of musical questions being names unheard of in other countries. It is a little silly to have questions like that in an international release, but I suppose when you are formulating 3000 questions you do have to throw in a couple of crooky’s to make up the numbers!

So, worth the money or better left on the shelf? Probably closer to the latter in my opinion. The game is fine for trivia buffs as long as the time limit doesn’t get your goat too often, but for general gamers there isn’t really much scope for longevity. It really left me with the feeling that there should be more to it, or at least some form of option where you can just answer questions without playing the whole ‘game show’ format. It may have also have been more interesting if there were computer generated opponents for the single player mode, instead of just the high score/medal style of play. Overall a bit of a let down - feel free to give it a crack if you have more money than sense though! Oh, and who was the third of King Henry the Eighth's wives? Beats me, I always get that one wrong!