Buzz! The Mega Quiz

The Ronseal of the gaming world.
Version
 PS2		Developer
SCE London Studio		Publisher
SCE		Genre
Quiz



By Ian Dransfield

Another day, another Buzz! game. Last we had the Sports Quiz, which was quite good, though it fell into the quiz game trap of question repetition quite quickly. Also I couldn't win at it, as I know nothing of any sport outside football. But this new one - MEGA as it is - returns to the realms of general knowledge, and adds the feature whereby the game saves data to avoid repeating questions too much. All good so far.

The developers have clearly learned from mistakes made in the past, and as a result Buzz! The Mega Quiz has turned out like a highly refined version of the Buzz standard. But what else did you expect? They weren't exactly going to ruin it, were they?

"The points system is where a nice addition comes into play - in Mega Quiz though, points add up to time in the last round."

As with the others in the series, Mega Quiz is a party game, made for the mass market and presented in a lavish, over the top and intentionally cheesy way by Rose and Buzz (who is still voiced by the irritant that is Jason Donovan). The game takes place over a number of rounds, shockingly enough just like a quiz show, and points are accrued. The points system is where a nice addition comes into play with the game though - in the past, 2000 point leads meant sure victory - in Mega Quiz though, points add up to time in the last round. The more points you have, the more time you get to compete in the final round. Extra time can be won for answering correctly the fastest in this round, and time can be lost if answering wrong. This simple change of format has made the game so, so much more balanced, and games can swing at any point - just because you're 12,000 in the lead doesn't mean you'll win, not if you flake in the final round.

P L E A S E   V I S I T   O U R   S P O N S O R :

I know through personal experience.

Aside from the main show mode, there are a number of secondary ways to play, including a marathon quiz mode that can be set up to 100 questions long, along with some other mild distractions. The game supports up to four players through the ever-present buzzers (three on mine, seeing as the freebies Sony sent had one broken one. Cheap bastards.) It's hard to see the game do anything but shine when there's a room full of people involved, and I have witnessed some of the harshest trash-talk in my life when playing at a recent party. Mental scars all round. Throw into this Donovan's sometimes-quite-amusing-jibes and it's a recipe for aggression all round. Fun for all the family!

"It's hard to be negative about the game in any major way - the game does exactly what it sets out to do and it does it well."

It's hard to be negative about the game in any major way - the game does exactly what it sets out to do and it does it well. The memory card usage to limit question repetition does seem to work quite well, though instead of exact questions being repeated there seemed to be a fair few mild variants on the same question. Err... Donovan is annoying, but we've gone over that. Hmm... It isn't good as a single player game, but if you're playing it in one player you're a numpty.

Basically, it's the Ronseal of the gaming world: does exactly what it says on the tin (box).

Buzz: The Mega Quiz is a great game for the party situations in the world - get four or more people in a room and see the arguments and taunting fly, then laugh as I win once again (general knowledge = forte). If this game is bought for any other reason than a distraction at parties and gatherings though, it isn't a great choice, but if you buy it for any other reason then there's a point you've missed somewhere along the line.











Graphics Sound Gameplay Depth Presentation OVERALL
6.5 7.0 9.0 6.0 7.5 8.0


THE VERDICT: The refined nature of the game is a positive step and makes the budget price well worth picking the title up if you're a previous Buzz game owner. Donovan's still a berk though.