Sony has had better luck in other markets than they have in North America with their more casual titles (Singstar and Buzz!), but certainly not for lack of trying. The past few years have seen a wealth of titles released under Sony’s karaoke and trivia quiz game brands, both making their debuts with pack-in peripherals on the PlayStation 2, and both have made terrific transitions onto the PlayStation 3. With the recent release of Relentless Software’s Buzz! Quiz World, what better time to take a look back on last years Buzz! Quiz TV for the PS3.
The game plops its players into a mock television game show hosted by Britastic Muppet-wannabe, Buzz. He makes snide remarks when contestants answer questions incorrectly and seems surprised when they get them right. More than 5,000 questions on the disc cover a lot of general knowledge ground; everything from Fashion to History, Music and Movies to Food & Drink.
If those base questions do little to satiate, gamers can download Quiz Packs (most containing 500 additional questions) from the PSN Store for $4.99 – $7.99. Relentless goes even further by adding the ability for EVERYONE (not just Buzz! gamers) to create their own quizzes on MyBuzzQuiz.com (creating 20 nets the player that links their PSN account to the site a Silver Trophy), and share them with strangers or keep them all to themselves.
Gamers get four of them there Buzzers (left).
Players can choose to play two-round matches all by their lonesome, but that is not how this game is meant to be enjoyed. Relentless knows that, so even if a Quizee hasn’t a friend around to battle brains with, said Quizee can hop online and play three-round Sofa Versus Sofa matches against faraway friends or perfect strangers.
The true heart of the game is its local multiplayer, which pits four contestants against each other. Each player grabs hold of one of the four included wireless Buzzers, selects a character, costume, in-game buzzer noise and name, and a pretty heated six round match ensues. The player with the least acquired points after each round gets to choose the next category in hopes of regaining lost ground. As with all TV gameshows, the player with the most money (or points in this case) at the end of the game wins. As a bonus to PlayStation 3 Buzz! gamers that also own the PlayStation Eye, the game will take between round photos to document the insanity. Players can then share the photos with their PSN Friends or the world at large by uploading them to MyBuzzQuiz.com.
This is what a winner looks like, duh!
The one area Buzz! Quiz TV falls short is in its stats handling. Which is to say that it does not handle stats at all. Players can see someone else’s Sofa v. Sofa win/loss record and that’s about it, and that stinks. Gamers can play with the same group of friends all the time and never have more than a rough idea of who the Buzz! Quiz TV champion really is unless they keep track themselves.
Small quibbles noted above aside, Buzz! Quiz TV is a super solid package that, now that Buzz! Quiz World is out, can probably be found on the cheap to whet quiz loving gamers’ trivia chops, and it couldn’t come more recommended.
