Buzz The Hollywood Quiz
Review of Buzz The Hollywood Quiz
Most have, at one point or another, watched a game show and said to themselves "I could do better than them" as they got an easy question wrong. While most may never get the chance to get on a real game show PlayStation 2 owners can get a bit of the feeling with BUZZ! The Hollywood Quiz, recently released in North America.
One of the unique bits about this game is the custom controller- along with the game you also get a USB controller (good for up to 4 players) that consists of a big red button (used to buzz in) and 4 colored buttons for choosing answers. The game is also available on its own for those that already have a set from previous BUZZ! games. Up to 8 players are able to play at once, however, so it might be an idea to get that extra set.
As always, your host for the proceeding is Buzz, looking very dapper in his tux. Of course, no game show is complete without the attractive female co-host- returning once again for another season is Rose. She will fill you in on details about the round as well as guide you through the selection process when starting the game.
Players have a choice of Single Player, 2-4 Player and 5-8 player along with two difficulty levels, "Standard Game" and "Film Fanatic". As one might expect, Fanatic will push your knowledge of the Hollywood scene- still, you may surprise yourself with how much you know. Once you choose a game length (Full Game, Points Game for a slightly shorter play or Quick Game) it's time to choose your on screen persona.
There are a variety of goofy characters to choose from- no doubt you will find a favorite or two amongst them. Several variations of their outfits are there too, just in case two or more use the same person. You can also select a custom buzzer noise- some are very, well, "interesting".
Single player consists of two rounds: "Time Builder" which banks you time to answer questions in the final round, and "The Hot Seat". In The Hot Seat you build up points with every correct answer- miss a question, however, and you lose those points! So, it's advised to bank the points after a small buildup. While fun for a short time, I found single player to get a bit boring rather quickly. Multiplayer is where it is at.
The regular multiplayer game has a number of rounds to play: "Hollywood Stars", which lets players pick a topic and answer questions on that; "Fastest Finger", which nets you more points for quick buzzing; "Fact or Fiction", where you must decide if the statement given is true or completely made up; "Top Rank", which has you arranging answers in their rank from top to bottom (similar to the fastest Finger question in the original US Who Wants to be a Millionaire); "Pie Fight", which lets players hit opponents with pies when answered correctly- get hit too many times and you are out of the round; "Rollover", players choose categories starting from the last placed contestant upwards. If you answer wrong the points go into a pool waiting to be collected by the next player to answer correctly; "Point Stealer", allowing players to steal points from opponents with correct answers; and finally, "The Final Countdown", points are converted into time bars- answer questions to stop the bar from ticking down for a bit but wrong answers will lose you even more time. When the bar runs out, you are out. The last person remaining with time is declared the winner!
Several other multiplayer modes are available-"Team Play", which divides players into teams with players taking turns answering questions. Answer wrong and you lose a "life"- three wrong answers knocks out the team. "Custom Game" lets you choose the rounds you would prefer to play and "Quickfire" lets you choose from 10 to 100 questions- most correct answers determines the winner.
Of course, even Buzz needs a break once in a while. To that end, there is also a Quizmaster mode, which lets a player act as host. The Quizmaster uses the regular PS2 controller to indicate correct/ wrong answers, move on to the next question and end the quiz. It is recommended that players prepare questions beforehand as you will be reading off your own questions and not using the ones built into the game. Contestants still set themselves up as usual with character, costume and podium placement.
Graphically, the game looks good but doesn't push the PS2 by any means. Character animations are smooth, if a bit limited. The music is the typical game show- esque high tempo instrumental, nothing overly memorable that will stick in your head (which can be a good thing). Voices of Buzz and Rose are done well and fit perfectly.
One last thing I almost forgot to mention is EyeToy support. If you have the EyeToy camera hooked up to your PS2 you may find a snapshot or two of yourself on the big screen when missing an answer- a nice little touch which can also make for a few laughs.
OUR PLEDGE: We promise that we have fully played 'Buzz The Hollywood Quiz' before writing this review. The scores given above are our honest opinion and were not influenced in any way by the manufacturer or distributor of the game.
This review was written by Lyndon M STAFF © Absolute PlayStation
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