Buzz! The Mega Quiz

Buzz! The Mega Quiz. Can a Trivia game be worth it?

http://www.us.playstation.com/Buzz

buzzlogoWith the Playstation 2 packing its bags and making way for the PS3, you wouldn’t expect to find much left on the console. Fortunately, there are still a few decent games appearing on this aging console. Buzz! The Mega Quiz is a great example of this.
NOTE: The game DOES WORK on the PS3 and fairly well.

Below are both Keen and Graev’s thoughts on Buzz! The Mega Quiz and our individual scores for the game.

Graev’s Review

hostessEverybody loves a good round of trivia. Buzz! TMQ offers you the opportunity to compete with 2-8 of your friends in several rounds of various trivia. The game features different round themes such as “fastest finger” and “arrange the answers.” There are also quite a few questions. If I’m not mistaken, there are around 5,000 or so across different categories. I highly doubt you’ll see a question repeat that often.

I’ve always enjoyed playing board games with my family once or twice a week, and Buzz! TMQ is just the kind of thing that is a welcome addition to our game library. It’s quite easy to get into a game and play with people who haven’t had much experience with console gaming. The four controllers that come packed with the game feature 4 colored buttons and one large Buzz button. Answering the questions is as easy as pressing the corresponding button. It’s nice that they pack them in, too. Too often have we seen games include maybe one or two of these specific controllers and make you purchase additional ones.

The graphics on the game are a fairly decent cartoony style that gets the job done. There’s not much need for exceptional visuals in a trivia game, but they manage to be entertaining nonetheless. The game actually does a great job at being entertaining. Between questions you get to hear your token British judge insulting the people in last place and witness your cartoonish avatar either cheer in triumph or groan in defeat. Speaking of characters, there are actually quite a few choices for you to pick from. Among these are mimes, old ladies, cheerleaders, large opera women, super heroes, and even Napoleon makes an appearance. Along with choosing a character you may choose from a couple of their outfits and even pick your own crazy buzzer noise, such as a hacking cough or a trailing yodel.

With so many questions and adjustable game options, this game could last you quite a long time. Assuming that you have people to play with, that is. You CAN play by yourself, but what fun is that in a party game like this? So wrapping things up, I believe I could recommend this game to people who love multiplayer trivia games. For only $40 you get the game (featuring thousands of questions) and four controllers. You can’t really beat that.
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Keen’s Review

Buzz! The Mega Quiz is not your normal console game. It’s a ‘social game’ based completely around trivia. When you think of games on the Playstation 2 you are probably thinking to yourself that they are old, outdated since they’re no longer “next gen” and generally not worth your time. I’ll be the first to admit that I usually think this way too. However, I was pleasantly surprised when I sat down for the first time with my family to play Buzz! TMQ. Bundled with four buzzers and the game itself you really can’t beat the price for $39.99 (at the time of this review). The buzzers are all nicely wired together into one USB cable – I know what you’re thinking, “Is it long enough?” – and the answer is yes. The cables are all long enough and the buzzers are durable little things capable of withstanding some abuse from the younger crowds. As noted above the game works on your Playstation 3 which is absolutely huge these days. Who wants to have multiple consoles laying around? Kudos to whoever made this compatibility.

Last night the family gathered around in our game room and opened Buzz! for the first time. Taking no more than a few minutes to set up, gather around, and get in place the game already gets a plus for ease of use. Those with young ones will appreciate this. Once in place the game starts up and continues to be user friendly. You’re given basic options that can all be worked with the buzzer (they’re color coded). Choosing your gameplay mode (Multiplayer, Single, Team, Quickfire, Quiz Master, etc) and setting up a game takes at most a minute when you know what you’re doing. Once everyone picks their character and sets their initials the game begins. Most trivia games I’ve played are boring and dull because they throw questions at you without any soul behind them. When playing a game of Buzz! the host of the game (a little fellow in a red coat) offers witty and responsive feedback to the players of the game based on how they answered the questions. I believe Graev was ridiculed by the host for being slow – heh heh. Each character also responds based on how well, or poorly, you do in the game.

In a standard game (my favorite) there are several different rounds with an assortment of questions posed. On normal difficulty the questions really fit a nice range from TV and sports to animals and world travel. I found myself knowing probably only half of them. My favorite round of questioning though had to be the world map that allowed the person who answered each question first and correctly to choose where the plane will fly next (thus offering some form of advantage). The last round of a standard normal game pits all the players against themselves and each other in a point draining battle. You have to answer questions in this round quickly or else your points drain. If you get a question wrong you lose an enormous amount of points in your pool and if you get it right first you gain an equally enormous amount. Definitely the most stressful of the rounds.

Overall Buzz! The Mega Quiz is a game designed for a group of people to play. You won’t find much enjoyment alone so don’t be hasty. Buzz! really comes into its own when played at parties, family nights, or in a household/dorm where there are constantly people wanting to have quick and harmless fun. The game is rated E for everyone 10+ but even on easy mode some of the questions could be confusing and thus frustrating for the kids (Buzz! Jr may be worth looking in to for the young ones). However, if played correctly I don’t see why this game can’t appeal to children and adults of all ages and fill any void of time that a family has to play together. When playing forget about the competition. Laugh yourself to tears at what the announcer says and just have fun with it.

Keen’s Score (4/5):

keen buzz rating

Graev’s Score (3.5/5):

graev buzz rating