Buzz!: The Mega Quiz

9.4
Excellent

Gameplay	10	"One of the most refined and enjoyable party games ever."
Graphics	8.5
Sound	10
Value	9.5

By Liam O'Connor

The videogame industry loves rehashes. It’s nothing new. Slap in a few new moves, recolour a few stages, add a Turbo to your name and viola: a new game to sell at full price. Indeed, in recent years the SingStar series has demonstrated that one can simply recolour the menu and chuck in some new songs and that’s perfectly acceptable – and will sell millions.

So one would expect the PlayStation 2’s other flagship “non-game” title to follow a similar path, right? I mean, surely one would expect Buzz: The Mega Quiz to simply be a rehash of Buzz: The Big Quiz, except with a whole bunch of different questions, right?

And to be honest, on some level, that would probably be acceptable. It’d probably sell well – Lord knows, The Big Quiz wasn’t as large as the name insinuated and we need something fresh – and everyone would be happy for some more cheap, for-everyone fun. In this hypothetical world, I’d probably play it with friends, have a blast, and give it score around the high sevens.

Fortunately, and surprisingly, that isn’t the case. Relentless Software has not rested on its laurels, and has overhauled the Buzz experience to bring one of the most refined and enjoyable party games ever. Single player is still totally worthless, but that’s understandable – this isn’t a game for Johnny No-Mates.

The first thing that strikes you about the real game is that you are now offered a range of difficulties and a range of game lengths. It was somewhat frustrating that The Big Quiz had set lengths and didn’t allow for users to pick how long the game should be, and it’s pleasing to see that this has been rectified for The Mega Quiz.

The second thing that strikes you is that rather than the plain old point-builder mode that we have come to expect, there is a new mode that makes players take turns in choosing categories. For example, Player One might choose music – and Buzz recommends that if you are going to choose it, you should actually listen to some once in a while – and Player Two might choose sports. This creates a more balanced game, as everyone gets a chance to try and play to their strengths while trying to capitalise on the weakness of players. Hint: If you want to beat me at the start, choose sports.

The renovations do not stop there, either. While old favourites like Fastest Finger return – and Assassin has been given a rather family-friendly and admittedly hilarious makeover to Pie Thrower – there are a whole range of new modes such as Globe Trotter, which sees players travelling around a globe asking country specific questions. The game even mixes it up a bit by having a Mystery Round, where Buzz allocates a random task from his collection of minigames. The end result leaves the whole experience feeling fresh, rather than familiar and, to be honest, stale.

The final round has also been given a huge overhaul. Before, players leading into the final round with buckets of points and good spatial skills would almost certainly win. Now, in The Final Countdown (complete with one-hit wonder Europe’s song accompanying it), players’ points are converted to time, and it’s a race to see who can survive the longest. More time is added for the first correct answer, and time is subtracted for a wrong answer. Because the clock is always ticking (and ticks faster as the round continues) until everyone has answered, players are never at liberty to simply sit out an answer. This means that the final round is balanced, meaning that even though points do matter, at the very end it’s still very much anyone’s game. This balance means that everyone has far more fun and the experience is far more enjoyable.

All of this is accompanied by witty dialogue from the famous Buzz, played by vintage Neighbours star Jason Donovan. The dialogue is now funnier, sharper, and less annoying – and interestingly enough, it reacts to the actual performance of players more than ever. The game show presentation is as sharp as it ever was, and the new characters and their reactions are a hoot – especially Captain Quiz, who in a nod to the British origins of the game, can be made to look like Bananaman!

The game also makes other improvements, such as using an autosave feature to deduce what questions have been asked recently so that question repetition, a common problem in the old Buzz games, is reduced to a minimum.

Buzz also supports up to eight players, making it the ultimate party game if you already have one of the older copies and buy The Mega Quiz with a second set of buzzers. Given that its simple, intuitive nature – even more so than the Wii – allows everyone to play, it’s the perfect game to pull out at a party or family gathering. If you’re of age, it’s even better after a few alcoholic beverages.

If you have a PlayStation 2 (and let’s face it, who doesn’t these days?) and you have friends, then you owe it to yourself to pick up Buzz: The Mega Quiz. It is by far the best and most accessible party game on offer – even more so than SingStar or Mario Party. In fact, both of those series should take note of Relentless Software’s improvements and renovations because Buzz: The Mega Quiz is the new king of party games, and there is very little on the market at the moment to challenge its dominance. Purchase immediately.

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