Buzz! The Mega Quiz for the PlayStation 2 is the first in the popular European Trivia/Quiz game series, developed by Relentless Software and published by Sony, to make it to the United States (There’s also the Buzz! Junior series which is aimed at younger audiences).
The game’s are played in the style of a TV game show and hosted by the character you see on the cover of the games, whose name is (as the title suggests) “Buzz”. Buzz is an eclectic host who will grill you with over 5,000 questions in a number of different categories. And if you miss a question, prepared to be dissed either directly or indirectly in some fashion.
Topics covered by the huge variety of questions include Television, Movies, Music, Sports, Science, Animals, History, Odd Facts and more. And since Buzz! The Mega Quiz is a game show it is built and designed to be a party game at best. And as such Buzz supports between 1 and 8 players! And believe me when I say that if you get 8 players all going at it at once, there WILL be fun and uproarious laughter to follow!
Buzz also comes with it’s own unique “buzzer” controllers! You can buy Buzz! The Mega Quiz separately, but you can also choose from a bundle that includes four buzzers. The game is controlled entirely by these buzzers, which feature one big red round button and four differently colored rectangle buttons below it. And you do not need a multi-tap to play! The four buzzers are connected to a small router that simply plugs into the USB port on the PS2, allowing four-players to go at it without any additional equipment!
So step-up to the podium and get ready to rack that brain for knowledge!
System: PlayStation 2
Released: October 30th, 2007 (US)
Genre: Quiz/Trivia Party Game
Players: 1-8 using unique Buzz Buzzer Controllers (one set allows for 4 players)
Save: Memory Card, saves automatically
Developer: Relentless Software
Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment America (SCEA)
Origin: United Kingdom
Rating: E10+ for Everyone 10 and older.
ESRB Content Descriptors: Alcohol and Tobacco Reference, Comic Mischief, Mild Language, Mild Suggestive Themes, Mild Violence
Buzz! The Mega Quiz offers a variety of different ways for you to play, whether you are by yourself, with a group of friends or have lots of people over for a party. The game is primarily a quiz game, thus you will be asked questions to test your trivia knowledge on a variety of subjects, although the way the questions are given and the way you answer are unique and different based on the mode and round you are playing. Throughout the course of the game you will use the unique Buzz controllers described above. Generally a question will be asked and you will answer with the four colored buttons below the big red buzzer button. The top button is blue, followed by orange, green and yellow. The answers are always multiple choice and so you will need to hit the correct colored button that corresponds with the answer on-screen that you want to give. And yes you WILL occasionally hit the wrong button! Hey, just telling you, it’s inevitable! But eventually you will be able to hit the buttons and know what button corresponds to what color without even looking down.
By looking at the controller and the title of the game, you’d expect that once a question is given, then the first person to hit the big red button first gets to answer first like you see in a lot of TV game shows, that is not the case however. You’ll almost exclusively use the colored buttons to answer the trivia questions, with the big red buzz button only coming into play in a few rounds, which I thought was a bit of a disappointment . . . the game is called BUZZ! You should use the actual buzzer more! But I digress, the game is still mighty fun! Now let’s get into setting up a game by watching a video of it and explaining it some more below it.
The main menu offers you these options: “Play Buzz”, “Extras”, “Custom Game” and Options. If you don’t want a specialized game, then hit “Play Buzz” to get started. You’ll then select whether you want to play the Single Player game, 2-4 players or 5-8 players depending on how many other trivia junkies you have along with you for the ride.
You’ll then be asked to select from three difficulty settings: Easy, Standard or Hard and depending on how much time you have to play you’ll want to select either: Short, Regular or Long game. The length of the game will determine how many rounds you play and thus how long it takes to finish an entire Buzz play session. If you’re strapped for time you’ll want to hit Short Game and then “Quick Start” on the next screen, which will assign each player a character without letting you choose and it also doesn’t let you select a name but simply throws you into the thick of things.
If you aren’t strapped for time then you’ll want to “Select Your Contestant”. This allows each player to select their own character from a wide variety of goofball character types (after first selecting what color will correspond with each player). The characters you can select from include an annoying “like totally!” cheerleader, a western cowboy that I’ve dubbed “Chuck Norris”, an fly affro-sporting disco dancer, a Elvis Presley look-a-like, a nerd, a grandma, a Mexican wrestler, a superhero, a mime, a fat “Helga”-style opera singer and even Napoleon. There’s 14 total characters to choose from and each has their own sound bytes and animations that will play during the actual game. After picking a character (or a “face”) you’ll then be able to select from a number of different outfits for that character.
You will then be able to select the sound of your buzzer, so each person has a unique sound (a cool idea). Choices include: A rooster, a horse, a yodel, a cow, an elephant, a scream, a “boing” sound, an alarm, cough, monkey, duck, turkey, dog bark, little girl laugh, an “awooga” sound, etc.
Lastly you’ll be able to enter a name for yourself. You’ll then be ready to dive into the meat of “Buzz”.
Hilarious Buzz! The Mega Quiz U.S. Commercial
But before I explain the various rounds you’ll be competing in and the different game modes, let’s finish looking at the rest of the main menu options. “Quick Start” lets you dive right into the action with all of the above options selected for you. Under the “Extras” Menu you’ll find three unique options.
Team Play allows for just that, quiz gameplay made up of teams. Each team has three lives, a wrong answer costs a life and the team left standing at the end wins.
QuizMaster is a unique mode that allows you to create your own questions that you can then pit against your friends to show your superiority.
Lastly is QuickFire Quiz, this is only available if you have more than four players, but for large groups who simply want to jump in and answer questions for points, this is the mode for you. You can select any number of questions, from 1 to 100, and the game will ask you that many questions until the last question is reached.
Custom Game allows you to customize the way you want to play, while the Single Player mode is built for those that like to play alone, and it consists of two simple rounds: Time Builder and Hot Seat. The former has you answering questions to gain time with will amount to how many questions you are asked in the Hot Seat. In Hot Seat each questions points build on the next, but if you miss one answer you lose ALL your points. In order to not lose them you can “Bank” them by hitting the big red buzz button, but if you bank them then you’ll have to start building your points up from zero again. How long can you last without getting a question wrong? When the single player is over you’ll be ranked amongst previous players of the mode.
Hilarious Buzz! The Mega Quiz commercial 2
And now to the meat and potatoes of Buzz! The Mega Quiz, and that of course is the multiplayer rounds themselves.
After each player has selected a character, name, buzzer sound, etc., you’ll start play through up to 8 unique rounds (depending on how long of a game you selected), each round has different rules and ways to play and score.
The rounds are:
Point Picker:
In this round each player selects a category, the questions are then read for everyone to answer based on the category selected. The categories include: . . . This is a fun although basic round, but it can give certain players an edge if you excel in one particular category over your opponents.
The Fastest Finger:
True to it’s name, this round has each player clicking the colored buttons as fast as they can. You need to answer the question correctly to score points, but the biggest amount of points is given to the player who can answer the quickest! The coolest aspect of this round is the fact that it tells you how quickly each person answered, and so it’s always a race to be the first person to answer WITHOUT answering wrong. This equals for a very fast paced and “tense” round. But we’re only getting started!
Pie Fight:
This unique mode offers up questions and whoever gets the question right first (and only the first person to answer correctly) gets the privilege of tossing a pie at their opponents! Get hit with a pie twice and you are out until the next round. But BE CAREFUL! You can not only hit your opponents with a pie, but you can even hit yourself! And YES, once again it is inevitable that you will accidentally knock yourself out . . . . which will play nice with those who you just pied! To throw the pies you use the big red buzz button when the crosshair goes over the opponent you want to splat. This round is fun and very cool, although it’s a bit questionable why they allowed you to hit yourself with a pie (which doesn’t make sense logically) . . . but only if you are the person throwing the pie. No one else will mind if you knock yourself out!
Globetrotter:
This round starts you out on a specific country on the globe, and whoever gets the question right will then select another country to fly to, and the question will be about that specific country. If everyone gets the question wrong then the game will select for you. This is a fun and interesting mode that can be quite educational. Not to mention difficult considering that lots of little known countries will be selected!
Point Stealer:
Ahhhh, Point Stealer! Definitely one of the funnest rounds and one that uses the big red buzz button. In this round, the first person to answer correctly gets to steal points from an opponent of his selection! This round can be very entertaining. And not only that, but it can be devastating if you have one player who has been in the lead the whole game. You can be assured that the leader has a very good chance of being in last place after this round is all said and done (as long as THEY aren’t getting all the questions right). What also makes this round interesting is the fact that it’s based around pictures . . . blurry pictures that slowly get clearer along with the multiple choice answers that slowly type themselves out . . . what this means is that you’ll inevitably have one person in the group who buzzes in to answer before they can even make out the picture or answers, basically guessing their way through. And sometimes they are always right! >.The Final Countdown:
My personal favorite mode, the Final Countdown gives each player a bar of time based on their score (so the person in the lead will have the longest bar, giving them the edge. Quite a bit unfair if you ask me), you then will have to answer questions and the person who answers fastest will be rewarded with more time . . . but look out! If you answer wrongly, then you’ll LOSE a large amount of time . . . the last player standing wins the round! This round is extremely intense and fun and it gets faster with less time to answer the questions as you play. What’s really fun is when you have one person in the lead with the biggest amount of time, and another player with a smaller amount of time who actually manages to stay in the game due to getting questions right. And expect lots of uproarious laughter if you can actually have a player come in from behind and win against the leader who was allotted the most amount of time. A very, very fun round.
You will also encounter a “Mystery Challenge”, half-way through the session and these are basically mini-games that range from a “Follow the Queen” card-game where Buzz shuffles four cards quickly and you gotta follow his hand to figure out where the Queen ends up . . . quick-eyes and no-blinking are required to win that one, as well as a horse-race game (which is entirely luck-based) or a duck shooting game, where the colored buttons are used to shoot ducks that appear on shelves corresponding to the colored buttons, each worth a certain number of points (and some ducks will take points away). These Mystery Challenges are a fun break of pace form the rest of the quiz action and are a welcome addition.
At the end of each session a winner will be decided depending on who has the most points and then a few “awards” will be given out as well as unique prize offered! Prizes include such unique things as a live horse or a big jewel!
Graphically, the game doesn’t look too bad but it won’t win any awards. The FMV opening is about as lame as you can get and that kind of goes with a lot of how the game is presented . . . it’s not cool by any means, and it’s not always that funny either, but the game tries and in some ways succeeds . . . and there’s tons of audio. All the questions are spoken, Buzz himself chimes in with comments, each character is voiced and Rose will tell you the rules of each round before play. The audio isn’t bad either and amazingly isn’t as annoying as you’d think. There’s enough variety to last a while too before too many lines are repeated . . . and with 5,000+ questions there is enough trivia here to last you a long, long time.
As far as the main character Buzz, I really don’t care for him at all, although he does have some chuckle-worth animations when a round is introduced as well as a few funny lines (although not everything he says is accurate). I actually got a Buzz-head plushie with the game, and even though I don’t care for the character himself that much, I definitely like my plushie! Plus it’s fun to throw the Buzz head at people. 😀
As far as the Buzz Buzzer controllers go, they aren’t that sturdy and feel like plastic toys, which is a bit of a bummer. And while it’s great that you only need one set (and no multi-tap) to play four-players, it’s a pain having to deal with so many small cords . . . I swear, good luck finding a nice and easy way to store these Buzz buzzers, it simply becomes a mess of cords once everyone is done playing. And I mean a MESS of cords, you can expect to spend 10 minutes simply organizing each buzzer if the cords get crisscrossed and rolled into a big ball like the inevitably will. There is a Velcro strap that you can use to tie all the cords together, which is something, but I wish these dang things were wireless . . . . but oh well. At least they didn’t make you buy all four separately! And that definitely means something.
In conclusion, Buzz! The Mega Quiz will satisfy anyone looking for a fun, group-oriented party game. If you aren’t into the whole quiz/game show/trivia thing then this game won’t change your mind . . . in fact you’re likely to think the whole package is really stupid looking and sounding, but anyone who is into these types of games or just likes to have fun in a group setting will enjoy buzz and get their moneys worth. And if you can get a group of four or more that are really into the game, then you can expect to have a BLAST playing it. We had many good times and lots of laughs, even a few jumping out of couches and hootering and hollering, which is exactly the type of behavior that a party game should cause. And if that sounds like your kind of fun, then by all means, pick this game up!
FUN FACTOR: 8.5
Buzz is a fun game as long as you meet the requirements . . . . you must enjoy quiz games and answering trivia on a wide range of topics, you must have more than three human beings that will play with you and enjoy it, and you must have a least one party where more than four people can get in on the action . . . . okay maybe that last one isn’t exactly a requirement, but if you can get more than four people, or even better yet another set of buzzers and 8 people . . . then expect to have an uproariously good time. If you are the social gaming party type, then Buzz is for you. And what’s even better is that the game, since it is a trivia game with a TV game show-type style, that means that non-gamers can also get in on the fun and have a blast. A good investment if this is the type of game you are looking for, if not then give it a rent first before purchasing.
Graphics: 7.5
The game isn’t much to look at it but it does it’s job.
Sound & Music: 7.5
Like the graphics, the sound and particularly the music do it’s job well enough, but won’t win any awards. Thankfully everything in the game is spoken, including all the questions, and that definitely helps. But that’s really to be expected in this day and age and if it wasn’t all spoken you’d definitely knock it. So overall, it’s not as good as it could be but it works.
Presentation: 7.0
The menu system is nice and clean and the game tries to do a TV game show style, which works (like the above) reasonably well. Personally I could’ve done without all the lame cheesiness and stereotypical characters . . . even Buzz himself far from impresses me and just comes of as dumb . . . but to each their own. Still, it’s far from great and like the graphics and sound will not win any awards by any means. But it works . . . again.
Ingenuity: 8.0
The Buzz controllers themselves are really what puts this category over the top. While the controllers aren’t of the highest quality, the fact that you can play four people with one set is great, and the game overall is well set-up. The rounds are fun and offer lots of variety, including some stuff interesting question types such as one that has music play and you have to guess the song. Overall it’s a nice package for quiz fans.
Replay Value: 8.0
With 5,000 questions and multiple game modes, as well as support for 8 players, you will not tire of this game nor see all that there is to see for quite a while.