by Bouchie

The newest instalment for the newest peripheral for the PS2, until Guitar Hero comes out anyway! Buzz! (yes it always has the ! at the end), the Big Quiz is the second Buzz! Game to come out, following the Music Quiz out last year. The game comes with 4 buzzers, that fit easily into your hand and have 4 coloured buttons as well as the big red one we all love to bash when we know the right answer.

Following on from the music quiz, which had 1000 music clips and 5000 questions, the Big Quiz features questions in sport, film, ‘crazy academia’ and music. You start by picking your character. These range from a fat Elvis impersonator, one that resembles Kylie, Albert Einstein, Princess Leia and an incredibly tall basketball player with a massive smile. You then pick your buzzer sound which also leads to much mirth and laughter as your little sister picks the ‘burp’. Then it’s into the studio, where your characters are lined up behind little podiums, grinning and doing victory dances or loser dances as the case may be!

In comes Buzz, your host (voiced by Jason Donovan). Buzz is the stereotypical game show host, tan, big hair and glasses and a voice that sounds enthusiastic and sarcastic at the same time! Each round begins with an intro, followed by Rose the assistant explaining the game rules. The best part about this is you can skip this and have Buzz shout some sort of insult at her!

The game is split into several rounds. Beginning with ‘Point Builder’, a selection of ten questions which includes “Who said this famous line….”, “Where is this” and Buzz playing a song on his organ. A fast round to ease you into the game. Each question is worth 250 points and is a case of get it right, get the points.

The rounds which follow include a picture round, a fastest finger round and hitman. In Hitman, each player has 3 lives. The one who gets the question right fastest gets to take a shot at another player, knocking one of their lives off. The person left standing wins a whopping 1000 points, which can make or break a game. If you have 3 or more players another round called ‘Point stealer’ features, where the fastest answer means you get to steal points from others.

Buzz! is a fast paced quiz game that will bring out a competitive streak in anyone. It can lead to much falling out as it can laughter! The buzzers are a fantastic idea, giving it even more of a quiz show in your front room feel. Buzz is hilarious, when he yells “Be quiet!” at Rose when you skip her introduction, I challenge anyone not to laugh.

One of the only problems is there seems to be slight repetition in this game, where there didn’t seem any in the Music Quiz. The pictures in the picture round can occasionally be difficult to make out. In the ‘Pass the Bomb’ round you need to answer as quickly as possible before it goes off and you lose points. Sometimes the pictures can be difficult to make out and leave you with an incorrect answer and thus losing points.

These are however only minor quibbles. Buzz! is a fabulous party game and belongs up there with the likes of Singstar. The buzzers won’t be gathering dust like your dance mat as there are new quizzes in the pipeline, such as the Sport quiz and the Movie Quiz. With the option of up to 8 players on the Big Quiz as opposed to the 4 on the Music Quiz, there is even more scope for playability on a party level. If you enjoy having your mates round for a laugh, this is the perfect addition to any night.