Buzz! The Mega Quiz (PS2)

Buzz is an annoying-ass host. But the game rocks.
1/31/2008 12:00 AM | 0 Comments | Page 1 of 2

At a Sony event held in steamy Chicago last summer, I was suddenly and rudely surprised. During breakfast, the journos on the trip were asked to play Sony's new trivia game show experience, Buzz! It was early in the morning, and I was empty-stomached and grumpy, my head still pounding from indulging the night before in unmentionable activities. Since my synapses were still coiled around the doings of the previous 12 hours, trying to think to play a trivia game -- a timed trivia game featuring eight game writers all coffee-d up -- seemed to me like torture worthy of the Jigsaw Killer in 'Saw.' To make matters worse, the virtual game show host mocked me. I've always gotten angry at snarky characters in games. I found them mildly amusing way back when the virtual Lance Boyle swaggered in MegaRace, but I have less patience with them now, especially with blond-maned, bespectacled, big-mouthed Buzz. So the game began and boisterous Buzz berated me for missing question after question, that mope. I played; I sucked; I lost.

But I wanted to cut Buzz! an even break, so I readied to play shortly after it arrived at my door a few weeks ago. This really is a party game: You can play with up to eight trivia-crazed individuals at once with standard, easy and difficult settings. Into the PlayStation 2's USB port I plugged in the four wired controllers that were included with the game, even though I would only use two of them.

I couldn't help but ask, Would Buzz! play any better if I hadn't stayed up to the wee hours on that hot Windy City summer night? Would it capture the imagination when I played it in the confines of my own domicile on my own terms (no hangover and a stomach full o' shrimp)? I knew that Sony had its work cut out for it. Buzz!, after all, was first made in the U.K. The game sports 6,000 questions, but were they changed to fit the very different U.S. market? In addition, Buzz!, created for the old-school PS2, has serious, weighty competition. Microsoft's video-clip-rich Scene It? for the Xbox 360 offers wireless controllers (albeit 5,000 fewer questions). Electronic Arts' Smarty Pants for the Wii uses the Wii remotes and is packed with 20,000 questions. Would the wired controllers used for Buzz! somehow sully my experience?

As I plopped my skinny ass down on the couch, I knew I had my work cut out for me: I would play with a trivia pro who had not only won at least a dozen nights of trivia competition at tough, dark Manhattan watering holes, she'd been on TV on 'Jeopardy!' as well. She hated the first thing that's seen on screen, an opening movie of potential contestants hooking up with Buzz to travel to the game show itself. This was somewhat of a waste of time: We didn't want to see a movie. We wanted to get right in and play. Still, the opener was somewhat humorous. Think 'American Idol' audition, the rejects show.

In a tutorial before the game, I'm told how to use the controller: Buzz in with the red lighted ball and match the colors on the controller with the color-coded answers on the screen. Playing is easy, for Buzz! is made with the casual gamer in mind. You choose a strange-looking character for your avatar, anything from a cheerleader to an Elvis Presley imitator. You even get to choose the sound that avatar makes when you answer a question, which is a lot more enjoyable aurally than the character is visually. What would endear me to Buzz the host would be if he could call me by name verbally. But he don't roll like that.