Inconsistent question difficulty and confusing round types hinder this otherwise comprehensive trivia game.

User Rating: 6.5 | Buzz! Quiz World PS3
By AK_the_Twilight | Review Date:
Aside from my love of video games, music, and art, I more than often have found myself sitting down on my couch watching trivia shows like Jeopardy. Perhaps it's the competitive edge, the feeling of challenging each other as to who knows the most random facts, but trivia has become a tradition in my family. Games like Scene It? and the now-canceled 1 vs. 100 games have been exciting challenges for many intellectual gamers. With different trivia games arriving on the many video game consoles these days, Buzz!: Quiz World was a major pick for my routine family trivia night. The wise-cracking puppet-headed host Buzz is back for another round on the PS3, this time bringing online play, user-created content, and a truckload of facts for trivia buffs to answer. Buzz!: Quiz World has plenty of cool options in its framework, but the distracting round types and horrible question inconsistencies keep it away from being the next great game show video game.

If you don't know already, Buzz!: Quiz World is the newest PS3 installment in the long-running Buzz! series of trivia video games. Hosted by blabbermouth Buzz, players use the required buzzer controllers to select answers to questions. Questions appear on screen and the colored buttons on the controller each coincide with a selectable answer. Get it right and get the points. Simple. The buzzers do add some accessibility to the game, and Buzz!: Quiz World also has a solid amount of question diversity. Categories range from word problems, pop culture, or general knowledge and trivia fans are bound to find a favorite. The amount of questions is solid and downloadable bonus packs on the Playstation Store are sure to extend gameplay time for fans. The inclusion of online play and custom questions help too. Buzz!: Quiz World is a comprehensive and varied game, and when it comes to content, you won't find a more thorough general knowledge trivia video game.

There are a number of different round types which can be set on or off during the show itself. For example, rounds like Boiling Point (where a player must be the first to get six correct answers) or On the Spot (where players earn points based on wagers opponents offer) are serious for trivia experts. Other, sillier rounds like Pie Fight (where a correct answer allows a player to aim and throw a pie at another player) are also available. If you want pure wackiness in the round types or just be all serious "triv", feel free to toggle your favorites in the custom games. This is especially welcome, because the wacky rounds end up making the whole game much less based on knowledge or expertise and more on just being lucky. These feel more like "accessible" distractions. If you decide to play the rounds where it's purely trivia, you're bound to find the gameplay to be better. While they add variety to the game, the quirkier rounds end up being some of the worst parts about the entire experience, robbing the challenge and adding far too much unpredictability to the whole thing.

The biggest annoyance in Buzz!: Quiz World is the question difficulty, which is an absolute gamble. When selecting a category, you never know if the questions are going to be very easy or very hard. For example, some questions will be stupidly simple, like where kangaroos generally live, or the selectable answers will show obviously incorrect answers, such as The Moon in regard to the example. Other questions will be ridiculously difficult, like who won the Olympics in a specific sport of a specific year. There is little middle ground for these kinds of questions; either they're insultingly easy or unquestionably hard. To be fair, some categories offer some relief from this painfully inconsistent trivia setup, but for the most part, it's annoying to see a question that is so chock full of the most basic and common knowledge that you won't find nearly as much fun or challenge as in other trivia games.

The presentation is another major issue. The game does a respectable job at making the whole show seem exciting, but repetition really starts to sink in after a while. Buzz himself, despite his constant nagging and commentary insight, isn't the biggest problem here. In fact, Buzz adds the most character to the game. He addresses the players by name, which is cool, and some of the wacky animations he does are pretty funny. The avatars that you use, on the other hand, are so few and soulless that it's just annoying. Seeing the same boring animations from the crew of contestants is simply exhausting. The audience is just as unenthusiastic as the avatars, the music is repetitive and the overall feeling of an exciting game show is lost, aside from the expressive Buzz host. The atmosphere feels severed and lost in Buzz!: Quiz World, and the end result is a pretty uninteresting and slim presentation.

If you're looking for a game with solid multiplayer, Buzz!: Quiz World has you covered with versus local multiplayer along with a solid online component. Like many other trivia games, Quiz World is best played on the couch at a party or with friends. Online multiplayer is fun as well, and the question count is varied and plentiful enough to get anyone on board. The ability to create your own questions is an excellent inclusion and well worth experimenting with, and with Facebook integration, you can see some solid potential in making Buzz!: Quiz World the next great PS3 party title. Overcoming its issues is difficult, but Buzz!: Quiz World saves itself from mediocrity with a good multiplayer component, both online and off.

Pros
+ Collection of trivia is remarkably massive
+ Local and online multiplayer is rich with options
+ User-created content and social media integration

Cons
- Question difficulty is unfocused and inconsistent
- Presentation is weak
- Sound round types rely more on luck than knowledge

Buzz!: Quiz World is a solid attempt at making a general and popular knowledge-based trivia game for PS3 owners. The diversity in the questions is a major strength in Quiz World, as there is bound to be a favorite category among trivia buffs and newcomers alike. An inclusion of social media integration and a brilliantly crafted multiplayer, both on and offline, are welcome additions to the world of Buzz. Sadly, the questions have a difficulty inconsistency unlike any other trivia game around. Seeing the correct answer surrounded by blatantly wrong answers is infuriating, as is the contrast of a really, really hard answer. The round types, despite being customizable, still rely too much on luck. It's best to stick to the "serious rounds" game type if you're looking for a challenge. A weak presentation that doesn't do much to diversify itself or follow the game show experience just makes it that much more disappointing. Buzz!: Quiz World must be commended for expanding itself beyond a downloadable trivia game tie-in, but it makes some critical missteps that end up making the entire experience frustrating. Anyone who isn't into trivia won't find much to like in Buzz!: Quiz World and while trivia buffs will find some things to like about it (especially if they have friends and family to play the game with) there are far too many problems in Buzz!: Quiz World's design to be worth a must-have recommendation.
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