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Written by Lisa on Saturday 13 Nov 2010
The first thing you’ll notice when you pop your copy of Buzz: The Ultimate Music Quiz into your PS3 is that Buzz has finally started to grow up. He seems to have finally moved past the PS2 phase of his life to the PS3 one, and it really shows, both in the graphics and in the gameplay. Not only is he taller and less ‘cartoony’ looking, but he dispenses less annoying comments, although I must warn you that quite a number of punny music ones have been added to his repertoire. Seriously though, Sony seems to have got the balance just right in this newest instalment in the Buzz series and it definitely suggests that the franchise is heading in the right direction.
Graphically the game has had a major overhaul, everything looks cleaner and crisper, exactly how you would expect a game to look on the PS3. Support for the PlayStation Move has also been added, and brings with it a number of new additions, including customisation options and different game modes, which we’ll talk more about a little later. There are also a few other new features that you’ll enjoy, such as being able to select just your initial and then select from a large pool of possible names. This is great because it saves you typing your name out, but obviously won’t work so well if you have an unusual name or non-Western name.
The game also remembers your previous profile and records, so if you play two or more games in a row Buzz will be commenting on how many correct answers you had last time or that you won the previous round etc. He also often calls you out for getting answers right, or not, depending on how the games going for you, and this really does help to immerse you into the trivia game theme.
Once you’ve selected your name you’re going to need a character to represent you in the game. Fortunately there’s quite a varied list for you to choose from, ranging from a mime to a cheerleader and even a hero of sorts. You’ll also be able to change their costume and select your buzzer sound. If you’ve hooked up your PlayStation Eye you’ll be able to customise your character by taking a photo of your face and then choosing your hairstyle or head accessories. You can even plug in a microphone and record custom buzzer sounds which really starts to make the game interesting. Last but not least, you can make hilarious changes to the unsuspecting game show host, making Buzz look however you choose.
Now it’s time to start the game and you’ll notice there’s quite a few game modes to choose from. The modes are weighted quite evenly so you’ll feel less of a luck factor entering the fray. And by this I don’t mean you won’t be guessing what a few of the questions answers are, since some of them are impossibly hard, but rather that the rounds that allow you to steal points and earn first place more randomly than using your general knowledge are few and far between. My one pet hate of trivia games is when you’re doing well only to lose because someone who’s not doing so well steals from you. This might be fine in the casual party game genre, like Mario Party 8 or Wii Party, but in a more dedicated trivia game it becomes highly annoying to me where I would prefer to be able to win based on skill alone.
You can either play the game solo, but it’s much more fun with a group of friends. You can play with up to four mates using one set of Buzz controllers, or make the party even bigger with up to eight using two sets of controllers. You can then decide on how long you’d like the game to be, ranging from 15 – 45 minutes, or even choose custom where you can select the types of game modes you enjoy and eliminate those you don’t (like Points Stealer), which is really handy in ensuring you get the most out of the time you spend with Buzz.
Obviously since this is the Ultimate Music Quiz, you can expect all of your questions to revolve around music. Luckily different players will often get to choose types of music (for example, Rock or Pop) or periods of music (such as the Sixties or Nineties) to help keep the game asking questions that you are familiar with. Of course some players may select really arbitrary areas of music to quiz their fellow contestants on, but this would be where the guessing part comes in!
I enjoyed the Time Warp mode where a distorted music clip played and players had to guess which tune it was. You can also look forward to Watch It where you’ll choose a category (for example, the band Pulp) and then be presented with a short video clip, watch closely because you’ll then be called upon to answer questions based on what you saw in the clip. You’ll also be met with Boiling Point where players will continue to answer questions, each correct answer earning them an increase on their thermometer, with the player whose temperature hits the top first being the winner, as well as a number of other modes such as Fastest Finger, High Stakes and Stop the Clock.
The PlayStation Move brings a number of really fun and different kinds of game modes to the Buzz table. They reminded me a lot of the mini-games I enjoyed in Start the Party!, most of them being just as whacky but still incorporating the music theme to the game of course. In Hammer Time you’ll need to hit the correct answer using the virtual hammer which the Move controller has been magically transformed to on-screen, while Heavy Metal will see you grabbing the correct answers with a virtual magnet. You’ll need to pop the wrong answer bubbles in Pop Life with your virtual dart and shoot the correct ones using your virtual ray gun in Master Blaster. The best thing about these new Move modes, other than they’re lots of fun, is that you can use just one Move controller to participate, which is done in rounds rather than simultaneously. Unfortunately as a result it just doesn’t feel as competitive as competing against the clock and your opponents on the Buzz controllers, but it’s a fun and fresh addition that helps to mix things up a bit.
Of course the game also has the usual online options so you can team up with four mates and compete against four players over the internet. You can also buy new Buzz packs from the PlayStation Store, and with 18 packs available for R45 each you’ll be able to keep things interesting with different themes like Horror Movies, Space and even Videogames. And I haven’t even mentioned the prizes that you can win at the end of each game, which range from techno cuckoo clocks to wind-up Hula Buzz dolls…what more could you want?
The new crisp and clean look, along with the tweaks that have been made to the game like name recognition and new PlayStation Move game modes will make this a great addition to your gaming collection if you’re a trivia game fan. If you’re already got one of the Buzz instalments and you enjoy music it would come recommended too, and it’s also a great place to start if you don’t own a Buzz game yet.
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