Trivial Pursuit Review

Written by: Steve Martin Posted: 22nd April 2009

Share:

Digg It

Trivial Pursuit anyone?

Trivial Pursuit Details:

	Mini-game Compilation
	Nintendo Wii
	EA Games
	EA Games

Out Now

1-4

Everyone knows Trivial Pursuit and its various franchised versions that have been released over the years. The basic principle of which is to collect wedges for each of the 6 categories, normally Art & Literature, Entertainment, History, Geography, Sport & Leisure and Science & Nature, by answering questions in that category correctly. So how does this classic format handle being converted into a video game?

Overall, fairly well, it’s simply a quiz game with a board that you must navigate, but unlike some other board game based video games there are no cheating computer characters to worry about! There are three main modes of play, the Classic multiplayer game, Facts and Friends which is a shorter game and also multiplayer and a single player mode called “Clear the Board”.

The Classic multiplayer mode plays exactly like the normal board game, however all the questions are multiple choice making it a bit easier to get questions right. The format however has not changed meaning you have to land on the wedge HQ’s to win the required wedges, each player keeps playing until they get a question wrong and relinquish control of the dice, which means that the other players will probably get bored watching the geeks on a winning streak. In fairness, there are no problems with this mode at all, winning involves you gaining all the wedges and heading to the centre square and answering a question from a category of your opponents choosing. To help mix things up a few of the questions ask you to choose the correct picture, or choose the correct location on a map.

The Facts and Friends mode is a slightly different format and is much quicker to finish. Only one token is moved and players take it in turns to move it, wedges are won by answering questions on the category to fill up your wedge, the first player to fill a wedge wins that category and all the category squares are removed from the board. An interesting twist is that your opponents can bet on whether you get the question right or wrong, if they guess correctly they earn a bonus point for that category. The roll again squares are replaced by bonus event squares that give you a random happening ranging from a time bomb, which starts a quick fire quiz round where the loser ends up with a lot less than when they started. Other happenings are chances to steal a wedge from an opponent in a Wedge Off or Double Points. Wedge HQ’s can give you more points than a normal square but the questions are now number-based and require you to choose a number on a slider, the closer you are to the correct answer the more points you score. The final round starts after all the wedges have been won, wedges are converted into lives which are used in the final multiple choice quiz where all players answer the same questions, the last player standing is the winner! This new mode is a lot quicker than the traditional mode and allows more interaction from the players in the form of the side bets, I felt that this was much more engaging and the different layout of the numerical questions was certainly more interesting, then the constant multiple answer approach.

The single player mode sees you answering questions and gaining points, multipliers are rewarded for correct answers in the specific categories. Wedges are won by landing on the Wedge HQ’s and once they are won the squares disappear as in the Facts and Friends mode. This mode is a little lacklustre and pales in comparison to the multiplayer modes. Other than the main game modes, there is little else to the game. Player profiles record which your strongest and weakest categories are and which type of questions you have most often.

The graphics consist of the game board and some piece movement animation and a few other animations, but nothing noteworthy, so it is very limited but functional, it would have been nice to see the developer try to jazz it up a little more.

The background music is quite repetitive and the commentator is even worse, constantly repeating himself and saying annoying things like “How did you know the answer to that question!”. He has no real purpose in this game except to wind you up; I ended up playing the game on mute!

The motion controls are used simply as a pointing device to select the answers, and can be used to spin the dice (yes spin the dice, don’t ask me why?), so nothing innovative here!

So, there’s nothing wrong with this version, and if you want to play a quiz game on your Wii then this will probably be pretty good. There are plenty of questions to work through and the option to play with the standard questions or the film questions or both sets allow you to mix things up a bit. Don’t rule out downloadable content of new question sets, watch this space! The Facts and Friends mode is actually the highlight and could keep you interested for a while, if this is your thing. Although in my opinion, board games should remain as board games, why convert them when there’s nothing to gain from the change, except for the ability to play it on your own or save your game and carry on another time! Anyway, for all the quiz fans and fans of the board game, this will do nicely!