Buzz!: Quiz TV Hands-On

When it comes to party games, Sony Europe definitely takes things seriously. It forged ahead to create custom peripherals for PlayStation 2 series such as SingStar, EyeToy, and Buzz!, and though they took their time to reach other countries, they've still proved to be immensely popular in the UK. Of those three games, only the Buzz! peripherals have yet to receive a PlayStation 3 upgrade, but that will be rectified this spring with the release of Buzz!: Quiz TV. Shipping with wireless controllers for the first time, the game will feature online play and custom question sets, as well as the requisite high-definition upgrade. Sony sent us a preview copy of the game complete with finished buzzers, so we wasted no time in cracking them open and testing our general ignorance.

Anyone who's played the Buzz! games should have a good idea of what to expect from the PS3 iteration. Depending on the number of buzzers you buy, up to eight contestants can join a local game and play in the traditional gameshow format. This involves answering questions in a variety of different rounds, from Fastest Finger First and Pass the Bomb to the Custard Pie round, in which you get to splatter your opponents if you answer before they do. The questions are mostly text-based and are read aloud by an announcer, but there are occasionally photo-, music-, and video-based questions as well.

Whereas previous Buzz! games were released in themed packs, the PlayStation 3 version combines many different subject areas in one package. By bringing together subjects such as film, TV, sport, music, and science and technology, this version of Buzz is both the most comprehensive and welcoming to date. You can choose to narrow down quizzes by just one subject, with film and TV split into subcategories such as blockbusters and 'toons, or combine lots of topics to keep things interesting. At the end of each round, the player with the lowest score is allowed to choose the topic for the next round, and this feature helps to make the game the most entertaining and varied Buzz! that we've played.

Although no Buzz! game is ever going to push a console to breaking point, developer Relentless has really upped the visual quality since the last game. The set of the show now closely resembles the dark and moody design from The Weakest Link, and the familiar characters look better than ever before. Some of their winning celebrations become repetitive, but they're charismatic, well-animated, and actually quite endearing. Some people may bemoan the loss of the beautiful assistant, but Buzz himself--voiced by Australian soap legend and onetime popstar Jason Donovan--is still an entertaining host, even if he did use the word "wazzock" in one of our multiplayer games.

Some of the most interesting features of Buzz! won't be available until the final release of the game, given that they depend on online functionality and user interaction. The multiplayer game will allow two sofas of people to compete against each other, and the team-based mode will let up to 32 people compete at once. Sadly, the preview version of the game didn't let us try this mode, but we're told it will feature all of the same styles of play, as well as online leaderboards.

Even more promising is the new feature to write your own questions online and then see them appear in the game. You will be able to fill out simple text-based questions via a Web site and then choose to share them, whether with yourself, certain friends, or the entire Buzz! community. Each set can contain up to eight different questions on one topic, but playlists can be created to string out an entire quiz if you're feeling particularly creative. Though eight questions may seem slightly restrictive, Sony apparently found that people consider it difficult to come up with more than this number without having to put in a lot of research. If you do decide to release your question sets to the public, you'll be able to track their progress online and find out if you're a popular quizmaster or a pub-quiz wannabe.

So where does this user-generated content leave Sony in terms of future content for the game? Well, it still plans to release premium packs on a regular basis based on a variety of themes. These are all still being worked out at the time of writing, but expect TV shows such as 24 and sporting events such as the UEFA Cup, as well as a video game quiz that will feature questions on games and consoles--including those from manufacturers other than Sony, we're promised.

We were really impressed with the new version of Buzz!, and the full game promises to take the genre forward when it hits Eruopean shops in May 2008.