A good game that's somehow lacking in atmosphere. I can't quite put my finger on why but Buzz has taken a step backward.
We've spent several nights at our home with small groups of friends battling it out and having great fun this way. Normally though, as I am not as well learned in music knowledge as many of our companions, I was resigned to finish somewhere towards the end of the pack. After my elimination I would always sit there harbouring hope that when Buzz: The BIG Quiz came out I would show them who truely was the wisest, so it was with great anticipation I have been awaiting this release!
Now BTBQ does not change the winning formula that made BTMQ so much fun to play. Buzz is back with his one liners and the lovely Rose returns stuffed into a dress two sizes too small. The number of contestants you can pick from has increased to include some new stereotypical characters (Clint Eastwood is my favourite) which adds to the variety. There's also some new game modes and a team mode where each team has three lives (which is really neat), so the Buzz team have done a good job in offering us some subtle variances in gameplay to help with the longevity.
Once in the game itself is where I started to hear the alarm bells. The questions are really well done, the game types are great (and all your favourites are back - including The Bomb), it's just that the pace of the game is not quite right, and this in effect kills the atmosphere.
At times it can almost feel like you've all sat down to participate in an adventure game (or something similar). Don't get me wrong, everything that you should need to make a great party game is here, it's just not put together as well as it can be. Buzz's one liners for some reason all fall flat this time round, and you'll find every person in the room groaning at him while trying to press the big red buzzer to skip the delay in the game (which does not do anything).
I really think the problem with it is that it's too slow, with too many non-skippable cutscenes (to listen to Buzz, and he's just not funny enough to warrant that). This is especially true if you are having a party of sorts with friends and everyone is laughing and wanting a good quick game, this game so far in our house has been in effect a downer. The sound of the crowd contributes to this as well, very much sounding like bad canned laughter with too much silence.
Sadly, this means that even if you're not a music lover, you'll most likely want to put BTMQ back on, because for some reason it's just the more polished product. Maybe this is purely because it's got good music, who knows, I just know that of the two BTMQ is more appealing to the people we entertain.
Oh yeah, just for the record, this game did not improve my normal finishing spot either :) Oh well.