Video Games, Science and Random Thoughts

Trivial Pursuit PS3 Review

Great with family and friends if you’re into trivia, but otherwise… give it a miss.

sssssBringing Trivial Pursuit to the PS3 is part of the latest trend for board games such as Scene it? to be translated into video games. In this case, Trivial Pursuit is a classic trivia game typically played by 2-4 players where players must answer multiple-choice questions correctly in order to earn wedges. A total of 6 wedges can be earned in six categories: geography, science and nature, art and literature, history, sports and leisure, and entertainment, and the player that earns the most wedges and answers a final question correctly wins the game. And that pretty much sums up the entire PS3 game, as you’ll essentially be playing different variations of the same basic concept.

sssssWhen you first start up the game, you’re presented with a variety of options to choose from. Before playing any of these modes, players are invited to customise their characters and choose their names and how they will look. Additionally, players can choose to use one controller to share between all players, or to have multiple controllers for each person. This customization is a nice touch and ensures that even families with just one controller can enjoy the full benefits of this game. From then on in, you can pick one of three game modes depending on what you want to play.

sssssThe first mode playable is classic mode, which is most similar to the board game but contains a few changes to the rules. Firstly, one player does not have to collect all 6 wedges to win, but instead, once a wedge is won all questions relating to that wedge are removed from the board. Once all questions from all categories are removed, players’ wedges are transformed into lives, and players engage in a trivia face-off, where the last man standing wins. This mode is a bunch of fun with family and friends, and if you love trivia-type games, you’re going to love this mode as well. However, as the rules of Trivial Pursuit have been changed, purists of the genre may not like some of the changes such as not having to win all wedges in order to win the game.

Classic mode with four players.

sssssThe next mode available is Clear the Board, which is a single player mode where players must aim to beat their own highest scores as quickly as possible. This is like a challenge mode, where a total of 60 questions can be answered and players gain multipliers based on how many questions they’ve answered correctly in a row. This mode seems to have been put in due to a lack of ideas as to what other modes can be created with Trivial Pursuit, as I cannot imagine any casual gamer or even casual Trivial Pursuit player using this mode often. That is because Trivial Pursuit can be quite boring, and you really need to love trivia or be a serious competitor in order to have a use for this mode. At the same time, I cannot see serious trivial pursuit players buying this game simply to practice their skills.

sssssThe last available mode is facts and friends, which is another multiplayer mode similar to classic mode. In this game, wedges are gained faster (half a wedge for every correct answer), and there is a mini-game involved to earn parts of wedges as well. In this side-game, each time a player is presented with a question, other players must bet whether that person will answer the question right or wrong. If they bet correctly, they can gain from one quarter to one half of a wedge. This mode is a lot quicker to go through than classical mode and is suited for casual players. Having said that, the extra betting before each question really adds to how long it takes to play a game, and does get irritating after playing for a while.

sssssThe gameplay itself is pretty much the same throughout the game modes, and there are only slight changes between the modes. Most of the time you’re simply selecting which answer is correct out of four possible options, but other times you also must indicate on a slider what the exact date or measurement of a question is (e.g., “In what year did the United States file an anti-trust lawsuit against Microsoft?”). In the translation from board game to console game, there is also the added benefit of being able to incorporate pictures and maps into the questions, adding to the overall experience of Trivial Pursuit.

sssssYet ultimately, you’ll find that Trivial Pursuit is exactly like the board game but with a few more options. Based on this, only people who really love trivia games and plan on spending nights with friends or family playing Trivial Pursuit should purchase this game. For the average gamer, this game holds no appeal (besides easy trophies) as the game is really only about answering trivia. That being said, for Trivial Pursuit lovers the appeal is almost endless, with thousands of questions that will not repeat for a while, and bonus downloadable content adding further questions that will prolong the experience.

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Storyline: N/A – It’s a board game….

Graphics: 7.5 – Fairly average – nothing’s going to surprise you

Gameplay: 7.5 – While it is a fun game, it is essentially just answering Trivia questions with friends

Sound: 7.0 – Fairly average – you probably won’t even notice it most of the time

Replayability: 9.0 – Replayability is almost endless, with thousands of questions to choose from, and bonus downloadable content to get as well, though only for the hardcore Trivial Pursuit fan

Trophies: 7.0: Very easy to get (3-5 hours) but tedious, and basically require you to either be a genius or sit and look through Wikipedia to get most of them

Overall: 8.0

Buy it, rent it or skip it?: Buy it if you’re a trivia fan or plan on playing with friends and family. Otherwise, skip it.