Family Fortunes is a straightforward game show. It's not Countdown, it's not Blockbusters, it isn't even Catchphrase; it is a simple family show that during its golden years featured a simple host (sorry, Les Dennis).
In fact, the rules of Family Fortunes are so plain that apparently Vernon Kaye only had to have them re-explained seven times before he took up residence as the new face of the show last year.
Meow! Okay, the above are just cheap shots at easy-to-target British television personalities but the point remains: Family Fortunes is so flawless in its simplicity that even a shrimp could play it. Which is a good thing.
With Family Fortunes on mobile, the arguably worst aspect of the TV show is absent so where there would normally be a grin in a suit for hire, there is only the bare bones of the game. And what an addictive game it is.
If you were more of a Wheel of Fortune fan back when game shows were still prime time television, Family Fortunes is a simple question and answer game. Two family teams, each with five members, are asked to guess what 100 people surveyed answered in response to a particular question.
The aim of the mobile version of the game is to give the top three answers from a list of choices. Pick three correct answers and you win points and free passage to the next round. Get three wrong answers and the question is passed over the opposing team.
In two-player games a buzzer style system determines who goes first on a round, with each player taking up a row of keys each to use as buzzers. As such, one player always controls a whole team and in this sense the mobile version is even more straightforward than its televised cousin.
Not only that but there is never the option in the mobile game to continue to guess which other answers were given after the top three are established, as the list of choices would render doing so somewhat pointless.
Even so, putting a quickfire spin on an already simple game has proved to be a successful tact for mobile games in the past with the likes of Skill Ball Bingo, and in a similar way it works well with Family Fortunes.
The presentation is reserved but more than adequate throughout and being able to enter in your own family name is a welcome touch. There is the feeling at times that Family Fortunes is a tad on the easy side, and seeing as you cannot win any real money (as in the TV show) the motivation to continue chasing a high score and putting the Johnsons (the default name of the opposing team) thoroughly in their place can only be brought about by errant public transport.
Even so, Family Fortunes is a perfectly competent and entertaining mobile version of the game show, which succeeds in no small part due to both its snappy approach and the decision to exclude an annoying host.
Family Fortunes
A simple but effective take on the famous game show – little depth but enough fun to keep you amused for a sufficient amount of time
