2-4-1 Bullseye and Strike It Lucky

If you're of an age where you're just starting to worry about things beginning to sag, or older, you'll remember a time when there was no better entertainment on TV than darts quiz show Bullseye and the Michael Barrymore-presented Strike It Lucky.

Prime time has since been taken over by anything hosted by Ant and Dec and peculiar shows such as ones where celebrities dressed in bump-hugging silver skin suits try to jump through holes in moving walls. Michael Barrymore, meanwhile, fills his days having nervous breakdowns on reality TV shows. But most who remember them have a soft spot for those two catchphrase-ridden and wholesome gameshows of yesteryear.

How brilliant, then, is the prospect of a mobile game that incorporates both of them? Well, "very brilliant" would be the obvious answer. Were it not for the fact that neither quite lives up to the standard set back in the TV programmes' heydays.

We'll begin with Strike It Lucky, a simple quiz show that was really only made interesting by its exuberant host. It's a bit of a shame then that Mr Barrymore is completely lacking for this mobile version.

What's not lacking though, is a selection of quiz questions all set around different themes interspersed with the luck element of not hitting one of the game's pesky Hot Spots. You advance when you get an arrow or answer a question correctly, while the Hot Spots pass control to the next contestant. The first to the end of the sequence wins. Simple.

As John Thomson, who reviewed the game when it was first released said then:

"Whilst we mourn the absence of Barrymore's wacky antics, the other elements that made Strike It Lucky what it was are out in force. The cheesy prizes – a 1800 watt hair drier, say, or a balloon flight for one – are present, as is the catchy title tune that will bring back the era with a bump to anyone who remembers life pre-Byker Grove."

Moving onto our next nostalgia trip – Bullseye – things aren't quite so rosey. That's largely because the darts part of the game doesn't really hit the spot, especially when you compare it to any number of better darts games on mobile.

The control system used for it is shoddy, and it's impossible to correct mistakes in your alignment once they've been made.

Of course, all of Bullseye's different game rounds are included, two of which include quiz questions, too, and these are more playable. However, the questions are very much from the same decade as the TV show so younger gamers will struggle with the TV, film and music ones.

True, there's plenty of humour and nostalgia value in the Bully's Prize Board round, where landing a dart in a red segment wins you a prize ("Iiiiin one, a child's BMX bike!"), black gets you nothing, and then you have the opportunity to gamble it all for a big prize.

As well as the quiz there's also a darts mode which lets you play 501, 301 and Around the Clock without the quiz frills. However, as we commented in our original Bullseye review, this doesn't add much to the fun when the darts controls aren't up to scratch.

As we concluded first time around:

"It's a fun little nostalgia blast for those who remember the TV programme, and you can master the dart controls so you're hitting triple 20s even if it doesn't look or feel very slick. And it earns an extra point just for being Bullseye, which – come on – you can't help but have a soft spot for."

It's a shame these two don't score as high for playability as they do nostalgia. Still, together they do provide some hours of entertainment for those who loved the TV gameshows. Just don't expect glitteringly slick productions and you won't be disappointed.