MOBILE PREVIEW

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Hands on with Buzz! Mobile

It's not always about the fastest finger first, y'know...

Product: Buzz! The Mobile Quiz | Developer: Typhon Mobile | Publisher: Studio X | Genre: Casual, Conversion, Quiz

by Keith Andrew

There's a lot to be said for the traditional game show. When I was growing up, if you went on television to win big at a TV quiz, you had to work for every penny and pound, answering question after question in front of a studio audience, lights blaring, nerves jangling. Now contestants spend their time arguing about who has got the biggest 'golden balls' with Jasper Carrot.

Just what's gone wrong?

First impressions of Buzz! Mobile suggest a return to those contests of yore, boasting as it does a straighforward but vast range of questions - and I'm not even talking about the categories, but rather the general mix of questions that make up the bulk of Buzz!'s general knowledge. Though not necessary the most difficult, it's the sheer scope of topics that promises so much - you're never quite sure what question is going to come next, and in a quiz, that can only be a good thing.

Many of the quizzes - most of which can be played solo or in multi-player - revolve around time and the ability to be quick with it. While there are various spins on this theme - enough to keep the whole affair from feeling stale, the whole thing is kept simple by keeping the controls down to a few button presses; see the answer you want out of the four available, and then hit the number by its side.

Yes, ironically for a game called Buzz! this is a game where you never actually have to 'buzz in', with questions being answered one on one, always drawn from a pool of four. And, of course, while up to four players can play together, it's on just the one handset, so the phone is passed from one person to another, with the same question given to each player.

Typhon has had the foresight to switch around the answers though, so there's no point in keeping a sneaky eye on your friend's fingers to see what number they pushed, because yours will be in a different order.

It's little touches like this that suggest Buzz! is set to be a quiz of a higher standing than most of its competitors - it's wide reaching, it seems like the full package, and most of all it seems fairly light-hearted and entertaining. Anyone who has sampled the PS2 original will recognise the style of presentation that comes part and parcel with any Buzz! release; wrong answers being greeted by some light ribbing and right answers treated with an amusing sense of smugness from the game's presenter, the appropriately named 'Buzz'.

Ultimately though, Buzz! will be measured by just how well this positive experience will carry to a second play-through. And a third. And a fourth. If it's still delivering at that stage, if it still feels fresh, rangy and just a little bit intense, then Typhon will have successfully managed to transport the feeling that attracted so many players to Buzz!'s original outings on Sony's home consoles over the last few years. All will be revealed come the game's full review, of course, which you can keep a track of by clicking the handy 'Track it!' link at the bottom of this page.

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