Who Wants to be a Millionaire? 2011

Remember when Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? was a massive ratings winner, pulling in the kind of crowds usually reserved for the weekly soaps, royal weddings, or the episodes of The X-Factor in which Cheryl Cole spontaneously bursts into tears once she's sure the cameras are firmly fixed on her?

So run-of-the-mill is Tarrant's little baby these days that he has to resort to threatening to remove an item of clothing each time a contestant gives a wrong answer just to keep them awake, let alone engage the somewhat shrinking audience at home.

If I were to hazard a guess, I'd suggest over-familiarity is probably what has lead to the series' demise. The show went from being 'event television', to be on almost every day. It got very samey, just like – funnily enough – Glu's annual tie-in.

The millionth millionaire

For those who have any experience of one of the 7 million other versions of Who Wants to be a Millionaire? on mobile, what's on offer here by no means changes the formula.

Indeed, the only thing refreshed is the questions, updated in part to reflect the news throughout the past 12 months.

As such, the game plays out exactly as you might expect, every correct answer upping the figure on the cheque winging its way to your fictional bank account. There's also a scoreboard to try and top, with the fastest answers – and the ability to answer the fastest finger first opener – adding to your total.

Playing as one of five set characters – the ability to use photos stored on your phone sorely missing - the questions you encounter vary wildly.

For instance, don't be surprised if the game tackles your knowledge – or, indeed, lack of it – about mountain ranges early on, while somewhat easier questions on pop stars often pop up fairly late on.

There's also an alarming amount of repetition, the same questions featuring again and again, just three or four games in.

Combined with the game's standard three life lines – thankfully pointing the way towards the right answer each and every time during my playtest – it's hard not to pick up a fairly sizable amount of money, even on a bad day.

Whether a new range of questions in a franchise long since past its peak really warrants a fresh purchase, however, is the first question many of you might like to answer.