''Buzz!: The Hollywood Quiz'' is a
party
A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a Hospitality, host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, recreation, or as part of a festival or other commemoration or celebration of a special occasion. A party will oft ...
video game
A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...
developed by
Relentless Software
Relentless Software was a British video game developer based in Brighton. Founded in 2003, the company was best known for developing most games in Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony's ''Buzz!'' series from 2005 to 2010. Relentless released its ...
and published by
Sony Computer Entertainment
Sony Interactive Entertainment LLC (SIE) is an American video game and digital entertainment company that is a major subsidiary of Japanese conglomerate Sony, Sony Group Corporation. It primarily operates the PlayStation brand of video game co ...
for the
PlayStation 2
The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October, in Europe on 24 Novembe ...
. It is the fifth instalment in the ''
Buzz!
''Buzz!'' is a series of video games developed by Relentless Software and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable consoles. It was conceptualized by ...
'' series. Players have to answer questions asked by the quiz master (the eponymous Buzz) using the four Buzz! remote controls.
There are two games available in the single player mode, which are Time Builder, where answering questions will gain time in the final round, and Hotseat, where players must answer as many questions as they can, using the time they accumulated in Round 1. To gain points, players must bank when appropriate. If they get a question wrong, they lose all the points they did not bank.
Rounds
Hollywood Stars
Similar to 'Point Picker', players choose a category on a big wheel to determine the next questions to be asked. Then each player answers the question to earn points.
Fastest Finger
A photo clue appears on screen and players then have to buzz in with the correct answer as quickly as possible. The less time taken to answer, the more points awarded to the player if the answer is correct.
Fact n' Fiction
The players are presented with a "true or false" type question. They then have to answer accordingly.
Top Rank
Players put four answers into the correct order as fast as they can to score points. When all players have made a selection, the correct order is revealed. Points are awarded based on speed of answering.
Pie Fight
The first contestant to answer a question correctly wins the chance to throw a cream pie at an opponent. Each player can be hit by a pie twice before they're out. Points are awarded in reverse order of elimination, i.e. the last player standing or eliminated wins more points than the player who was (previously) eliminated.
Rollover
Contestants get to choose a category to answer questions from. The contestant with the lowest score chooses first, followed by the contestant with the next lowest score. When the questions arrive, if a player gets one of their questions wrong, the points they could have won are put into a kitty. The next contestant to answer a question correctly will pick up all of the points in the kitty generated by other players wrong answers.
Point Stealer
A picture, a question and some possible answers are slowly revealed. Players must buzz in when they think they know the answer. If the answer is right, they get to steal 500 points from an opponent. If it's wrong, they're out until the next question.
The Final Countdown
The points that players have amassed during the previous rounds are converted into bars of time which gradually tick down. Answering a question correctly temporarily halts the countdown, but when a player's bar ticks down to zero, they are eliminated from the competition. Bonus time is awarded for being the first to answer correctly, while a chunk of time is removed for each incorrect answer. The object of the round is to be the last contestant standing, thus becoming the overall winner of ''Buzz!: The Hollywood Quiz''.
Reception
The game received "generally favourable reviews" according to the
review aggregation
A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...
website
Metacritic
Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...
.
[ Greg Miller of ]IGN
''IGN'' is an American video gaming and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa district and is headed by its former e ...
said Relentless Software could have just stuck with the same style as the previous games, but instead chose a new style that was an obvious change right from the very first menu. He praised the improvement of the characters, although their graphics still had a jaggyness about them, but admitted that this was probably more the cause of the PS2 holding the game back. In summing up he said the game was deep, fun and more polished than previous Buzz! titles.[
]
References
External links
Official site
Relentless Software
Sleepydog Ltd
*
{{Buzz! video games
2007 video games
Buzz!
Multiplayer and single-player video games
Party video games
PlayStation 2 games
PlayStation 2-only games
Relentless Software games
Sony Interactive Entertainment games
Video games developed in the United Kingdom