Who Wants to be a Millionaire?

"Great for the first few plays.............dire afterwards."

Ah, Who Want's to be a Millionaire. This game is based on the popular TV Quiz show first aired in Britain 1999. I saw this game about a year after and thought it was be a blast to get a piece of the action. Little did I know how uninspiring and generally bland the game was.

Graphics -
The developers have tried to give the exact feel which is shown on TV, but for some reason they have failed to include Mr Tarrant (the host in Britain) or even any of the audience. This turns me cold since all you can see is an empty studio. Very bland boring and dull. When you win anything above the £32,000 mark, you are presented with a check and proceed to the high scores table. In general the graphics are ok, a lot more could have been included to make the experience much more enjoyable.

Gameplay -
This game follows almost the exact pattern as the TV show but for those people who have not seen it I will briefly give a lowdown on how the game is played.

Single Player
The objective is to answer 15 consecutive multiple choice questions correctly in order to get to the £1 million mark. The money value starts at £100 and moves through to £200, £300, £500 and then £1000 with every correct answer you give. Once you reach the thousand pound mark you cannot lose it even if you get the next question wrong. The money keeps doubling up until you reach £32,000 and this is the other point whereby you cannot lose it. Now you are only 5 questions away from the £1 million.

Don't worry though, 3 lifelines are there to help along the way which include, 50/50, phone a friend and ask the audience. The phone a friend is just pure dumbness, the friends are all Tarrant's old chums? They are entirely selected at random, all sound the same and usually bleat on for around 20 seconds about their life story (most times related to the question) then eventually come out with totally unjustified or very loosely based answer. Another thing here, you don't even get to hear anyone telling the person on the other line what the question is, so how the hell do they know the answer?

We all know on the TV show that the 'ask the audience' lifeline is pretty reliable, most of the time they get the right answer, on this game they mostly get the answer wrong! or the percentages are just stupidly close even on the easy questions such as what continent is the country Zimbabwe? It's just insane and very annoying. 50/50 is the only half decent lifeline but even then, if you don't know the answer you probably never will.

Multiplayer
So much more could have been achieved here. For some reason the multiplayer is nothing like the TV show, perhaps they were feeling innovative? Each of the 4 players has to win fastest finger first in order to progress onto the main questions as in single player. You all pick a key your going to press, a question comes up and you have to press your key when you think the answers has been arranged into the right order. Whenever I played multiplayer it seemed that it was not 'fastest finger first' but in fact 'lucky git who pushed the button quicker than me'. Totally pointless. Whoever wins usually ends up slumped over the computer on their lonesome since the losers are furious that 'they' didn't win.

Controls
Very simple and easy to pick up. You just click on the answer you want or the lifeline you require with the mouse or alternatively press the corresponding keyboard letter, for example key 'A' for answer A..and so on.....

Sound -
Eidos have indeed done a fairly half decent job of replicating some of the sounds from the TV show such as the general theme tune, build up sound effects when your answering questions and the things that Chris Tarrant says etc.... but overall it is nothing compared to the feeling of excitement, anxiety and adulation feeling you get from watching the real, TV version. It always makes me chuckle when Tarrant goes ''Is that your final answer?'' but at times, especially at the big moments, his dumb comments can get a little grinding.

Replay Value -
Well after winning the £1 million there is nothing to really make you play again, perhaps just winning some more but once you won once, you've seen it all. Most of the time you get exactly the same questions so winning becomes easier and easier until pointlessness sets in. So the replay value is a bit dire.

Overall -
If it wasn't for the rubbish replay value, multiplayer and limited quantity of questions, Who Wants to be a Millionaire would have got a half decent score. It seems good for the first few days and quite fun with a few mates. If your a fan of the TV series give it a rental but I would suggest that you stay well away from this title. I personally would like my money back!

Reviewer's Score: 3/10, Originally Posted: 03/03/02, Updated 03/03/02