Buzz! The Mega Quiz (PlayStation 2)

BUZZ! THE MEGA QUIZ, a trivia game for the PlayStation 2, comes bundled with four large-buttoned, wired controllers and features enough original questions for about 50 one-hour games.

Each game is composed of several short trivia rounds. Some rounds favor accuracy over speed, while others require a quick buzzer thumb. There are times when players simply need to answer questions about movies, sports, history, and science, and other times when they participate in more unconventional competitions, like figuring out the identity of an obscured image or throwing pies into the faces of other contestants.

Unlike other quiz show video games, Buzz! The Mega Quiz is so fast-paced and eclectic that it takes a long time for it to begin feeling old. You can cut rounds you don't like from the roster and adjust the number of questions asked. You can adjust their difficulty of the questions (though even at the easiest setting we don't recommend the game for kids younger than 10). With a memory card, the game will track which of its 5,000 questions have already been used, ensuring few if any repeats over dozens of competitions.

The surprisingly droll, English-accented host lobs brief, perfectly timed, and eerily accurate jibes at poorly performing players. The only problem is the final round, which lets distantly trailing players catch up to the leader in a matter of seconds if they answer just a couple of questions quickly and correctly. That may be noble, but it can be aggravating to those out front who may have just spent an hour working to build up a significant lead.