Common Sense Media Review
By Chad Sapieha
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Fun trivia game has questions suitable for teens and adults.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 13+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Play
Videos and Photos
Buzz! Quiz World
What's It About?
BUZZ!: QUIZ WORLD, the latest entry in Sony’s PlayStation-exclusive quiz game series, is essentially a refined and augmented version of last year’s Buzz! Quiz TV. Players familiar with the series will recognize the game’s formula, which sees two to eight players working through multiple rounds of categorized general knowledge questions. Some rounds reward speed, while others favor accuracy. There’s also some silliness thrown, as in one round in which players toss a bomb with a lit fuse back and forth between questions and another that ends with at least one contestant being tossed into a vat of green goo. The solo game modes have players trying to string together runs of correct answers. Players can also compete online in multiplayer matches (without voice or text communication) and even create and share their own quizzes via an Internet-connected PC.
Is It Any Good?
Like most of the games in the Buzz! franchise, Quiz World can be a lot of fun played with friends and family. The intuitive Buzz controllers make it a cinch for anyone with an opposable thumb to pick up and play, and the questions, which cover a broad swath of common knowledge ranging from sports and movies to history and music, shouldn’t prove too taxing for anyone in their teens or older. The user-generated content is just the sugar on top, even if their implementation doesn’t feel significantly different from the user-made quizzes we saw in last year’s game.
The only real concern is whether there’s enough new content to make it a worthwhile purchase for those who own Buzz: Quiz TV. We think so, but with a caveat. The play modes and features may feel familiar, but there are over 5,000 new questions. If you’re starting to run into repeats playing its predecessor, then buying this sequel makes sense. Otherwise, you’ll likely have just as much fun continuing to play the game you already own.
Online interaction: Players can compete with others online, but there is no communication between players, making it a safe multiplayer experience. Unfortunately, there were very few players engaged in online matches at the time of this writing, two days post-release. Also, players can compose their own quizzes using an Internet-connected PC and submit them for other players to download. These quizzes may contain inappropriate content, but they are vetted by both the community and developer staff to ensure their suitability.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about how to interpret the results of quiz games. Do you feel badly if you lose? Do you think it’s an indication of your intelligence? Discuss how the outcome is largely dependent on the categories that come up and your buzzing reflexes.
Families can also discuss the quality of the game’s user-generated content. Do you access it very often? Do you think that these user-made trivia tests compare favorably with those made by the game’s developers?
Game Details
- Platform : PlayStation 3
- Pricing structure :
- Available online? : Available online
- Publisher : Sony Computer Entertainment
- Release date : November 10, 2009
- Genre : Party
- ESRB rating :
- Last updated : June 19, 2019
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