Review: Buzz Quiz World

Ah, trivia, how do I love thee?

Let me count the ways.. 1-8, that’s how.

It comes with 4 buzzers.

Buzz Quiz World is the follow-up to last year’s Buzz Quiz TV.  Many of the inherent problems have been rectified, and the best part is that it uses the same dlc question packs that Buzz TV did, meaning you can have just about neverending quizzes.  The box set comes with over five thousand questions, and I played TV a LOT, never hearing the same question twice.  When you add in the fact that you can make and download your own quizzes online for free, it’s never-ending trivia fun.

Gameplay: If you are playing locally, the game supports up to 8 players using the special bluetooth buzzers that come with the game.  Four come with the game, but the buzzers are NOT sold separately.  Your best bet is to try to pick up Quiz TV (I got one for $20) if you plan on using all 8.  Each player selects an avatar, most of them absurd, and then the game progresses through 5 rounds of various question games, with the last portion being the elimination round called ‘The Final Countdown.’  And yes, it sports the song, and yes, it will get stuck in your head.  The differing game types are inventive and challenging.  Many of them reward the person who buzzes in the fastest on the colored keys, so knowing where the colors are is imperative to your Quiz success.  Oddly, the giant red BUZZ button at the top is hardly ever used.  It will take you a few times to get used to the different rules for the different events, but it is pretty easy to pick up.

TV had some problems with online integration; in that you couldn’t take multiple people on your home system vs. other players online, it would consolidate you into one representative.  Unfun.  World fixes all that, and you can have up to 8 players online in a game, no matter how many people you have on your system.  It’s amazingly fun, and actually seems to change the dynamic of the games, as people begin cooperating to beat the people on the other system.  It’s truly a couch-vs-couch experience.

Plusses: Fast, frenetic trivia fun.  If you like trivia, you’ll love this experience.
Minuses: Sometimes hard to hear Buzz give the rules; you’ll need to memorize where the colored buttons are and be fast at hitting them; only four buzzers come with the game, if you want 8 players locally, you’ll have to find a cheap copy of Buzz Quiz TV to get the extra four.

Answer first, and gain control of whom the pie is thrown at. Pied twice and you're done.

Presentation: One word: Slick.  They’ve basically given it a real gameshow look and feel, almost reminiscent of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? in it’s sleek set design.  Buzz loves to taunt people who get questions wrong, and that’s half the fun.  Audio is top-notch, the announcer has a clear and understandable voice, and Buzz’s antics are usually amusing.  There are plenty of polished visual techniques as if you were truly watching a quiz show being broadcast.  And while the entire game is very tongue-in-cheek, you won’t see any of that in the production values.

Plusses: Clear visuals, great audio, good-sounding crowd.  Visual effects and fireworks are well-done.

Minuses: Sometimes difficult to hear Buzz.  It doesn’t happen often, but sometimes he’s giving instructions and you just don’t hear him as well.

The Final Countdown.

Final Verdict and Summary:

If you’re looking for a trivia game that you and all your friends, or perhaps your entire family can play, then look no farther.  With kids’ packs of DLC questions that integrate right into the game, no matter how young or old, if trivia is your thing, then this is your game.

With fun, animated characters in a well-produced TV-type quiz show, you will lose hours to Buzz’s myriad questions and categories whether playing against those in your house or against other families online.  Not only is this a great party game, it’s a great anytime game.  The ability to download new quiz packs on top of the ability to create and download your own quizzes online means that if you desire, you will NEVER run out of new and challenging questions.  While certain small things need to be addressed (as explained throughout above), this is a VAST leap ahead over Buzz Quiz TV, and should be in every trivia-lover’s collection.

9/10