|
Many of our regulars here at
Electronic Theatre
will no doubt recollect when
 the series first aired. The shows’
recent revival came as little of a shock, as Television once again
turns its’ attention to Game Shows after the great success of
programmes such as Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? and
Deal Or No Deal?, spurred-on by a coming-of-age as the 1980’s
Catchphrase generation grows-up, and demand more of the same
for their now powerful demographic. But any gamers keen on the
likes of Scene It?: Lights, Camera, Action! or
BUZZ!
would do well to realise that the release of Telly Addicts
on the NintendoDS is less likely to be that of a developer wishing
to use the licence to push forward the genre, and more likely that
borne of a marketing departments’ coffee break.
Route 1 Games has been given the job of development
and, before beginning to dissect the title, it would only be fair
to say that the team have carved a complementary package for the
series with which should be considered an incredibly limited budget
and allocation of time. However, having said that, within the first
ten minutes of play – the ten minutes it takes to complete the game
– most gamers will immediately realise that Telly Addicts
does in-fact hold few surprises.
No user-customisation options are available other than
volume control and whether to play with a second gamer, passing the
NintendoDS between. The game consists of six Rounds of questions –
Screen Test, Classic Clips, Spotlight Round, Reveal Round, Guess
The Year and Randomiser – which can be played through by one
player, or alternately by two.
Each Round offers varying rule sets, from viewing a
captured still from a Television Show and answering a question
about it, to spinning a wheel to select a genre of show from which
your question will be drawn, but also varies the rules of display
on the NintendoDS screens. While all answers are selected by either
a tap of the NintendoDS Touch Screen of by using the D-Pad and Face
Buttons, the organisation of the title could have been better
thought-through to a considerable degree. The issue is apparent
from the very first Round; Screen Test, in which the player is
presented with a question on the top screen, and a captured still
of the Show on the Touch Screen. Having to switch between views on
the Touch Screen to see the answer selection, and then back again
should they wish to view the captured still once more, isn’t the
best design decision to have made, and in a timed Round, it
obviously becomes a considerable hindrance. Spinning the wheel in
the Randomiser round by tapping the button in the centre, as
opposed to physically spinning it with your Stylus, is simply
thoughtless.
As mentioned above, the game can be completed in ten
minutes, but to do so and simply leave it there is to miss the
point. The title is based around competitive bouts of general
knowledge, and ideally suited for play between two players. Train
or plane journeys spring to mind as the best use of the title, and
while kids in the car may present itself as another opportunity,
the questions are devised as
.jpg) such that anyone under the age of
twenty would simply be clueless for most of the title. Telly
Addicts is a game created for the twenty-fifty
Dr. Kawashima’s Brain Training:
How Old Is Your Brain? market, more commonly realised as
the “casual” market.
The title’s presentation doesn’t particularly
demonstrate any flair on behalf of the developers, and much of
what’s on show could be attributed to a mobile phone-based JAVA
game. The Cut-Scenes featuring Noel Edmonds’ explanation of the
rules and score tallying, as well as the question-based clips of
other Shows are presented well. An irritating degree of pixilation
is present and the video image is far from full screen, however
there are no irksome Load delays and the Game Card features a
decent selection. The sound quality is, astonishingly, the most
easily complimentable part of UBi Soft’s package. Featuring
pitch-perfect sound bytes form Mr. Edmonds and the original Shows,
and no irritating elevator music accompaniment.
Telly Addicts is a very difficult game to score.
In a package comprising of little more than the puzzle section of a
Sunday newspaper, it would be hard to recommend the title for it’s
longevity, and certainly would be a crime to even think hardcore
gamers would give the game a second glance. However, for those
birthed to the industry through the likes of BUZZ! and
Dr. Kawashima’s Brain Training, and who have found little
solace in the likes of
Mario Kart Wii or
The Legend Of
Zelda: Phantom Hourglass, may well view Telly Addicts
as a reasonable way to pass half-an-hour; but even then, no
more than that. |
