Review of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? (DVD Game)

Introduction

Christmas is coming,
The geese are getting fat,
Please put a penny,
In the DVD makers` hats.

This is so blatatly a title released with Christmas in mind. Picture the scene....

It`s Christmas Day, everyone is stuffed and dozy after feasting on the usual fare. What to do next? Play a game. The actual game has evolved over the years, from charades to cards to board games like Monopoly, Cluedo and Trivial Pursuit. With the advent of home computers and consoles there have been even more options, including various versions of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? and The Weakest Link for most of the popular consoles.

If you wanted to move away from the traditional board game, but didn`t want to get a console, there wasn`t much choice - until now. Enter the interactive DVD version of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? The format is simple, answer questions, win virtual money, impress your friends and family with your knowledge of inane trivia like the gestation period of a Koala (35 days), or Eric Clapton`s real name (Eric Patrick Clapp).

You must know the format - 1 question, 4 possible answers, 3 lifelines to help you out. 15 questions to win a virtual million pounds. And all of it on your standard DVD player - no DVD ROM drive required.

Video

Maybe I was expecting too much, but as the programme itself is widescreen, I assumed the DVD would be. But it`s not, just a standard full frame transfer instead. It all looks authentic, there are shots of the audience, and the graphics look fine. It does appear to stutter briefly now and again, but that`s probably the DVD switching between lots of tracks really quickly. Nothing to complain about as it doesn`t crash (like the PSOne version does sometimes) or spoil your fun.

Audio

Just a DD2.0 stereo track which is perfectly adequate. You can hear the questions, and you can hear the advice of your "phone a friend" if you need them. What more can I say? This is not the disc for you if you are irritated by the sound of Chris Tarrant!

Features

Nothing (but what were you expecting anyway?)

You do get a booklet explaining what to do, but it`s all so blindingly simple - move up/down/left/right to select your answer and press enter/play/select on your DVD remote.

Conclusion

Do you enjoy trivia? Do you enjoy quizzes? Do you scream at some of the idiotic contestants when Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? is on TV? If so then this is your chance to prove your mastery of trivia, if you haven`t already got the board game, PSOne game etc. etc.

An interesting idea for a DVD and well executed. There are 2 discs and over 1000 questions here, so it should keep you going until New Year at least. I can`t really talk about the technical quality as it all looks and sounds fine, and is perfectly playable, all with your normal DVD player. What more can you want? I`m sure more titles will be following soon.

A handy gift to help stave off the rows about what to watch on TV after the Queen`s speech. Good clean fun.