Review of Interactive Championship Challenge

Introduction

During the festive period, two titles were released which would set the trend for gaming on the DVD medium. Firstly was the hugely successful interactive home version of ITV`s popular game show `Who wants to be a Millionaire?` True to the show`s format, the game required you to start at the bottom of a tree & gradually work your way towards the top by answering a series of multiple-answer questions. Interactive Championship Challenge, released not long after, pretty much follows that same formula, but with a few interesting alterations made.

There are two selectable game modes on offer, with you being given the chance to take either the path of `The Championship` or `The Treble`. `The Championship` is a long haul up a thirty-seven place league ladder, from which you can look ahead & plot your journey to the top. Displayed on each of the thirty seven positions, is the club currently occupying the spot, and also the topic of question you`ll need to answer in order to dislodge that team. You can choose the difficulty of the questions you answer, ranging from easy to hard, with hard moving you up three places, whilst medium & easy take you up two & one respectively. The questions come in a number of different categories, such as `Action`, `Odd One Out`, `Mystery` and the traditional `Spot the Ball` amongst a few others. Each question requires you to carefully view either a clip or an image, and then answer the question that ensues. You get three life lines that come in the form of substitutions, and after that all subs have been made, its game over.

The alternative mode, `The Treble`, is pretty much the same; only you now must answer questions correctly on a consistent basis, as the life lines aspect has gone.

Video

The game comes with a cuttingly sharp full-frame transfer and a nice basic layout that you`d expect from a quiz. The footage quality is of a pretty high standard, as none of it really dates back too far, and all matches shown are domestic based, so no shoddy South American TV casts.

Audio

Martin Tyler is his usual uncharismatic-self, but certainly helps you along with some in-valuable guidance during your early stages of play. The music sounds like some cheap German dance anthem, but obviously doesn`t detract from your concentration level as silence ensues for the questions & such.

Features

Apart from the two game modes, there`s an additional two selections that you`re presented with at the game menu. First up is the `Video Vault`, which compiles the bulk of the most memorable moments from the history of the Premiership. If you`re looking for the Premier Leagues greatest come backs, hat-tricks, bloopers or Referee idiocy, then the `Video Vault` is the place to look.

Secondly is `The Stats`, which is a textual representation of each club`s record in the Premier League, and how they compare to rival sides. Pretty much constitutes as a bog-standard extra.

Conclusion

Interactive Championship Challenge`s real appeal comes in the first five or six hours of play, during which time I had a real blast. It only took half of that time for me to start getting the inevitable repeated questions, but it wasn`t on a hugely regular basis, so there`s a good archive which will keep you going for awhile.

At £19.99 retail, it`s hard to recommend a title of this nature to online readers, when there`s such a variation of great free football quiz oriented sites on the web. That said, this game`s challenge factor is outstanding, as is the compilation of clips & trivia that`s equally divided around the clubs of the Premier League. The narration by Martin Tyler capped off a pleasurable experience for me, and I`ll be sure to keep an eye on this new influx of DVD games.