Review of Price is Right, The Interactive

Introduction

`The Price is Right` is possibly one of the longest running quiz shows in television history. Taken wholesale from the American version, the longest running host for the series here was Leslie Crowther, though Bruce Forsythe also gave it a whirl, and more recently it`s been hosted by Joe Pasquale.

The premise, despite some dressing up, is for contestants to guess the price of displayed items to get through various rounds before leaving with several small prizes.

This version of `The Price is Right` is another of those lame DVD games that try to pretend that you don`t need a gaming console or a PC to enjoy some sophisticated interactive fun. Unfortunately it`s more firm evidence to the contrary. This is more like getting stuck on a DVD menu without ever getting to the main feature.

Unlike other DVD games though, this one manages to go one further in terms of completely frustrating the player. Far from being a nostalgic tread down memory lane, this one makes a mockery of the original format, asking questions like: `how much is cling film? £1.45 or £1.54?`. I don`t know about you, but I`ve paid a variety of prices for my cling-film, so the results are nothing but the most inane guesswork. The items displayed are all cheesy computer-generated graphics so any proper informed guesswork about any item is utterly futile.

Just to add insult to injury, rather than use Leslie Crowther (well, he`s unavailable after all) they chose to use some god-awful links (filmed in a chroma studio on DV) by Joe Pasquale. He just couldn`t be more irritating if he tried.

Not good.

Video

Mainly computer generated. The Joe Pasquale links all look a bit sad though, filmed almost certainly on DV and looking very `corporate video`.

Audio

Fine.

Features

None.

Conclusion

Do you remember `The Price is Right` with nostalgic fondness? Do you remember shouting out the prices to the wide variety of items on offer? Yes? Well, don`t buy this as it will spoil those happy memories forever.

Quite apart from the sheer pointlessness of it all (no prizes, computer generated products with made-up prices turning the whole debacle into a guessing match, unfathomable sub-games etc), this is further spoilt by the most irritating links ever committed to video tape ( by squeaky voiced Joe Pasquale).

Add to this the slowness of the medium and you have a package that will disappoint the whole family on Christmas day - possibly becoming the catalyst for one of those traditional festive family rows. (`Who bought this?` etc).

Come on down? You`ve got to be joking!