Consolation Prize- Family Gameshow Review

Barring Microsoft’s enigmatic decision to pull the plug on their popular adaption of 1 vs. 100, gamers are being presented with an increasing amount of game shows interpretations. From THQ’s proliferation of Are You Smarter than a Fifth Grader on practically every microprocessor-based device short of a toaster-oven to Ludia’s proficient adaptations of Press Your Luck, The Price is Right and Family Feud, nearly every popular content has made the jump from cable television to console controller. Somewhere, a developer must be trying to capture the limited luridness of The Newlywed Game into an interactive diversion- I just feel it.

Despite the presence of the Game Show Network’s logo on the front of the box, publisher Storm City’s Family Gameshow isn’t based on a televised competition. Instead, the title shrewdly offers three fictionalized contests which accommodate up to four players. With a handful of convenient options, a respectable amount of variety  and a tolerable presentation, budget-minded Wii owners may want to consider Family Gameshow for their next get-together.

Drawing inspiration from Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, Control Freak tasks players with answering a succession of multiple-choice trivia questions. Like the popular show, players have the ability to narrow down the list of possible answers by using a limited selection of ‘jokers’ which reveal incorrect responses. Dissimilar from the daytime program, questions are delivered from categories and when playing with multiple contestants- players may pass a question to one of their rivals. Despite sporadic spikes in difficulty, most of the queries were both interesting and reasonably current.

Less successful is Puzzle Addict, which is patterned after a crossword puzzle. While some might enjoy solving the various word clues, and occasional the round of Sudoku, word search,  or unscrambling, others will see why the game is best suited for a paper-and pencil translation (or alternatively, Crosswords DS). During one turn, I was issued a clue with more than one potential answer: ‘a three letter word for an article of clothing worn on the head’ (middle letter was an “A”). Knowing that both ‘cap’ and ‘hat’ could be used, illustrated the inadequacy of ambiguous clues into an rigid competition. Even more frustrating was the intermittent short word which only Scrabble players might have in their lexicon.

Fans of Nintendo’s Brain Age/Big Brain Academy series will have an advantage in Brain Strain, which presents participants with fifteen types of cerebral calisthenics. From adding sequences of number, identifying silhouettes, and placing sequences in order, each challenge requires a combination of focused concentration as well as speed. Although some of the game’s graphical assets resemble clipart, there’s a reasonable amount of a variety in each of Brain Strain’s recreations.

Before playing each of Family Gameshow‘s three diversions, players may pick from three difficulty levels. Additionally, the title’s ‘generations’ option allows younger participants from three ages (0-8, 9-12, 13-17, and 18+) to play, balancing the difficulty appropriately. For those with a limited amount of controls, the game allows players to share Wiimotes, lowering the game’s barrier of entry.

Forgoing Mii integration, Family Gameshow allows players to choose from eight modestly  rendered avatars. The caricatured hosts of the three games are drawn with a bit more detail, and animate well. Sadly, their voice-over sounds like it was recorded while speaking into an empty glass bottle- after a few rounds, their tinny inflictions grew tiresome. While the game’s virtual sets are fairly spartan, each presents a pleasant amount of reflection and gloss.

Although Family Gameshow lacks the name recognition and immediate familiarity presented by the current crop of licensed contests, it presents diversity not found in the translations of a single show. If your next gaming gathering doesn’t mind taking a few minutes to understand the nuances of Control Freak, rather than the instinctive recreation of an existing show, the title might just be worth it’s twenty-dollar price tag.