Tom's feeling the buzz.

I’m getting slightly confused at the moment. There seems to be a trend to release games on handheld consoles, that should only work on the bigger home consoles. But thankfully, so far they have all worked. Buzz is probably the biggest surprise, as it works so well.

Buzz on the PS2 and PS3 relies on the party aspect, something that Sony are good at accommodating. We all know how Buzz works on the PS3 and PS2, connect the Buzzers, put the disc in sit around with you mates and let the “friendly” rivalry begin, simple. But how in the name of portable gaming do you transfer those experiences to the PSP? Mini buzzers with the PSP sat on a stand so you can all crowd around the screen? Thankfully no (big sigh of relief)!

The answer comes in two forms! One of which I should have seen coming really, Game Sharing. Flick the WLAN switch on your PSP and let a friend share the experience of porto-Buzz. The other raised a few eyebrows if I’m honest, as it only involves one PSP and one copy of the game and no accessories. How is this achieved? Well you answer your question and pass it to the next player, simple.

There are two modes available when playing with one PSP, Quiz Host and Pass Around. In Quiz host one player drops out from the active and becomes the quiz host. This player decides how many points to award when you get a question right and how many to deduct when you get it wrong. Just makes sure the Host is impartial! Pass around is as it sounds, you answer you question then pass it on to the next player.

Here are some further thoughts on Buzz from three members of the online team:

Hannah:

“I really enjoyed the excitement of the game show host and it really got us in a competitive mood with lots of chattering and general cheekiness about people being ''losers'' for having got questions wrong! I did lose the game but I thoroughly enjoyed it and would recommend it to people going on group trips or just couples on holidays - it'd be great on a plane or train to while away those long hours!”

Katy:

“In Pass Around, only one person can play at a time. This is good on the one hand, because it keeps the other players in suspense of whether or not the other player gets the question right, yet on the other hand, it has a tendency to exclude the other players and leave them twiddling their thumbs waiting for their go. Quiz host provides a slightly more interactive group gameplay, everyone being asked the same question makes it more like its PS2/3 counterpart. It also asks some more alternative questions, involving your surroundings or actually physically answering questions (e.g. Can you do a one-armed push-up?)  This makes the questions much more sociable and good fun.”

Ali:

“Having never played a Buzz game before I had no pre-conceptions as to how it should work. We played in a small group passing the PSP as instructed and battling not to come last. I was quietly pleased that no-one could watch me guess at questions & mock my extreme lack of general knowledge. In a party environment I could see it being great fun & as something to do on while travelling Buzz is the perfect choice.”

The single player itself is solid as well, but as you can imagine it doesn’t have the same flair as the multiplayer, due to you playing on your own. And Buzz in all honesty is a multiplayer game. But the single player is still fun, the single player is structured into 7 stages. The first set is 3 quizzes that need to be completed before moving onto the next stage, which is a timed quick-fire round. That is the formula for Buzz and it works for the PSP extremely well.

In terms of presentation it’s Buzz, smooth animations, bright colourful cast of characters and full on speech from the quiz master himself. Buzz on the PSP is, thankfully, one of those big to small console conversions that works, and works well. But it does have the potential to be so much more than what it is. But this is only the first attempt at Buzz on the PSP, and for a first attempt it is a great one.

GAME's Verdict

• Buzz retains it slick and easy-to-use look.
  
• Hundreds of questions to answer.
  
• Retains that special Buzz sense of humour.

• Downloadable content like the PS3 version would have been immense.
  
• No ability to choose what category of questions to answer.
• Go!Cam Camera compatibility could have added some fun elements.

Review by: Tommyrot Daly
Version Tested: PSP
Review Published: 25.07.08