Wiiloveit.com: TV Show King

TV Show King - Wii Review

Also in the series - TV Show King Party

Reviewer: Billy White

Lets get this over with: TV Show King is a quiz game. But don't look away yet! TV Show King is also one of the best quiz games you'll play - especially at such a good price.

The aim of the game is basically to answer a series of multiple choice questions that are thrown at you in the style of a TV game show. Each of these include four answers for you to choose from, which can vary depending on the difficulty level you set the game at.

Of course, this wouldn't be any fun without a few twists. To add to the enjoyment of the already good TV-show likeness (which includes little clips of the presenter saying which round you're on and how good you're doing every now and then, as well as the saucy assistant who shows off your scores), the last third of the overall game includes special rounds, where you can only read answers to questions by scratching them off, or using a torch to read them. These often create annoyance, but once you get used to them, they're not that bad an addition.

It does get better though, with the chance to skip every cut-scene a press of A if you wish, and the addition of the completely unoriginal money wheel which appears at the end of each round. Every player chooses whether or not they want to spin the wheel, and whilst that means they could earn or swap money with somebody else, it also includes the chance of losing money or giving it away to somebody else. After a few rounds, you begin to realize the fun this feature actually adds to your game as you take a break from the questions, and start to understand why this isn't just your ordinary quiz show.

Whereas playing against the CPU can get quite boring after a while, the multiplayer mode is in a league of it's own, and is great fun with a group of friends or at a party. The game plays exactly the same, and if there aren't four of you playing the extra spaces will be taken up by CPU characters, but to make things even more competitive, you can always see what the other players have chosen as you race to work out which answer is correct. Tricks and tactics come into play here, since you can always change your mind until the timer runs out (which lasts fifteen seconds for each question, but speeds up once everyone has made a decision - this game hangs around for nobody), though if you chose the same answer as somebody else, the player who chose that one first gets more money.

   After the set number of rounds (3,6 or 9 depending on your settings, each consisting of 7 questions and a round on the wheel) are over, the top two players go head to head in a first-to-five play off. This really builds up the tension and the winner of this round takes half of the other players cash total in the end.

   That's the main game explained, but there are still other features to be pointed out. There's a high score table which adds up all of your end-of-round totals, there's compatibility with Mii's (either on the system or straight off your Wii remote) and there's the Quiz Attack round where you see how many questions you can get correct in a row.

   All in all, not a bad package for 1000 points (since the game does include 3000 questions in total), and as a family or party game it could certainly be much worse. There are flaws, the high score and Mii selection menus are a pain to navigate - why couldn't they just allow d-pad use or B button scrolling? - sometimes the CPU is ridiculously awful and the graphics are slightly dodgy on the quiz show host Jerry, but you'll be having so much fun you won't notice.

Final Score

24/30
Very Good

Gameplay 8
Good balanced family fun
Presentation 8
The liveliness of the design adds to the fun
Enjoyment 4
Great fun when not too difficult
Other 4
All we need now is a turn-based mode for the slower family members