Shameless cash-in (Who Wants to be a Millionaire? (DC))

Member Name: shaneo632

Product:	Who Wants to be a Millionaire? (DC)
Date:	03/09/09 (2 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Has the look and feel of the show

Disadvantages: Cheaply done - no visual element, small variety of questions

I recall having this game on the Dreamcast some years ago, and although it's a rather nifty idea, it's not up to much here - it's been crafted with extreme laziness, and whilst we all love the TV show, it just hasn't translated very well here into a game because the developers went for the cheapest, most tawdry approach possible. What's more, when it retailed for about £40 on release, what's the point, when it makes absolutely zero use of the Dreamcast's enhanced graphics capabilities, and is even an embarassment enough to be on the PS1! It's a shame, because it's a novel idea.

We all know how the game works - 10 contestants begin in a "fastest finger first" round, and the person who gets the four answers in the right order quickest will be eligible to play the game, where they have to answer 15 questions correctly to win £1,000,000, or they can stop at any point and simply cash out, as well as use three lifelines (phone a friend, 50/50, and ask the audience) to aid their progress.

Whilst the game has the same logos, videos, music, and voiceover (from Chris Tarrant), you never actually see Tarrant, and I think it would have been a lot more fun if they tried to recreate a computerised Chris Tarrant - even if it would've looked a big dodgy, I would have at least admired that they'd made the effort, rather than plonking us in front of two empty chairs and throwing questions at us! Also, there's no rendered audience either, and if FIFA games can render hundreds of audience members, I don't think it's past the developers to fill a small arena, but alas, they've taken as many shortcuts as possible to throw out a quick money spinner that has a fairly small variety of questions. It's very impersonal and not very inviting!

Summary: Good potential but a failure