I doo! (Wild Wild West Steel Assassin (PC))

Member Name: fluffypup

Product:	Wild Wild West Steel Assassin (PC)
Date:	17/11/00 (171 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Creates the tension and atmosphere from the TV quiz show due to the questions, Chris Tarrant and the Music.

Disadvantages: Limited 1000 questions, the video sequences, the possibility of question add on packs and no children questions.

After the very successful and award winning game show Who Wants To Be A Millionaire (WWTBAM) comes the spin offs, with the PC Game developed by Eidos Interactive (makers of hugely popular Tomb Raider). This opinion is based on the PC Game.

Anyone, who hasn't watched the TV quiz show WWTBAM, charismatic Chris Tarrant is the host, it’s a quiz where contestants have to answer 15 questions to win the 'biggie' jackpot of £1 million. The questions get harder and the prize money increases the further you progress up the question ladder. The show's has a superb winning formula. Chris adds suspense and humour, the music, the questions aren't a walkover, the 3 lifelines (50-50, phone a friends & ask the audience) most people from any walk of life can enter the show and no one has yet managed to win the £1 million in the UK. This leads to the question does the PC game measure up to the TV show?

The PC game sticks to the same winning formula as the TV show. Chris Tarrant provides all the vocals and mannerisms we are all a custom to! These include: "Is that your final answer?"; "Are you sure?"; "You had the chance to walk away with £125,000 but…"; "This was the easiest question and you blew it" etc. The only video sequences present are that of a virtual camera spin and pan around the 2 chairs and the video screens. The music from the show is used to hype up the suspense and drama. Your palms might be sweating when you're at the £64,000 mark, no lifelines left, with the music simulating clock ticking and a heart beat. Therefore the makers of the PC game have succeeded in simulating the tension and realism of the TV quiz, but unfortunately without the money. The lifelines are also true to life. As the questions get harder, ask the audience percentages change from near 100% to 30%. Phone a friend is a bit comical, as we've had a Geordie, a bumbling old woman, a shy & reserved women, a
Welshman and a drunk! As the questions and the money pressure gets harder the reliability of your friends' answers reduces. The game has a handy league table of the day's and all-time winners, so there should be no arguments on the best haul of cash. It hasn't stopped us arguing that each other's questions are easier!

The PC game comes supplied with 1000 questions, which leads to the question is this enough? I don't think so! Although it's probably an avenue for Eidos to exploit in question add on packs. [It will probably help them recover some of their lost millions in their doomed dotcom share crash earlier in the year.] This has restricted our game play. We don't want to spend hours playing the game, so that when friends and family come round at Christmas we know all the answers because of repeated questions. To date we've played the game about 10 times and only had 2 repeated questions. In our eyes, this game is ideal for parties or for the whole family to participate.

The game has 3 modes of play for between 1 and 4 players. There is Head to Head game, where the players answer alternate questions on their own. The winner is the one with the most money. There is the Team game. Everyone plays as a team with team name. Each player answers his/her question in turn and then control goes onto the next team player on the next question. The team only has the 3 lifelines. The last game is the fastest finger. It is identical to the TV show but each person has a hotkey that they press when the correct answers (a-d) are in the correct order to a question. The fastest person to correctly answer the question correctly goes on to the hot seat.

The requirements of this PC game are horrific. A minimum installation requires Win95/98, P166, 16MB RAM, 2MB Video and 70MB of memory, although the complete installation required 400MB! The video sequence of the panning in and around the chairs and video screens is really slow o
n our PIII 450Mhz and even slower on the kids' PII 266Mhz! The video sequences are unnecessary, take up too much time and makes you motion sick! Just imagine what would happen at Xmas with a few brandies, white wine and a couple of beers!

I would recommend if you wanted something to play with the festive family Xmas then buy WWTBAM the PC game. WWTBAM PC game recreates part of the tension from the TV show - the only thing missing is the money. The team and head-to-head games are good. The video sequences are not needed! The price is a bit steep at £24.99 and probably limited with only 1000 questions. Therefore the life span and overall value for money is low. 5-10,000 questions and the choice of child/adult questions would have made this game really good. If you love the show and want a good PC game stocking filler for Xmas then buy this game.

[We bought this game for 99p plus an exchange of several old playstation games. To date the most we've won is £64,000 but the highest we've reached is £250,000.]

RRP £24.99

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