You are the weakest game.............goodb ye! (The Weakest Link (PS))

Member Name: trussellp

Product:	The Weakest Link (PS)
Date:	20/02/02 (70 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: one player isn't very exciting

Disadvantages: two player is so fun!!

It’s the game show that spawned a catchphrase which swept across the globe like a particularly virulent diarrhoea epidemic. Now, thanks to the guys and gals at Activision, you too can find yourself stabbing strangers in the back; watching team mates consistently fail to bank big money prizes; and sullenly walking the walk of shame, after being informed by ginger-whinger, Anne Robinson, that you are, undoubtedly, The Weakest Link.

For those of you who’ve never seen the hit BBC show (you’re not missing much – Who Wants To Be a Millionaire?’s better), the quiz starts with seven contestants receiving a heavily scripted ear-bashing from the black-clad, witch-like Robinson, before the baggy-faced hag launches them all into a quick-fire, against the clock quiz, with each question answered adding to the team’s collective winnings. At the end of each round, each contestant votes for who they considered to be the thicko of the last round, and the dunce with the most votes against them has to walk of, head hung low, as Robinson taunts and baits them.

This vicious circle of questions, voting, and abuse continues until only two contestants are left, when they both play head to head, in an attempt to win the (usually paltry) pile of cash the team managed to accumulate. Anne Robinson – probably a very pleasant lady in real life – performs the role of headmistress from Hell with practiced ease, adding a moderately enjoyable element to an otherwise pretty bog-standard general knowledge quiz.

Now, imagine all that, only smaller, and with you and up to six friends playing. And with no real money to win. Then make the evil Ms Robinson repeat the same scathing comments over and over again on an endless loop, with only the occasional variation thrown in, in an overwhelmingly futile attempt to ease the numbing tedium. Add to this the irritating “hmm, now I know this” style of comment from EVERY conte
stant EVERY time they answer a question, and before long you’re being driven insane by the shocking voice sample repetition.

Imagine also, a whole host of minor, but fundamental flaws which detract from the gameplay long enough for you to miss your question and lose all the money accumulated. Flaws such as Anne asking “In Entertainment, what is the answer to this question…?”, only for the question to be one concerning the Battle of Britain, or how many eyes a spider has. While I’m sure World War II battles and the vision of insects are many things, entertaining they are not. It’s a minor issue, but when seven questions out of ten are in a category completely different to the one read out by Anne, it’s an issue which really should have been addressed before the game hit the shelves.



In single player mode, the game becomes painfully dull practically before it’s even out of the box, though in multi-player mode, you do get the satisfaction of voting off your own real life friends and family. Of course, for the person who goes out in the first round and is then forced to sit through round after endless round of monotonous repetition and glaring question inconsistencies, multi-player mode might well turn out to be even more nauseating than single-player. At least when playing on your own, when you get knocked out, you can switch the game off and never, ever play it again.

I promised myself when I heard I was getting the game to review that I wouldn’t say it, that I wouldn’t sink to that level, but unfortunately, in the face of such an appalling software catastrophe, I’m left with no choice:

Activision, you are the weakest link.

Goodbye.

Summary: