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Trivial Pursuit (Xbox 360)
by katykicker
=== Game play ===
From the off you will find that the basics of this game remain the same as the board game. You will half a circular board with different colours and there will be special squares that allow you to earn a piece of 'pie' to complete your pie of 6 correct answers on questions from different topics and then you ... will be the winner of the game. Each colour represents a different topic of question as there are 6 different ones.
There are some differences to this game such as different variations. There is a clear the board mode where you can go through the game, alone, and you will be able to 'delete' different coloured sections whenever you answer a question correctly. This can be quite a fun game if you are able to answer lots of the questions correctly as you can have a quick game without having to spend too long playing. There is a friends and family mode also that is quite fun and is the one that has been played the most in our house. The questions are quite simple which means that everyone can get involved in this game.
On average one game can last anyway up to about 30 minutes which is enough time not to be bored at the end but short enough that just one game can be played in the evenings after work if we want to.
=== Price ===
Well the price of this will vary greatly and mine was actually received a while ago as part of a gaming bundle from Amazon and probably worked out at about £15.00 which was reasonable enough for the length of time that I played the game for. You can pick this up for just a few pounds now preowned and CEX currently sell this for just £2.00.
=== Overall opinion ===
This game is based quite well on the original and I feel like there is enough variety and change to make this a little more fun for the whole family, even the younger ones. The downloadable content for this game is quite relevant and there are a few different question packs that can be purchased to increase the longevity of the game. These vary in points and while they can seem a little bit expensive this does increase the longevity of the game quite greatly.
The graphics of this game are average, nothing special, but then there is not really any opportunity for amazing special effects and I suppose that I got what I was expecting with this game.
This game is not bad, the longevity is not the best but the downloadable content questions do add something extra to this game. I would probably prefer to play the original game, if I had to choose between the two, but this is quite fun and the different modes bring something extra to the game that you do not get with the board game.
I found that the achievements were mainly fairly easy but there were one or two that were designed to be very challenging and this did work because I ended up carrying on with the game just so I could earn those harder achievements. I did not complete all of the achievements on this game just because I got bored with it and that is the main reason for my 3/5 rating.
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Trivial Pursuit (Xbox 360)
by strawberry123
For me, Christmas is about spending time with family as well as eating and drinking lots! We normally like to play a game around Christmas and usually opt for the classic board games such as Pictionary or Taboo. However, this year we decided to do things a bit differently and buy the xbox version of Trivial Pursuit.
== The ... Game ==
Trivial Pursuit is an old favourite I am sure most of you would have already heard of and played. However, for those that are not familiar with it, Trivial Pursuit is a general knowledge based game where up to six individual players, or teams, move around the board answering questions in the following categories:
Arts and Literature
Entertainment 

Geography
History 

Science and Nature
Sport and Leisure
After starting in the middle of the board, you must land on the appropriate squares to play for a wedge that fits into your playing piece. You need to collect one from each category in order to win. To claim your victory you must move back into the center and answer one final question in a category of your choice.
For the purpose of this review I'll be discussing the multi-player classic game, but there are other modes to try (see other options).
== Controls ==
I am not a regular on the xbox but found the game very easy to play. We thought you might be able to control the board with the Buzz controllers, but we were wrong. Instead you play with the standard xbox controllers. You really only need to use the A and B buttons to confirm or go back and the analogue stick to select what answer you want or where you want your playing piece to move. The instructions come up on screen telling you exactly what to press, which is really helpful for those that do not use the xbox that often!
== My Opinions ==
I thought buying the digital version of the game would lose its appeal. I don't know about you, but I like handling the playing pieces and reading out the questions to my opponents. However, I had just as much fun with this version because of the variety in question styles. All questions are multiple choice and come in many different forms, for instance, word answers, picture answers or choosing a location on a map. It would be nice to see video clips for the entertainment section, but sadly this is unavailable.
The graphics are very good. The board is very colourful and when the questions appear they are very clear to read from a distance. The only thing I would say is sometimes it is difficult to see what places the world map is referring to in the geography questions, particularly if the places are very close together. Furthermore, the picture questions can be quite ambiguous as to what they represent, so it becomes quite the guessing game! The playing pieces are animated which was quite amusing in the beginning, but does it really need to grow wings and fly across the board if it is just moving one space?!
The music is not as annoying as I had anticipated. Without it, it would lose its appeal, so I certainly would not play on mute. The commentator also makes remarks such as 'why did you take so long to answer?' or 'you look proud of yourself' which can get quite repetitive and sometimes do not make much sense!
You get to earn achievements throughout the game and they come up at the bottom of the screen rather frequently for those of you who collect xbox points. Excuse me if I am wrong here, I am not aware of the system.
I have played this game many a times now and have not had the same question come up twice, which shows you how many questions this game must include.
== Difficulty and Longevity ==
The questions vary quite a lot... some of the time they are really easy and the answer will practically be given away in the wording of the question, and others are extremely difficult or confusing. I guess this obviously depends on the level of your general knowledge! In my opinion, the questions would probably be suitable for ages 16 plus. We found the entertainment questions the easiest of the bunch and often opted for these given the choice. The first game we played, the questions were overly difficult for player 1 and player 2 were racing ahead. Even the commentator commented on it! It did not feel very fair in the level of difficulty each player got.
An average game lasted around 45 minutes in my family, but obviously this varies quite a lot. However, each question is timed so the player can't take too long discussing and thus deciding on their answer.
== Cost and Availability ==
We bought this game from the xbox online store on our console instead of in a shop, so we did not receive the disk or the packaging, hence saving time and the environment! I was surprised by the cost of the game because we were buying this way... Having never bought a full game from the store before, I expected them to be around £5-7! Instead, we paid £19.99. I have not seen the game in the shops before, so I'm not sure how this compares to buying it in the high street, but gameseek.co.uk has it for £29.97, which I think is FAR too pricey!
The game took quite a while to download (around an hour) but I would imagine this depends on your internet connections, so bare that in mind. You can also buy extra packages featuring more questions from the online store.
== Other Options ==
As well as the multi-player classic game, there are other options to choose from. We tend not to play these modes as much as the classic version, but I thought it would be useful.
You can choose to play as a single player in 'clear the board', where you navigate the board and answer questions for points. The purpose of this game is to beat your own score (and obviously revise for future games!)
'Facts, Family and Friends' mode where you bet whether your opponents will get the answers right, wrong or whether you yourself can answer it. If you win the bet, you also win a quarter of the wedge and half the wedge if you can answer the question. This means you may not have to land on the square to gain that wedge space.
== Overall Opinion ==
I am very pleased with the xbox version of this game. It is a good game to play with family and friends around this time of year. I think it is a fun alternative to other classic board games. The only thing I feel lets it down is the price of the online store version. If you saw it for around £5 then it is worth the money, but otherwise, you may as well buy the physical board game that you can keep beyond the xbox breaking down!
Review may also appear on Ciao under the username Strawberry_123
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Scene It! Bright Lights Big Screen (Xbox 360)
by tangoman84
Let me start of by saying I already own the other 2 games in the Scene It? range on Xbox 360 and am a big fan which is what led me to go for this game as the others in the series delivered great quiz gaming with excellent production values but this is most certainly not in the same league.
A brief description of Scene ... It?
Scene It? is a series which began life as board games and DVD's but in recent years has had two Xbox 360 offerings. The premise of the game is that you are set questions to answer relating to the subject matter (for this game films but for some of the DVD's this could be the Simpsons, Harry Potter, Twilight, etc) and answer to gain points to defeat your opponents. Very simple premise but when done right it just works.
Positives:
The game has once again had a good variety and number of questions put in and so you are not likely to get much in the way of repetition. The game also uses auto save functions to monitor questions it has asked to cut down on repetition which is very good and does work well.
The control system is easy and if you already have the Scene It? controllers then it will make the game a lot quicker and more fun to play and allow it to be much more accessible for those who are not fans of games consoles.
Negatives:
This game has taken a huge leap backwards in terms of its graphics and sound, with an awful voice over presenter leading to the game becoming annoying and although you can switch him off this is something which should add to the experience not detract.
The presentation overall is very poor with little animations between rounds and quizzes being much worse than the previous offerings from Scene It? which has led to this game being widely panned by critics and gamers alike.
The previous games came with controllers and were excellent value for money due to this but this version feels very much like it is being done to be as cheap and as profitable as it can be and like they decided that this would be the last one they would do so wished to make as much money as they could. No controllers included, poor presentation and graphic standards, plus an awful "host" who you end up switching off all lead to this being a really poor value game.
Overall this is a game I had such high hopes for but felt completely let down by and after one session on this it was already traded as I knew it would never be used again. If you are looking for a quiz game then go with the previous Scene It? offerings.
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