Review - Monday 1st January 2007 - 12:00am
Trivial Pursuit is one of the most popular board games in the entire world. The board game is a great hit at parties and I can fondly recall the memories of playing until the wee hours of morning with my friends. In fact every now and then I still get together with a bunch of buddies and get down to playing some serious Q & A rumbling with each other.
There are probably millions of Trivial Pursuit addicts in the world, and in recognition of this fact (and an attempt to cash in on it), Hasbro has given the go signal for European mobile game developer: Mr. Goodliving, to produce a mobile phone version of the popular board game. So how did the miniature digitized version of Trivial Pursuit turn out? Pretty darned good actually. This game is good enough to be played either solo or with a group of friends.
Like other Mr. Goodliving games, the presentation quality of the game is first class.. The intro is tastefully done and really suits the Trivial Pursuit image. The music is snappy and adds to the atmosphere. Controls are easy to get used to, and if you’re already familiar with the real Trivial Pursuit then the mobile game edition has no steep learning curve whatsoever. The graphics are beautiful although you really can’t expect to see the latest 3D special effects within a game like this. Still though, while the images within the game are simple, the way the game is presented overall is very elegant and only shows the professionalism involved in the development.
The single player mode is an excellent means of expanding your knowledge about various bits of worldwide trivia. There are a lot of variety to the questions and in the numerous times I’ve played the game, I rarely encounter a question that I’ve already been asked. Questions can range from dead giveaways to the most obscure and very mind racking tidbits. It is quite a challenge to finish the single player game, and I find myself losing track of the amount of time that passes by when I play the game.
Trivial Pursuit is a good game to play alone, although where it really shines is in the multiplayer aspect. The mobile phone edition is slower than playing the real thing especially when you have up to five other friends playing with you, and the selection of the available questions pale in comparison, still though the fact that you can play Trivial Pursuit anywhere with your friends is a definite selling point for the game. There is nothing like being in the back area of a bus and trading quips with each other as you attempt to win the game against your friends. While the mobile edition is no replacement for the actual board game, its portable aspect more than compensates for its “shortcomings”.
If you love Trivial Pursuit, this game is a must download. In case you’re preparing for a long trip with your buddies in a van or a bus, this game will also come in handy to occupy the time. In short while you might think a digitized version of Trivial Pursuit will be quite short in features, this mobile edition is far from an attempt to short change you, in fact when you’re playing it, you’ll start realizing how short your free time really is.
