Comparatively speaking, production values have been lowered, and even the whole game show theme has been significantly downplayed so as not to draw too much attention to the weakened multiplayer modes. Buzz does manage to capture the essence of a good single-player game quite well if taken at face value.

The create-a-character is limited. You have a choice of three characters, or I should say profiles because you see little more than their heads. Choose a name and you're in the game. Buzz is the Muppet-like host that is surprisingly fully-voiced. Even though the game is heavily text-based, the questions have all been pre-recorded by Jason Donovan. That's a lot of voice work. It's well done, but the head bobbing and mouth movements of the Guy Smiley-lookalike don't always synch up with the audio.

The gloriously tacky sets have been replaced by blasé, static backgrounds. Though the game eschews the game show-approved peripheral controller, each of the four multiple choice questions are assigned to one of the four face buttons, and you're bound to enjoy the realistic buzzing sound effects of a well-rung-in answer.

There are three multiplayer components in Buzz. Pass Around will accommodate up to six players, with the actual PSP being passed around to the various players in random order as called out by Buzz. Some questions will allow you to alter what the next player sees in an attempt to make them lose points. For instance, you can pass on a difficult question and send it to another player that you assume would not know the answer. Buzz takes a break in the Quiz Host mode when another player assumes the role of the quiz-meister. He or she will read questions and input the answers manually, but the real treat of this mode is that it will ask questions that can only be judged by another human. Players will be asked to perform various tasks such as finishing a sentence, singing a song, or making odd noises. It adds another dimension to the gameplay that could not be replicated in the single-player mode. With multiple game systems, players can take part in the last mode that most resembles that of a game show. There are no multimedia questions in this game-sharing mode, strictly questions. It's more intense and less fun than the other two modes.

The upside to any trivia game is that even when you lose, you win, because you're always learning something new. Of course, that's relative to your ability to retain information. Buzz is a nice trivia package. It's fun to pick up and play whenever you have a moment, but with the lowered production values you might have just as much fun with a mobile trivia game.

By Cole Smith
CCC Senior Writer