Buzz without the plastic buzzers? It won’t work, surely? Well, the results are mixed. The hard part – making the game fun in both single and multiplayer – has been nailed by Sony perfectly. PSP’s face buttons are mapped to answers, so buzzing in is easy, and thanks to the ability to play via WiFi (or better yet via Gameshare Buzz with four mates) the game stays faithful to its social roots.

Where Master Quiz stumbles is with the questions. Repetition is a massive problem, and after a few attempts at the same type of round you’ll know all the answers. Worse still, the pictures and themes repeat too, making the photo rounds redundant after an hour.

Round types are entertaining, if unoriginal, and host Buzz’s jokes are bearable until they start repeating as often as the questions. Even the spread of characters and buzzer noises is disappointing. Despite the low(ish) price, this is far from a no-brainer.

Sep 4, 2008