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Okay guys bear with me here, I want to edu-ma-cate you on the history of game shows that I found interesting while I was writing this review. Hey, you never know when this type of trivia may come in handy!
According to Wikipedia, a game show is defined as being a show that involves members of the public playing a game that involves answering quiz questions for points or prizes.
Prizes range from cash rewards, vacations and goods and services provided by the show’s sponsors. (The evil companies responsible for commercials) Early T.V. game shows descended from radio broadcasts.
Game shows really became popular in the early 1970’s, thanks to super- successful shows like “The Price Is Right”, “Match Game”, and the” The 10,000 Pyramid”. Game shows have since lost their popularity somewhat, the era of game shows officially ended in the late 1990’s, which leaves “The Price Is Right” as the only daytime network game show left in the U. S. Only a few oldies but goodies continue in the evenings such as “Wheel of Fortune” and “Jeopardy”.
Well now, (nudge, nudge you can wake up now) game shows have been giving a new life on the internet and if you thought the closest you’d get to being a contestant was shouting at your T.V., have I got a treat for you! COME ON DOWN!
FAMILY FEUD ONLINE- try to guess what the top 100 people said when they answered survey questions. There is head to head battle or you can play on a team( this just means your correct answers gets added together as a group whole at the end of each round) FF gives us all of the same sound effects from the T.V. show, the show’s host is perfectly obnoxious and plastic sounding, you could almost smell his Old Spice, and the feel of his cheap polyester suit brush up on you as he waits for your response. (Sorry there is no Richard Dawson going around kissing all the girls, in fact there are no avatars or characters shown at all. There is just the game board to look at, but don’t worry, the game still accomplishes to very colorful and happy looking and the audience laugh track makes you feel like you aren’t “alone”. It still would have been nice to add a host avatar or something, (heck I would have even settled for Louie Anderson).
FF also has made the online, chat-enabled so if you really need human interaction you can text other players.
SIDE NOTE- I have always despised chat-enabled games, I have found them to be distracting, annoying, and just a place for some people to try to get a date.
Okay, back to the game, I found the survey questions to be quite challenging, so in my opinion this might be too challenging as a children’s game. You must also be a somewhat fast typer, no 1 finger wonders, the game gives you only 15 sec. to answer. Correct spelling doesn’t seem to be an issue here, the computer will recognize what you are trying to say, if assuming your spelling is close enough to an actual English word!( I pride myself on being an excellent speller in the real world, but when you have only 15 sec. to think of an answer and then type it into the small slot, it is easy to misspell the word “cat”!)
I found “Family Feud Online” to be exactly what it set out to be , an entertaining game that delivers the feel of a game show to your computer and for good reason, it doesn’t require any head numbing complex trivia knowledge. I t works your brain about as much as is needed and wanted for a short, online game. Survey says- give it a try!
WHEEL OF FORTUNE- not so unlike “Family Feud” in terms of looks or feel. Coincidence? Nah, both games are made by Artech Studios ( hey, at least they are consistent in what they know works). This is solo game play however, even though there are 2 spots next to you as it looks on T.V., it is just your avatar standing in front of a wheel. WOF online uses all of the same familiar sounds as T.V. version which I have always found happy, comforting and somewhat uplifting (even when you guess incorrectly, the beeps and dings are encouraging. It’s almost like it is saying to you “We
know you tried your best, and that’s what’s really important).
My one big criticism about this online game is that there is no Pat Sajak or Vanna White, which I find kinda odd. I used to own a GBA version of “Wheel of Fortune” and while it didn’t have a host avatar, it at least had a Vanna White pixelatingly turning the letters for me. I mean come on!” What is Wheel of Fortune” without a Vanna White , I’ll tell ya, it becomes an online hangman, that’s what! Blah.
All in all, WOF is a fairly good game, the developers have done an okay job of bringing the sounds and for the most part feel of the popular game show to us, and it really wasn’t all that difficult. I mean what is there to mess up, it is just a big wheel, your avatar and the game puzzle. Give this game a spin!
JEOPARDY-okay I have a confession to make-here goes- this game show has always intimidated me. Not only are the questions over my head 99% of the time but get this, they make you phrase the answer in a form of a question!
Originally, when I came up with this whole idea of reviewing game shows I decided I didn’t even want to consider “Jeopardy”. I just didn’t see the point, I can’t stand the T.V. version so how fair and impartial could my review be right? Well, I tried it anyway ( the decision was made easier when I discovered that “uproar.com” allows you to play without downloading SUHWEET!)
Like the T.V. show, the game has questions broken up into categories, it is solo single player only so you are really testing your trivia prowess ness. What I really liked and actually relaxed me enough to start enjoying the game was the multiple choice answer aspect. I was expecting to have to type in my answers-I mean questions- you know what I mean, to solve the clue. Imagine my delight when I discovered that I had a 1in 4 chance of being correct! (Hint, a lot of times the answer was phrased in such a way that it was obvious what the answer-I mean question- I mean answer, was)
In the end, I am really glad I decided to give “ Jeopardy” a fair shake, it actually became my favorite of all the game shows online.
DEAL OR NO DEAL- I know what you’re thinking, “that’s not a classic game show”, I know, I was just curious to see how the developers would pull off such a lame game online. “Deal or No Deal” has always been proud to say that no skill or trivia knowledge is involved to be enjoyed on T. V., so
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Posted by oxyjen on Sep 23, 2006
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