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GF! Archival Version Copyright 1995-2004


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by THQ

Snapshot
Ups: Great graphics; accurate and portable reproduction of the game show; light on the Regis. 

Downs:  Questions get repeated too quickly; light on the Regis.

System Reqs:
Game Boy Color

check-01.jpg (4901 bytes)Like you, whenever I watch Who Wants to Be Millionaire I think that anyone who uses a lifeline at $1000 is an idiot and anyone who walks away with less than $32,000 is just plain stupid. At the end of the show I would often turn to my wife and say, if I ever got on that show I would walk away with at least $125,000. I don’t say that anymore. When I got Who Wants to be a Millionaire for the GBC, I thought that I would have an opportunity to prove to everyone what a genius I was. Instead, I got a much undesired lesson in humility.

ff01-01.jpg (4561 bytes)Graphically, this game is a lot better than it really needed to be. It’s always nice to see a developer go above and beyond the call of duty. They simulate the dramatic camera movements of the show with 3D models of the hot seat. What little graphics and sound they use do a surprisingly good job of building the tension of the show.

If you’re a Regis fan you may be a little disappointed. There is a short introductory clip at the very beginning and that’s it. Personally, I kind of missed his sarcasm. I think he’s half the reason the show is doing so well.

hotseat-01.jpg (5026 bytes)The game differs from the show by not providing an option to just walk away with the check, which I would have done on more than one occasion. I guess the developers felt that since it wasn’t real money, no one would mind risking it all. They were wrong. Sometimes fake money is all you can hope to have.

The game is as addictive as the show. Like solitaire, you keep telling yourself, "Just one more game" or "I’ll turn it off when I hit $250,000." But you don’t stop—you can’t stop, that is until you start seeing the same questions over and over again. Unfortunately there are only 600 questions in the entire game. It may sound like a lot, but you start seeing repeats after only a few games. It absolutely kills the replay value, which is too bad.

gamply-01.jpg (5030 bytes)I also would have liked an option to skip over some of the earlier questions. They’re just as easy as on the show and it feels like you’re wasting precious time by consenting to answer them. But if they had given that option, it would have made the game incredibly short.

This is the first Millionaire game that I’ve played and I found it a lot more enjoyable than I thought it would be. But 600 questions divided over 15 levels is just not enough to keep you playing, and after only a few games when you see questions repeat you start to feel a little like Raph Fiennes in Quiz Show. The presentation is top notch and it is very playable. It just needs more questions.

ff02-01.jpg (3908 bytes)So, if you have a tendency to scoff at the contestants, I think this game may be just what you need. In this cold-hearted world we can all use a little more empathy, and there is no question that this game will get you a little closer to being in the hot seat with those poor (potentially rich) saps on TV.

--Jason Frank