I cannot tell you how many console games we've bought for our PlayStation that we have only played once. We usually choose something that looks like it may be a little different, but I've come to learn that the classics are always winners. That is why I was thrilled to receive a copy of Trivial Pursuit for PS2 from EA Games for my family to review.
I have always been a huge fan of board games. In our present life with 3 young children and always being short on time, it isn't practical to have a place where a game board can remain undisturbed, to need time to set up and to clean up, and to not be able to stop playing at a moment's notice. Transforming board games into console games solves many of those problems.
What I thought about Trivial Pursuit for PlayStation 2:
1) I like that the board, pucks, and pies are 3-dimensional because it makes playing on the console feel more like playing on a real game board.
2) Although I did not see a level for juniors, our children did enjoy watching my husband and I play. The colors and the animation of the pieces and the dice plus the silly characters kept our 2yr old twins and our 5yr old mesmerized. Every time my daughter heard my mascot giggle, she would smile and giggle too.
3) If you enjoy the original Trivial Pursuit board game, then you will enjoy this game as well.
4) I thought it was strange that the game asked me if I wanted to save the game before it even started. Then it did not give me the option again later when I opted to quit.
5) I like that you can opt to save the game and quit at anytime. Then you can resume the game in 15 minutes or even in 15 days. You cannot do that with an actual board game.
6) I played against my husband. The game is definitely very challenging. We probably knew the answers to only 20% of the questions, but we did end up tying when we stopped with two pie pieces each.
7) I am terrible with maps and the geography questions are not A-B-C multiple choice, but rather you have to pick out a correct location on an unmarked map. The questions are timed. By the time I figured out which continent I was looking at, 75% of the time had already passed.
8) Do not attempt to play this game while there are two 2yr olds in the room who keep wanting to stand between you and the television screen. Did I mention that the questions are timed?
My husband and I enjoyed this game very much. It was lots of fun and we only have one complaint. I am wearing brand new glasses and I still had to sit about two feet from the television in order to read the trivia questions. The words were just too small for my halfway-to-seventy eyes . . . not the answers, just the questions. If the font was just tiny bit larger, it would have made the game even more enjoyable and slightly less stressful for us.