SOFTWARE TITLE: The Weakest Link

PUBLISHER: Activision

REVIEWED BY: Rose Miller

MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS TO RUN THIS SOFTWARE: Pentium 200MHZ, 32MB Ram, Windows 95 and up, DirectX 8 or higher, 130MB uncompressed HD space plus 80MB file swap space.

SOFTWARE REVIEW:

When I first watched the show, The Weakest Link, I did not care for it. I couldn't believe that a game show host could be so rude! Then I watched it again and began to see the humor in it. Now I am hooked! That's why I HAD to have this game.

The game is actually hosted by Anne Robinson. Her sharp tongue retorts are so ever present. They are, of course, more generalized. Let's face it, as good as the game programmers are, it would be a little difficult to personalize those nasty little digs to an individual player.

Now on to the game play and features. You can have up to 7 players in combination of human and computer. There are 21 different characters to choose from, each with their own unique qualities. The different characters can be brought up in a menu. When you click on an individual character, they will tell you about themselves. This may help you decide which player to be.

There are three levels of difficulty to choose from. Normal is very much like the questions that are given on the actual show. You are asked the question and given a set of multiple-choice answers. These answers may only have the first letter showing. So if you don't know the answer, you'll have to either guess or pass. Easy mode is a little bit easier to play. The multiple-choice answers are fully displayed. Junior level is for the young players. The questions are quite easy and there two multiple-choice answers fully given. This level is great when my daughter wants to play along.

You also get the option to bend the rules. In your favor, even! You can change the rule of who banks. In regular game play, the person whose turn is up is usually the one to bank. If you bend the rules, you will be able to bank at any point whether it’s your turn or not. You are also able to determine the amount of questions in each category. If you specialty is arts & entertainment, then you can choose to have more of these type of question and less of a subject you are not so up on, such as history and politics. The categories include arts & entertainment, history & politics, people & places, science & nature and sports & leisure.

You have the option to set the level of abuse a character receives after the voting. If you go for the more abuse option, each human player will receive an extra special amount when they get voted off. Pushing the spacebar will bring an eruption of laughter from “the audience.”

Although I have seen better graphics in other games, Weakest Link still gives the option to choose what resolution you want to play the game in. I guess for this game you don’t really need those awesome 3d visuals. You need to be more focused on the gameplay itself and answering your questions correctly so you don’t have to take that dreadful “walk of shame.”

I have really been enjoying this game. With 100,000 questions and different challengers, I’m sure I’ll keep on enjoying my game playing for quite a while.

The Weakest link is available in the formats of PC, Playstation and Playstation2. The prices are $19.99 and $29.99. If you love the TV show, you’ve really go to have the game.

REVIEWER INFORMATION: Rose Miller lives in Maine with her husband and two children. She works as a TV ad scanner. She enjoys reading, crafts and creating webpages and graphics.