Is this rendition of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire a faithful recreation of the hit game show? Find out in our Who Wants to Be a Millionaire review!

 

Who Wants to Be a Millionaire – WWTBAM from now on – is the latest in a long line of adaptations of the hit game show of the same name, released on PlayStation 4 by Microids. It began its reign of game show supremacy in 1998 in the UK and has since spread to Australia, the US, Russia, India, the Philippines, Italy, and more! That international flair is represented here, with a video game release that follows the format of the traditional game show as you’ve come to know it. Does WWTBAM deliver on the promised experience of a fun interactive experience?

As it turns out… yes! The format of WWTBAM is faithfully recreated here, right down to the lifelines. The game takes place over 15 multiple-choice questions of increasing difficulty and prize value. The variety of questions are decided by the player, including some unlockable categories. Each question has four possible answers. During a game, the player has a set of lifelines that they may use only once to help them with a question.

 

These are 50:50 (two possible answers are eliminated), phone a friend (choose from the provided friends and choose to heed their advice or not), ask the audience (the virtual audience is polled), or shuffle the question (get a new question with the same prize value). Answer a question wrong, and you lose – simple as that! There are two points where the prize value you walk away with “locks in,” and a wrong answer after that point will lower your winnings to the last locked in prize value. Things may start off simple enough, but the difficulty will ramp up quickly. On Normal Mode, you’ve also got a timer to contend with, which is disabled in Easy Mode.

From a presentation perspective, WWTBAM falls a bit flat. The models of the host and player avatars are generic – including Margareth, the 69-year-old retiree who is a fan of mini-golf. Voice work is borderline robotic, and you may be disappointed that the questions have no voice acting whatsoever. I found myself spamming the X button to skip this audio and just get to the questions so that I could continue trying to become a millionaire – which is definitely not easy!

 

Question variety can quickly become a bit of an issue if you strike any categories from the question pool. When I removed some of the categories I’m less familiar with, I found that after only a short period of time, I had started to get repeating questions. You can unlock new question packs via in-game currency, but the rate at which you earn that currency could mean it’s will be a long time before any new questions can be unlocked. There is a redeeming quality to the presentation, and that is the international options. With as many different renditions of WWTBAM worldwide, it is a nice touch that the stage and logo will change to that region’s portrayal of the show.

There is some variety in the game modes here, which could make this one a fun party experience or a game to enjoy in couch co-op, playing with any trivia fanatics in your family. Once my wife found out I get to review WWTBAM, her eyes lit up. We spent several hours sitting down and answering questions together in single-player, as well as competing head-to-head to see who could outlast the other. In local multiplayer, you’ve got modes for playing cooperative, free-for-all, and taking turns for up to four players. Each adds their own flair to a traditional game show formula, which is a welcome change. Family Mode allows you to pass a single controller around to see if you can outlast your friends and family with up to 10 players! WWTBAM also has online multiplayer, but the lobbies do seem a bit deserted.

 

This game is a faithful but barebones rendition of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? The sound effects from the show are a nice touch, but the rest of the presentation feels a bit lacking. The format translates well to a video game, but the question pool and single-player game modes are not ideal. There is also a novel suite of multiplayer modes to dabble in, which shake up the traditional formula ever so slightly. Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? is available now for $29.99.

Disclaimer
This Who Wants to Be a Millionaire review is based on a PlayStation 4 copy provided by Microids.