C&VG


Every Second Counts
By TV Games
Commodore 64/128

 
Published in Computer & Video Games #81

Every Second Counts

All right, you're down the pub, or you're in the arcade, or you're wherever you reprobates go on a night, and it's getting around that time when there's nothing else for it: you just have to have a game of Triv.

So you whack you ten pees in, gather your mates around, and start to trash that cash. And what d'you get out of it? No adrenalin rush like in OutRun, that's for sure, just to prove that perhaps you know a bit more useless information than everyone around you.

What basically we have here, guys and gays, is a computerised triv game for the home, and as such is bound to be a massive success not just now but in a year or two's time because: a) trivia has taken over the country since Trivial Pursuit, machines in pubs etc, b) Paul Daniels is the Granny's favourite, and they are bound to say around Christmas time "Ah, little Johnny's into computer games, I'll buy him one", and then purchase the licence they know.

Every Second Counts

So how does it fare as a trivia game? Well, for a start, you can forget Paul Daniels. How many computerised pictures do you get of him? Answer: not a lot.

Not even at the end when you've won the contest. Instead you do get a rough (read: very rough) approximation of a TV studio, populated by just the sort of people you get in these game shows. Considering that they don't have to do very much - just blink occasionally - they could be better animated, though their very gormless stiffness helps capture the true character of the show.

First thing you have to do is choose your players from the vast range of worthies on offer. Should you choose the shifty-looking one with a beard, and perhaps partner him with the blond floozy or what? You can play up to three teams, so you can fight with your pals about which character to play.

Every Second Counts

After this fun, the game begins. You whizz through a number of rounds answering true or false questions, or choosing which of three categories various things fall into.

When you get tired of a certain block of questions, it's quite a faff having to rewind the tape to get to another block, if like me, you've made the mistake of playing the cassette version.

Throughout the game, your correct answers are earning you extra seconds, which are of vital importance in the final round when the clock really is against you and, well, "every second counts". How much you like it just depends on how much you like triv, I guess.

Matt Bielby

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