Review: Family Feud 2010 (Wii)

I’ve been a game show fan since I was a kid, so when Target recently offered “buy two get one free” on Wii games, I jumped on a trio of game show remakes.  After all, if you can’t get to Television City to be there in person, a good computer simulation can be the next best thing.  One of the games I bought was “Family Feud: 2010 Edition,” produced by Ubisoft/Ludia, the same companies that made the other two game show remakes I bought.  It’s not the best video game version of “The Feud” I’ve ever seen, but it’s not the worst, either.

Starting Up

First off, we won’t need to worry about the horrible “music debacle” that was present in Press Your Luck 2010 (which I also purchased and reviewed).  The Wii Menu “preview” and the opening menu screens of this Wii game feature the “original” Feud theme, with the banjos and brass section.  But once you actually get into the gameplay itself, the game uses the current season’s “new” music, set and graphics (complete with the new logo, which I don’t like — but that’s the TV show’s fault, not the video game).

Had some minor issues upon starting the game.  The music that plays while the game is loading content from the disc was jerky at some points – abruptly skipping to different parts of the track.

Character Selection

The character selection is similar to the other Ubisoft/Ludia 2010 series games: you have 12 pre-designed faces to choose from, and then you have a small selection of choices for hair, glasses, and clothing.  As you win games, you unlock more wardrobe selections… so your characters can look different on each episode (like a real TV show).  My big problem here, in case you didn’t read my other reviews, is that you still can’t use your own Mii characters in the game, and despite an effort to be very diverse, I thought the avatars were still rather generic looking.

Getting into the Game

For this review, I tried out the one-player game.  It pits you and your “family” (all controlled by you, obviously) against a computer-automated family.  The game starts off with some impressive flying “boom” camera shots of the set, with the players at the podiums.  The announcer (the same from Press Your Luck 2010) then explains the rules, but you can skip that part by pressing A.  If you already know how to play Family Feud, there’s really no point in sitting through the explanation.

Just like on TV, every round begins with a “face-off” between one player from each team.

On TV, the host always begins with “We surveyed 100 people, top ___ answers on the board.”  The host gives the question, and the first player to buzz-in gets to give an answer.

On the Wii game, the sequence is completely messed up.  The host gives the question.  Then you buzz in.  Then, the camera rises up to show how many answers are on the board… and THEN you finally get to give your answer!  Not only is it completely out of order from the real TV show — but it basically gives you the option to just buzz in even if you don’t have a “gut reaction” answer, because you’ll still have several more seconds to come up with something.  On the real TV show, if you buzz in and then have a brainfart lasting more than 3 seconds, they put a big ‘ol “X” over your face, sound the humiliating buzzer, and the other team gets control.

However, I will give Ubisoft/Ludia props for coming up with a quick and efficient way to let players input answers to the questions.  As you begin typing on the bottom half of the screen, the game tries to “guess” what you’re going to type, by showing suggestions on the top-half of the screen.  Once you see your selection, you can stop typing, just point the Wii at the finished word, and press the “A” button.

This system is much better than trivia-based game shows of the past, where most of your time was spent using the control pad to move a cursor all over the screen to spell out your complete answers.  Of course, the upside there was most games gave you tons of time for all that typing, so if you ran out of ideas, you had a ton of time to come up with more answers.  Not so on the Wii — because they know you can input answers relatively quickly with this method, you don’t get quite as much time for typing.  But that’s not a bad thing — it makes the game a bit more realistic, since contestants on TV only get 3 seconds to answer.

Computer Players

In the game I played, the computer players seemed to have the same low-level AI as similar game show video games from the 80s and 90s.  More often than not, the answers they offered were incorrect, making it fairly easy for me to win the game.  Unlike older games, at least the bad answers weren’t completely unrelated gibberish, like answering “tires” to a question like “name a popular football team.”

As pictured at right, the game asked to name a president who appears on money.  Even though the computer player’s answer of “Clinton” was obviously wrong, at least it was in the ballpark by selecting the name of a president.  When I had a question about “things a vegetarian would put on a sandwich,” they surprised me with “bean sprouts” as a correct answer, but then several other answers that could have been good (ie. ketchup, mustard) turned out to be strikes.

Knowing the computer is “smart” enough to pick answers that are “close but wrong,” I get the feeling that the computer players will get more competitive as I play the game more.  If I am correct with that guess, this game could eventually get very interesting.

How About That Announcer, Anyway?

In my review of Press Your Luck 2010, I was very disappointed with the announcer.  And, guess what?  It’s the same announcer here, but for some reason, he doesn’t sound as horrible on the Feud.  Perhaps it’s because — I knew that voice was familiar — he also did an earlier PC version of Feud which I had purchased awhile ago.   The announcer sounds more comfortable with Feud.

Fast Money

After the “front game,” as they call it in the business, the winning family moves onto the Fast Money bonus round.  Much like the regular TV game show, you have to answer five questions in a row, within a given time limit.  Then, your scores for those answers are revealed.

On TV, a second family member — who was off-stage, unable to see or hear anything — comes back out and answers the same five questions.  If the teammates earn a combined total of 200 points, they win $20,000.

In most prior video game incarnations of the Feud, you’re given a chance to pause before the second player begins, just in case you really do have another person there who is going to be the second player.  The host also explains that if the second player repeats any of their teammmate’s answers, they’ll hear a quick buzzer and they’ll have to give a different answer.

In the Wii 2010 edition of Feud, the game finishes the results of Player 1 and immediately jumps into the questions for Player 2.  If you do have a friend standing by to act as “Player 2″ you’ll have to be quick to hit the “Home” button on the Wii remote, as that’s the only way to pause the game.

As the results for either player are revealed, my only complaints about the announcer come out.  He never refers to a “Number 1 Answer” as… a “number one answer.”  Also, I don’t think I ever heard the trademark phrase, “Surveeeeeey SAYS!”  Just as he does in Press Your Luck, the guy completely lacks enthusiasm, reading through the results matter-of-factly, as if reviewing an income tax return checklist.

The best example of this announcer’s mediocrity was when, with one question left, my score was at 198 points.  A real host would have hyped up the situation, and would have gone bonkers when the reveal of a “65″ greatly exceeded the winning threshold.  Instead, the 65 was revealed, the total was updated to 263, and then the announcer calmy stated, “Let’s see how many points you’ve got!”

The game then cut to a shot of the family at the podium with the score in front.  Never in 30+ years of Family Feud have I ever seen all members of the family nonchalantly standing behind their podium when they just won $20,000… have you?  With the score of “263″ visible on the board on the front of the podium, the announcer, again, with the excitement of a snail, says, “You’ve won $20,000.”  Um, sorry if we kept you up, Mr. Announcer!

Ongoing Series

One neat thing I liked about the game — when you’re playing a one-player game, it’s structured like a series.  You begin with “Show 1″ and then if you win, you go onto “Show 2,” and so forth.  Not only do you play different families, but with each new episode, you get more wardrobe items unlocked (as mentioned above).  I saved and quit after my first victory so I could write this review, but it looks like there are at least 12 episodes, and I have no idea what happens after the 12th win.

Overall Thoughts

As I said at the beginning, it’s not the worst electronic version of Family Feud, but it’s not the best, either.  The Wii version also lacks the “Bullseye” jackpot-banking “pre-game” which originally appeared on the CBS version in the 1990s, and recently made a comeback on the current version this season.

Which version of Feud is the best?  Hard to say — while the PC version I have (“Family Feud II” published by iwin.com) doesn’t have tons of bells and whistles, it does have all the right music cues and sound effects, and it’s quick and easy to play a game, whether on your own or with a second player.

The Wii version could be better in some ways, but I didn’t notice any major glaring errors.  Picky game show fans could spend all day discussing the imperfections, but average viewers who just want a fun game to play probably won’t notice anything wrong.

Survey says: not a bad rendition of the game, but not worth the full retail price of $39.99.  Get it at Target as part of the buy 2/get 1 free sale like I did (worked out to be closer to $26).  Or, if you’re comfortable with playing games on your computer… the PC version offers the same graphics and sounds for only $19.99.

See Also:

- Review: Press Your Luck 2010 (Wii) also posted today
- Review: Price is Right 2010 (Wii) also posted today
- Review: Price is Right (Wii) the original version, posted February 2009