Review: The Price is Right 2010 Edition (Wii)

Several months ago, I reviewed the original Wii version of The Price is Right, which I received last Christmas.  When I saw that Ubisoft/Ludia were preparing to re-launch the game as the “2010 Edition,” I became hopeful that the new version of the game would correct the original’s imperfections.  You may want to read that original review before continuing on to see, besides adding more pricing games, how 2010 really compares to the original.

If you didn’t already see my other reviews, TPIR is one of three “2010 Edition” game shows Ubisoft/Ludia has released for Wii and several other platforms.  The others include Press Your Luck, and Family Feud.  If you compare TPIR 2010 to the other 2010 series games, it’s pretty apparent that TPIR was the top priority among the staff at Ubisoft and Ludia, the two main companies involved with producing these games.

Just as with the original release of TPIR, the game features the voice of Rich Fields, the real announcer from the TV show.  When prizes are revealed on stage, the game plays video clips from real TPIR episodes, complete with the show audio of Fields describing the items.  In addition to this “recycled” audio, Fields also acts as an off-camera host, explaining the rules of each part of the game.

Also similar to the original, if you’re playing alone, you have the choice between “3 Strikes” mode or “Classic” mode.

Classic Mode

Classic mode allows you to experience the game just like a real contestant — you begin in Contestants’ Row and you have six chances to win your way up on stage.  If you fail to offer a bid “closest to the actual retail price without going over” then your game is over after the sixth item comes and goes.  (On the bright side, you don’t have to sit through the computer players’ pricing games – anytime you don’t win, the game skips directly to the next item up for bids.  If you’re a bad bidder, you can be done in less than 5 minutes.)

If you’re lucky enough to win your way up on stage, you bank the dollar amount of the item up for bids, and then you get to play a pricing game.  Win or lose, you’ll then proceed to the Showcase Showdown, where you’ll try to spin as close to $1.00 as you can without going over.  This is the one time where you do have to sit through the computer players doing their thing — and unlike Press Your Luck, you can’t press the “A” button to skip through it.

If you lose at the wheel, your game is over.  But if you win, you’ll go onto the Showcase, where you’ll have the chance to win a lot more.  The object of “Classic” mode is to rack up as much as you can in winnings.  The game keeps track of your high scores.

Overall, Classic mode is nice because it does treat you like a real contestant… you can have lots and lots of fun, or you might never make your way out of Contestants Row.  The downside: the latter scenario really isn’t much fun, and when it happens, it feels like you wasted your time.  After all, you spent $40 to play all these great pricing games you’ve known and loved on TV for years… you want to play them!

3 Strikes Mode

If you want to be guaranteed the chance to play pricing games, you want 3 Strikes Mode.  Basically, you go through the cycle of Contestants Row > Pricing Game > Showcase Showdown > (if you win – Showcase) as many times as you can until you accumulate three strikes.  While you’d think this would potentially allow for one to play a long chain of pricing games, even the best pricing game experts have no control over the Big Wheel — where losing against 2 other fake contestants will earn you a strike.

Secret X is among the games in TPIR 2010 (Image: amazon.com)

More Games in 2010

If nothing else, the one main reason to get The Price is Right 2010 is because it includes 30 pricing games.  Still nowhere near the 70 games in active rotation on the show right now, but it’s still an improvement over the original.  Among the new titles in the 2010 version are Secret X, Safe Crackers, Spelling Bee and several others.  And all the games from the original are still there, so you’re not sacrificing anything (like the way Nintendo’s Wii Sports Resort carried over several games from the original WiiSports, but unexplicably left baseball in the dust).

Unlockable Features

Another carryover from the original version: the many “unlockable” features you can access by accomplishing various tasks in each game.

For example, in the original, you could unlock video clips of classic TPIR moments by not just winning a game, but by winning big — for example, guaranteeing yourself a win in “Shell Game” by earning all four chips, or bidding within a certain amount on Contestants’ Row or the Showcase.

As always, it’s nice to see clips of classic moments with longtime TPIR host Bob Barker — especially when there are clips so old, his hair is still brown, as seen at right.

And as seen at left, some clips now feature current host Drew Carey.  But as is the case with the Ubisoft/Ludia 2010 series, a lack of attention to detail — notice that picture of Drew has a black bar across the top of the picture — it’s the “timecode” from the original videotape.  The simple flip of a switch would have provided a clean picture, but some lazy person chose to import that video with the timecode across the top anyway, to hell with perfection!

One other gripe about the unlockables — you’re not given any idea what it takes to access them.  The unlockables menu in the original TPIR allowed you to know exactly what kind of accomplishment you needed to pull off in order to access each game’s bonus content.  But in 2010, there’s no telling.  You just have to play the games and “hope” you’re told you’ve earned the unlockable after the game ends.  At least, if you watch the show enough to know the rules of the games, you can make an educated guess on what it might take to win an unlockable.

The Big Wheel

No matter how good you are at guessing the actual retail price of everything from potato chips to luxury catamarans, the Showcase Showdown is the one thing where the game is left up to chance.  At least in real life, you can try to spin the wheel weaker or stronger, in the hopes of getting the wheel to land on a desired space.  In the 2010 Wii game, it appears that the wheel will spin at the same speed, no matter how slow or fast you wave the Wii remote.  I can’t remember clearly how this compares to the original – as I haven’t played the original in a long time, and I can’t seem to find it at the moment. (I’m in the midst of moving, so I’m guessing it’s already packed up.)

So What’s Different?

Overall, the menu system looks a little different.  Nothing big there, except for the notable inclusion of a trailer advertising Ubisoft/Ludia’s very crappy rendition of Press Your Luck (see my review).  The audience members actually wear different clothes.  Not something you normally notice… but the outfits on the original avatars were so limited, it looked like the entire audience consisted of “Starfleet ensigns” at a Star Trek convention.

I’ve also noticed the in-game video clips are somewhat different.  In the original version, the video clips would run the same length as they aired on the show.  The background music would run seamlessly, but when the cameras cutaway for audience reaction shots, the game just froze the picture on the prize (since they’d need permission to include real contestants in the game) and then picked up when the “original” video cut back to the prizes.  In the 2010 version, they’ve eliminated those pauses — so there’s no “seemingly pointless” pauses in Rich Fields’ descriptions, but if you listen carefully, you can hear the background music “jumping” due to these edits.  Not a big deal, not saying it’s good or bad — just something “different” I noticed in the 2010 version.

And just like in the other Ubisoft/Ludia “2010 Edition” series of game show games, you have more selections for your “avatar” on the screen.  There are now 12 faces to choose from, with several different wardrobe selections available beyond that.  Still, I’m disappointed that you aren’t able to use your Mii characters in the game.  None of the avatars allow you to style actual face designs, hair colors, or eye colors.  Having to choose from a set of characters that look nothing like me or anyone I know was OK back in 1987 on the original NES, but here in 2009, the game should be able to import Miis or give you full control over all facial features of your avatars.

Overall Rating

If you don’t have the original TPIR for Wii, don’t bother.  Just go for 2010, since it includes all the pricing games of the original, and adds some more.  It’s not like any pricing games from the original got dropped in 2010, so there’s no “incentive” to track down the older version.

One downside is that, if you have the original, your “save file” doesn’t appear to have any impact on the 2010 edition.  It would have been nice if Ubisoft/Ludia had “rewarded” owners of the original by offering some kind of special bonus or by allowing the previous unlockables and/or high score records to carry over to the new version.

(Kinda like how having a “Super Mario Galaxy” save file on your Wii makes it easier to unlock certain characters in “Mario Kart Wii.”)

At the end of the day, as much as the three Ubisoft/Ludia game show games are filled with imperfections, it’s worth repeating that TPIR 2010 appears to be the “golden child” of the three games.  It appears to be the most-polished of the three games, with the most features, the most accuracy of following the games, and of course, having the show’s actual announcer featured throughout the game.

See Also:

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