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EA’s trivia game hits the Wii. With over 20,000 questions, an easy to use interface, and light use of the motion sensitive Wii Remote, Smarty Pants is destined to become a great party game. The only problem is that the game’s full price may be asking too much for what is essentially a light-hearted party game.
Smarty Pants isn’t a whole lot of fun alone but is an excellent multiplayer game. The game includes 20,000 questions in a number of categories ranging from people, places, sports, art, books, science, fashion, entertainment, fashion and games. The game includes a few wrinkles to the standard trivia formula. In Wager, you’re able to use the Wiimote to hit “Plus” or “Minus” icons that allow you to change the point value of the next category, if you know you’re especially good or bad at that category. In Countdown, the game gives you more points for responding quickly to a question.
The game also makes good use of the Wiimote since you’ll have to “buzz” in by moving the controller backward, which feels much more satisfying than pressing a button. However, the game does include some random and awkward dance-offs (pre-trivia challenges) that don’t really seem to belong.
Smarty Pants lets you choose the age of your contestants, so that they’ll receive age appropriate questions, which is a nice touch and makes the game one that the whole family can enjoy.
In terms of visuals, Smarty Pants does just fine with a clean, slick look. The game even utilizes your Mii characters, which is a cool touch. As a bonus, it runs in 480p and native widescreen. The sound package is just as bare, although this is to be expected, and really doesn’t matter for a game like this.
All in all, Smarty Pants is a very fun trivia game for the Wii. It has great topics, many questions and good (if light) use of the Wii Remote. It isn’t much as a singleplayer game, but it’s definitely the game your nongamer friends will be asking for after they’ve had a few rounds of Wii Bowling. Whether or not it is worth the $50 depends on how much use you’re going to get out of it, but if you have friends over an a relatively frequent basis, the game is definitely worth the price of admission. -- Troy Matautia, PGNx Media
---- Nov 26, 2007
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