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3 Responses to “Press Your Luck”
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A for Effort, C for Execution,
Press Your Luck is probably one of the most popular game shows of the 1980s, but despite this, there hadn’t been an official software version of the game for over two decades until Ludia launched Press Your Luck 2010, part of a suite of game show adaptations by the company. Ludia’s version of Price is Right was relatively well received by casual and hard core game show fans alike (despite what some reviews on Amazon may say), so I was disappointed to see that they missed the mark a little bit with this release.
First, the good. The show’s primary draw, the Whammy, is faithfully reproduced with over 50 Whammy animations. This includes some newly-created Whammys (mostly hilarious) as well as throwbacks to some Whammys used on the original show. It shows the designers “did their homework”. The gameplay is nearly identical to that of the original show as well. The question round has been simplified somewhat to make all questions multiple choice (in the original, the contestant who buzzed in gave a verbal response and his opponents could choose from multiple answers), but other than that the gameplay is faithful. The graphics of the set and the “big board” itself are also faithful to the show, with two notable exceptions.
The first exception is that the prizes on the gameboard are all trips with a singular value. The actual show prided itself on giving away a variety of prizes, some good (like cars) and some bad (like Flokati rugs). The main tenet was that the prizes on the board were constantly changing and their values were a mystery. This led to suspense and strategy when a prize or a decision square was hit, because the contestant would not necessarily know the prize value in advance. By making the prize values static and unchanging, the designers have taken a huge shortcut that cheapens the value of the game.
Lastly, and this is undoubtedly a nit-pick, but the iconic sound heard when the randomizer flashes around the big board is strangely cut short in this game; it’s only heard for the first second or two after the board starts spinning. Seeing as the designers went as far as to obtain the actual board sound used on the show, this is most assuredly a bug in the code. Unfortunately a format like the Wii does not lend itself to quick bug fixes.
In a nutshell, Press Your Luck 2010 for the Wii can be best described as a good start to reviving software versions of the franchise, but there’s a ways to go to make it a completely faithful experience.
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|Fun for 2-3 Players,
My wife and I think this game is fun to play together as a casual experience. It isn’t a verious serious or difficult game, but does a good job recreating a game show experience. It is way better for multi-player than Price is Right which was really horrible for 2 players. This one is a better format because you both play through the full game to the end.
There are 2 rounds of questions then spinning for money on the board. The questions are rather easy, but I’ve never had a repeat yet and I’ve played it about 15 times. But apparently others have hit repeats early (it is probably random, so always a chance). Multiple choice is normally fairly obvious unless you just don’t know the subject matter. So we do not get everything right, but you get more points for buzzing in first, so you’ll do better to buzz in early. To be fair so everybody gets some spins, we play nice and at least let the other person rack up some spins. It could be to their harm too because too many spins can lead to more whammies when spinning, but you can pass them and force them on the other player too.
Spinning on the board for money is fun. We really don’t care at all that the trips are all the same value since it is nearly random anyway and you want to rack up money and avoid whammies. You can get free spins, double your money, get more money, choice to lose a whammie, or get whammies. Get 4 whammies and you lose, but the other play gets to keep playing until they decide they have enough. What you get is nearly random, but I almost feel you can somewhat avoid whammies a little bit. At first I thought it was completely random, but I’ve been avoiding them a lot more recently. However I still run into them and bankrupt myself to start over often enough. Sometimes it is fun when someone in the losing position has some spins to pass and force upon the other player, and they are forced to spin and risk hitting a whammie.
The game isn’t without its flaws. I’ve never played it as a single player. But with 2 players, it leaves the 3rd spot open. It might have been nice to have a computer player to fill the empty spot. It was a lot worse when Price is Right did this and doesn’t feel like you are missing too much here. If you had another, you would probably have to sit through them spinning, so maybe it is better this way. One nice thing here, unlike Price is Right, is no loading between segments. Once you start, you keep going until the end without loading pauses in-between. The game is fun, but is not as long lasting. It is over-priced a bit for the value you get, but I still thought I’d give it a shot on a sale and was more fun than expected (especially compared to Price is Right).
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|just like the old show,
Just got the game today. Fantastic fun! my wife and i had a blast playing it. Cant wait to play with other people. seems like the more you play it with the more fun it will be. Just the the old 80 version. The questions are rather easy and you’ll hit the whammy right when you dont want to. All in all if your a fan of the show you’ll love this game. Only way it could have gotten better is if Peter Tamarkin and Rod Roddy were still alive to be the host’s
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