Difficulty:

Just Right

Time Spent:

10 to 20 Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Old-school"

Let's Play...Wheel Of Fortune! Insert studio applause and cute character models. The characters are ready to go and the series of puzzles make their way. The costumized players have their hands on the buzzer and look around the room as if to gauge the other reactions, to see if anyone else is closer to solving the puzzle. Unfortunately there are no real rewards for winning the million dollar prize, or anything special like that. For the winnings, its all about presentation. You are not just a contestant on the show, you are also watching a show in which your avatar is facing off against others.

The options for your customized experiance start off small but they really grow as the game goes on. Unfortunately, if you play it with a long enough marathon, alot of the unlockables do not provide any difinitive experiances outside of what the game already offers previously.

he biggest changes will be the different sets you unlock. The sets provide different backgrounds, different dialogues between Vanna White, the board Lady and Pat Sajack, the host. Another difference between sets will be the puzzle answers to the opening tossups puzzles. These puzzle answers are based on the theme of the set you are visiting, so if lets say the show is in Washington DC. expect a government or American history related answer. A cruise ship would have something ocean or water themed, and so on for Halloween, New Orleans and other locations.

As for Unlockables, you are allowed to unlock locations, pictures, art, videos (which are cartoonish openings to Wheel of Fortune) and props for the Wheel set. In a nutshell, winning a trip to venice is nothing more than bragging rights of knowing, that if you were on the show, you would have won a trip to venice.

As for the show itself, it prides itself in a silly form of presentation. If you do not skip anything, the experiance is very akin to watching a whole episode of Wheel of Fortune. However if you are looking to play the game, rather than enjoy the Wheel experiance, you will be skipping often.

The show will start with the screen followed by Pat Sayjack and Vanna White coming out. The then you are introduced to you, the contestants and the game starts. After a main puzzle and some tossups, the game cuts to a comercial break, during the break you do one of three mini games, (all three during the coarse of a whole episode) and all games are Wheel of Fortune Puzzles with different gimmicks.

The gameplay itself is simple, You spin the wheel with the button prompted, and you get points based on what you accumulate in the round, if and when you solve the word puzzle by guessing the letters. Vowels cost money to guess, solving is free. The winner gets to go onto the final wheel where you spin for a high end prize puzzle.

The gameplay comes from the mental puzzle the game provides. Against the AI, the game is unremarkable. However this game was designed for family fun, and for party play. Playing against an AI may be unremarkable, but playing against the person next to you is the true definitive experiance of this game.

Playing online can also be fun. Matches can be unpredictable and are quests to one up the figure your going against. A win, feels so great, while a third place loss feels tragic.

Wheel of Fortune, ultimately is a good way to pass a competitve time with your friends or other people. It has its draw backs. There are glicthes, finding people online can be tough, and considering the popularity or lack there of, the online component may dwindle even further in the coming day, weeks, and months. However, if you have friends and family that you dont mind playing mind games with, added with a bit of luck, this game can be a worthwhile investment and I recomend it.

At its best, tensions are on a high raise, you are scratching your brain, or smiling while you await your opponent to flubb the mark, knowing that you will shove the solution in his face. At its worst, it is going through the motions and nothing new to look forward to.

Ultimately you, the reader, will know wether or not a night of trivia rivalry between yourself and others is your kind of fun or not. If it is, Wheel of Fortune doesnt do anything wrong, it is a good solid game. However if you perfer frantic high paced action, there are alternatives.