Reviews / previews
The fate of the world rests in your knowledge of trivia.
You don't hear that every day.
Austin Powers Operation: Trivia borrows much of its
format and style from Berkeley Systems' You Don't
Know Jack series, but adds that Austin Powers flair.
Your computer becomes a game show, complete with
buzzers, categories,
questions, and the
all-important
charismatic host.
You will team up
with either Austin or
Dr. Evil in their
respective quests to
save or destroy the
world.
Operation: Trivia is
all about presentation. Its design is utterly Austin
Powers, from the psychedelic backgrounds to the
hallucinogenic animated transitions between
questions. The sound, from the groovy tunes to the
clever sound bites, entertains as it invokes that
late-'60s mood. Playing is a simple matter of using
the keyboard to
buzz in and choose
questions and
answers.
The pop
culture-oriented
questions range
from common
knowledge to obscure headlines. Four styles
of play add variety to the game, but the
predictable pattern of the questions tends to get tiring. Despite the game's
large database of questions, questions begin repeating after playing the game
a few times, and knowing the answers ruins its competitiveness. (Playing this
game alone is about as much fun as being placed in a burlap sack and beaten
with reeds. Operation: Trivia is about getting a few friends together and
laughing at each other's ignorance of pop culture.)
On the other hand, the game comes with so many sound bites that each new
game has a new intro narration, a new ending, and new responses from Dr.
Evil and Austin Powers--most of them by an
authentic Colin Mahan--to the players'
actions. I've played the Windows version of
this Windows/Mac hybrid many, many times
and I have yet to hear the same opening or
ending narration twice. And it's worth it to
play through the game just to hear what
happens at the end.
Austin Powers Operation: Trivia is a party
game, pure and simple, and Austin Powers
fans will love it. But if you play on your own, or bristle when you hear the word
"shagadelic," this one's not your bag, baby.-- James Turner / GamePro
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