Developer: Hasbro
Publisher: Ubisoft
Platform: Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, PS5, Switch
Tested on: PS5
Trivial Pursuit Live! 2 – Review
All the way back in 2015 the site took a closer look at Trivial Pursuit Live!, which was a digital version of the popular board game Trivial Pursuit. Of course, the digital version was a different experience, as the players often had to answer questions simultaneously, and the actual board game component was removed. Players had to reach a certain score, which would earn them the traditional ‘wedges’ to fill their pie-shaped meter. The game was presented in a quiz-like setting, and this is also the same for the new installment in the series. We took a closer look at Trivial Pursuit Live! 2, and found more of the same.
Story
As expected, this game comes with absolutely no story value at all. You’ll simply be able to pick out of a roster of characters, and each character has its own visual quirks. If you were expecting this game to have a story, we’d say that this title is not one for you.
Graphics
The cartoony visuals of the original make their return in this sequel. As a whole, everything looks crisp, albeit simplistic. The game has a lot of flashy colors on display and the character models do have fun designs. Other than that, you’ll be going through plenty of different quiz menus, and these menus all have a clear presentation. Some questions do provide the player with a bit too much text, making the font a bit harder to read.
Sound
As a whole, the sound design is okay. We sometimes hear a commentator, and the general quiz-themed sound effects are decent enough. Sadly, the backdrop tune does get annoying after a while and a bit more effort could have gone into dressing up this specific area of the game.
Gameplay
Trivial Pursuit Live! 2 is a party game that tries to emulate the quiz-like aspects of the original Trivial Pursuit board game. The game will have you play against three other players (or AI) in order to fill up your pie-shaped meter first. This is done by answering questions correctly. You’ll only need to press the right button in order to answer questions or sometimes move your cursor (with the stick) to the answer of your choosing. The general offset is super simple, and this game is very accessible for different types of players, and thanks to the family mode, parents can also team up with their children.
In general, the game is quite fun to play with friends, but versus the AI things are sometimes a bit too simple, and if you’re not fond of playing online, then you’re somewhat limited in what options you can choose from. The online functions work well, but we still preferred playing locally with friends, as it’s a lot more fun to see other players’ reactions when presented with the answers to different questions. The game does have a big variety of questions, but there is not that much incentive to press forward if you’re playing on your own. Trivial Pursuit Live! 2 does try to motivate players to play a lot to unlock costumes for the playable characters, but you’ll often have to play less interesting modes in order to unlock certain wardrobe options.
Even though the game isn’t bad, we did have an issue with the final round of the game. Even players with a massive lead could eventually end up losing due to the final round, as players can easily earn wedges in this round. If you answer incorrectly during one of the segments of the final round you’re out for that segment, and players who answer correctly can earn a wedge almost immediately. It also doesn’t help that this round is always just a matter of choosing A or B, which means you can have a 50/50 chance if you just guess.
Conclusion
Trivial Pursuit Live! 2 is like its predecessor a reasonably fun party game, but it’s something you will only play when you don’t have anything else to play with friends. The game proves to be fun for a match or two, and after that, you’ll probably move on to other things, to eventually end up playing a match or two again with other people just to pass some time. The game isn’t bad, but it’s just not an amazing experience, and you’ll probably have more fun playing the actual board game, as in this version, answering most questions correctly can still result in an easy loss. Even though our conclusion is somewhat negative, the game is still an okay experience, it just didn’t wow us.
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