Who Wants to Be a Millionaire: Party Edition

I Can't Imagine that any review of this game doesn't begin by pointing out that the thrill of Millionaire is rooted in simplicity, high stakes and schadenfreude. They should then point out that a home version instantly wipes out the last two factors, leaving you with unadulterated simplicity - a bunch of questions, one after the other. If you do well, it simply leaves you feeling cheated and angry that someone hasn't given you $125,000. If you do badly - well, at least you know you shouldn't waste your money texting the TV show. Single-player works well enough. It's lonely and futile, but it works. Just use the mouse and click around. Suffer the infuriating stereotypes, of course - chav, toff, boxer, surfer... There's a repetitive clichS to irritate everyone.

It's the extra multiplayer modes that restore some sense of jeopardy - thankfully, you're not doomed to reproduce the TV show, taking it in turns to try to win a million. You can steal questions and pass them on to other players; but this is removing the last appeal of the format, its pure simplicity.

It's hardly rocket science, but it stops being Millionaire, and flips into a generic, derived game with the Millionaire money ladder. In any event, the idea of four people huddling around a PC keyboard is an uncomfortable and desperate way to spend your winter evenings.

Without even network play, this isn't a game that belongs on a PC. Get it on a console, by all means - but even then, party games like Buzz are more varied and fun, and - surprisingly - have less irritating avatars. A plug for a PS2 game in a PC mag? It feels dirty, yes, but until they bring back You Don't Know Jack, we've got nothing else to offer.