Android only (right now),
Google Play Store link,
Free to demo, full game unlock £3.50
And so to an app that was off my radar but asked to try out, promising to be an amalgamation of various different formats in one app.
In Gameshow Adventure you are tasked with climbing pyramids (Aztec, Egypt, Vegas), each one with fifteen rooms and in each room a game. These are multi-choice quizzes (with varying rules regarding payoffs), conundrums (anagrams), catchphrases, a bonus wheel, various puzzles and the last room is basically Deal or No Deal for big points. At various points up the pyramid you can go to a shop to spend your winnings on extra lives, passes or to even play an arcade-y game to earn more money. And there’s a bonus game you can play between rooms.
The app certainly looks and sounds great with its crisp graphics and fun sound effects. However the writing needs a bit of work – it rather bombards you with the rules at the start (there are quite a lot of mechanics in play here although they make sense when you start playing) and the various messages could probably do with a snappier edit, especially considering it’s pitched internationally. The questions aren’t greatly interesting to be honest (they’re also designed for international play) and sometimes a bit vague (“which country has the most radio stations?”). The other rounds play well, there seems to be a reasonable amount of variety in the puzzle rounds although nothing massively original (pelmanism, tower of hanoi, Simon etc).
The “gambling” games are arcadey-skill games some of which inspired by arcade classics through the prism of the Going Live phone-in game. These are fine in the main although the game of Frogger I played seemed to have a four minute time limit which is a bit much. A run through a pyramid will take you about 20-25 minutes provided you don’t crash out and lose all your lives.
You can play multiplayer pass and play and everyone gets the same questions and challenges for fairness. It keeps stats and leaderboards.
This would make for a pretty good quiz machine with a few tweaks, it certainly looks and sounds the part. As it is £3.50 for the full game unlock feels a bit steep in the current app climate. However the first pyramid is entirely free to play (with adverts in the shops) and I do think once you know what you’re doing it’s quite fun – I did shell out in the end.
Quick review of a new show from Germany.
Joko and Klaas have got a new variety-style show called ‘Die Beste Show der Welt’ (The Best Show in the World). The concept is simple; it’s all about the ratings.
Both Joko and Klaas each have 4 ‘shows’ to try and impress the studio audience. Each audience member has a keypad, and throughout each of the ‘shows’, they cast their opinion on what they like & don’t like. The show with the highest average rating wins. There is an on screen graphic throughout each show, which illustrates what the ratings are. If the ratings fall into the red zone (presumably 20%) and stay there for 60 seconds, the show is immediately cancelled. They each have a joker, where the other presenter must take part in their show.
There is a repeat on at 1.20pm on Sunday afternoon, but here’s a synopsis of the shows. The order of the shows alternates between Joko first, then Klaas.
Show 1 – The Yes or No Show – a couple (the man has applied to the show to ask for their help) are brought down. They each take it in turns to ask questions which have the answer ‘Yes’ or ‘No’. She answers first, then he answers. If they’re both right they win money. But, he keeps getting the answer wrong on purpose, so they keep losing. The reason the man applied was that he wanted to propose to his girlfriend. The last question he asks is ‘will you marry me’? She says yes, and they get married there and then on the show.
Show 2 – The David Flame Show – Klaas performed a series of magic stunts, in the style of David Copperfield. Ably assisted by Palina Rojinski.
Show 3 – Duerften Wir? (May We?) – a couple in the studio audience are surprised. Matthias Schweighofer (famous German actor) is outside the couple’s apartment. Joko then asks them if it is ok to perform a series of tasks inside the apartment (farm animals in the bathroom, redecorating, underground nightclub in the bedroom etc…). If they agree to do so, they’re given money. This show was the winner with a rating of 85%.
Show 4 – Die Beste Preis der Welt (The Best Prize in the World) – almost like “Schlag den Klaas”. A member of the studio audience (set up to be surprised) plays against Klaas. If she wins over 3 games, she gets the best prize in the world; her brother who lives in Columbia with his wife & child (who she hasn’t seen for 5 years) is hidden in a big red box. Even though she lost in the final game, she was reunited with her brother.
Show 5 – Japan Game Show – Joko uses his joker to set up Klaas. A series of Japanese gameshow style games are played in the studio. It’s hosted by a Japanese presenter, with crazy music, bright colours and flashing lights (what you expect from a Japanese gameshow). This was one of two shows to be cancelled
Show 6 – Hoehen Angst (Fear of Heights) – Klaas uses his joker to set up Joko. Joko (who has a fear of heights) must complete an obstacle course of increasing height, in order to win money for a member of the studio audience.
Show 7 – Game of Drones – four drone-flyers are in the studio. They must fly a drone for 5 laps round a specially built track, wearing Virtual-Reality goggles in order to fly the machine. As a twist, members of the studio audience are invited to stake their own money on who will win. The person who set the highest stake for each drone/pilot is brought down, and if their chosen drone wins, they win 10 times their stake.
Show 8 – Kein Herz fuer Tiere (No Heart for Animals) – a series of cute animals are brought into the studio. Three celebrities compete over three rounds. Each time they make a facial expression they get a minus point. Whoever has the fewest minus points wins. This show was cancelled in the second round.
It’s a really interesting format, and the general feedback on social media seems to be good. Will be interesting to see what the ratings are like.
Just a quick note about the ratings for Die Beste Show der Welt
Total Viewers: 1.96m (7.6%)
14-49: 1.45m (17.1%)
Joko and Klaas are very popular with younger audiences, but they just can’t reach older audiences, which leads to a poor number of total viewers. The number that really matters though is the 14-49 share, and Prosieben will be very happy with that.
The stars for next Saturday’s Schlag den Star have been confirmed too. Johannes Strate (lead singer in the german band Revolverheld, previously coach on The Voice Kids) takes on Arne Friedrich (ex football player for Hertha BSC and the German national team).
Oh thanks, In my head I thought SdS was a fortnight away.
Game Update – Game Show Adventure
The instructions at the start of the game have been shortened considerably and replaced with a hand pointing to what you should do instead.
The price has been dropped to £2.95 including VAT which I think is a fair price considering it’s vast size and variety.
The Frogger game has been shortened by a full minute.
More games and puzzles are being created right now and will be added soon.
I will update and make good anything suggested from feedback I receive about the game in future.
So far the game has just hit the 500 downloads mark and no reports of crashes or bugs have been found.
The game has been reworked to run on Amazon’s range of Kindle’s and will be submitted for review in 3 weeks. iOS to follow about 4 weeks after that.