One of America’s most popular game shows Wheel of Fortune has a new game adaptation from Ubisoft, and while it has some improvements over the previous PS3 version from THQ, it has a multitude of technical errors that make the game far less fun to play.
Let’s explain Wheel of Fortune to those who haven’t played it before. This is a word game that has you and your competitors figure out a phrase by spinning the wheel and guessing letters. Spinning the wheel dictates how much money you earn per letter revealed on the board, and if you figure out the word puzzle on the board is, you gain the earnings you made from that round. The wheel can also fictionally give you vacations, a new car, and $1 million. That would be nice. However, if you land on the bankrupt tile, you lose everything you made from that round. It’s a simple game that sometimes feels too slow as each player spins the wheel repeatedly, but it’s always fun to figure out the puzzle before anyone else. The one problem this game has is that sometimes the phrases are just plain weird. In an online game, the three of us strangers were trying to suss a particular word to the point of making them up, and then once I looked it up online, the robotic terminology of “Mixed Vegetables” sprung up. Seriously, who says that?
Everything you want from a Wheel of Fortune game is here. There are modes that simulate the actual game show, and a quick version of the game, online multiplayer, a leveling system, which unlocks all sorts of clothes (for both the player and the hosts), stage variations, and a leaderboard system.
All of the sound effects and the music that you would expect are in the game, and they even include video B-roll of the cities that players in-game win a trip to (they don’t actually, but you know what I mean). Rather than the cartoon look from the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions, this goes for more of a realistic look, and it looks creepy. The eyes on each character’s face look dead and there is little emotion from them. When there is a shot, in which, the other players are staring into the distance, it gets jarring. In Wheel of Fortune (and American game shows specifically), players usually act in a bombastic fashion when they win a prize. In this game, they’re very down-t0-earth, and they say very little. While albeit annoying to hear the characters’ reactions from THQ’s version with laughing and cheering as they win, it’s something that is needed to be authentic to Wheel of Fortune. Another noticeable difference is that the hosts’ likenesses are not in the game, or at least, they’re not recognizable.
The host’s voice prattles on, saying the same lines over and over and over and over again until you have to go into the options menu and turn him off. The audio work also cuts off certain lines, and the video clips that play for the players winning trips gets cut off early. In addition, while playing online, it played two tracks of music on top of each other. I had to turn down the music for a little while because of this.
Another aspect of the game that is missing from the PS3 version is that there aren’t any themed rounds of Wheel of Fortune. The previous Wheel of Fortune had city-centric prompts or season-themed prompts like Halloween and Christmas. These are not to be seen.
What I do appreciate, however, is that Ubisoft’s Wheel of Fortune has a far better online multiplayer mode. It is easy to drop in and play a game if there are people playing. You can invite friends easily in-game, and there is no lag to speak of. It’s actually quite interesting to see how players take their time to consider what the phrase is on screen. You can also speak to the other contestants with voice chat if they have a microphone on as well. For me, I’m looking forward to playing rounds of Wheel of Fortune with my sister yet again with the ease of use online multiplayer that is included in the game. That’s if it doesn’t crash on my sister or I. In multiple instances, this game has crashed during an online game, sometimes with a black screen for 15-30 seconds and then it goes to the crash screen on the PS4. It’s aggravating after you spend 10-15 minutes on a competitive game with your friends or loved ones and then all that progress is erased. Out of 4 matches played online, it crashed 2-3 times. This needs to be fixed in QA immediately.
However, with this Wheel of Fortune, it does have ways of bringing players back who are willing to put up with its technical problems due to its leveling system and having over 4000 puzzles included. Whenever you level up, you get multiple sets of clothing, stages, and other unlocks. It’s a simple way to keep players coming back, even though the unlocks aren’t really that interesting. There’s no branded Ubisoft clothes or stages to unlock. It would have been cool to get an assassin hoodie from Ezio, a Rayman shirt, Sam Fisher’s goggles, Pey’J’s jet boots, or Rabbid ears. It’s a shame and hopefully, they add more clothes like this in the future. Oh, and unlike most games right now, there are no micro-transactions, which is always a plus.
Ubisoft’s Wheel of Fortune is a little rough around the edges, but it’s the same classic game that will hook you for a few rounds with the family. Despite its technical glitches, it is still a competent version of the game while you are playing on the couch.
The next game I will be reviewing is Jeopardy!, which is included in the double pack that Ubisoft has released. You can also get them separately. I will be covering this game within the next few weeks so keep an eye out!
A PS4 code for Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune was provided by Ubisoft for review purposes.