Why You Can Trust CNET Smarty Pants review: Smarty Pants
Smarty Pants is a family friendly trivia game for young and old. It is in no way a game that can be enjoyed while played alone -- it is specifically designed for the family and party atmosphere with up to four players at once. Sadly, there is no support for online play.
Smarty Pants is a family friendly trivia game for young and old. It is in no way a game that can be enjoyed while played alone -- it is specifically designed for the family and party atmosphere with up to four players at once. Sadly, there is no support for online play.
Smarty Pants
The Good
The Bad
The Bottom Line
Smarty Pants has solo, co-operative, and friends play modes. The focus on solo play is minimal and is really a practice mode. There is only a single mode in solo play where you race against a slow, medium, or fast timer -- slow being three minutes and fast being one. Random questions across all categories are thrown at you and you need to answer as many as possible. If you are good enough to answer four questions in a row, extra time will be added to the clock. Co-operative play is the same except questions will be answered in turn and the number of questions needed to win is pre-defined. However, in co-operative you are able to slow down the timer when answering a question by waving, shaking, jumping, or dancing with your Wii remote.
The main mode, Friends, is where it becomes slightly more enjoyable. Having up to four players competing can become fairly intense, especially in Wager mode. Wager mode requires the players to shoot at little moving duck targets in a shooting gallery marked with +100, -100, and so on. The total at the end will define the amount rewarded or lost per question that is answered in that round. Wager mode can see you either racking up a heap of points or entering the minus zone rather quickly from wrong attempts. The other mode in friends play is Countdown mode, which can be played from a quick 15 minute game to an hour long session.
There are a range of categories such as, sports, TV & film, fashion, art & literature, and a category just for the UK. Choosing a category at the start of a round is done in Wheel of Fortune style. Shaking your Wii remote will set the wheel in motion and once it begins to slow down you are able to nudge in either direction to hopefully land on a category you desire. During spins you have a chance of picking up game cards which can be used during questions. Using a card requires you to hold down the B button and do a throwing motion at the screen. Cards can include the "I Know It" card, where you can take priority in answering the question over your opponents. Plus, there is a card which can make the question harder for your opponent and a card which allows you to stop the timer, giving you more time to think of the answer.
Questions are answered by holding down the A button and raising your Wii remote in the air to buzz in. If you are unsuccessful at your attempt your opponents are able to buzz in to capitalise on your mistake. Questions appear in sets of four and are displayed clearly in big white bubbles.
Smarty Pants is a simple trivia game which could prove to be a lot of fun among family and friends. There is a huge range of questions to try across many categories and it is challenging for all ages.