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(More customer reviews)When you walk into a video store and see games that are playable on a standard DVD player, you have to realize that these machines were not designed to play games - just menus and movies. So it's no surprise that there's going to be sacrifices made when trying to incorporate gameplay into what boils down to fancy menu navigation.
The "Press Your Luck" DVD game does remarkably well given the limitations. Todd Newton (who hosted the GSN remake of PYL, by the way), does a fine job of hosting. While you can't buzz in and answer the questions like the original show, the game solves this by giving each player at least one opportunity to answer a question for 3 spins, while the other players attempt to get one. The questions were challenging but not impossible, a treat when you remember how simple the trivia was on the original show.
Where "Press Your Luck" stumbles, unfortunately, is the Big Board round. Forget about using any strategy while playing - it's utterly and completely random. The bouncing lights and shifting slides are only for decoration. What you "land on" is determined by the same principles employed when choosing a card from a fanned-out deck. Would it even be possible for the game to play like the show on a DVD player? You know: one box at a time in a seemingly random but actually complex patterns, prizes and whammies shifting in set intervals. I really couldn't tell you for certain.
Less severe, but still nagging is the fact that you have to remember what the scores are on your own. The game doesn't remind you of opponents' winnings, which may mean the difference between spinning or passing.
Speaking of "passing": the game doesn't (or can't) employ the spin/pass rules that are detrimental to the strategy of past real-life contestants. On the show, when you are passed spins, you must take them until you use them up, earn them though extra spin spaces, or hit a Whammy. In the DVD game, it seems you have the option of passing "passed" spins back to someone else immediately - though there's a limit of one pass per round.
Also, it should be noted - the player with the most money should go LAST according to the show's rules (an advantage). The DVD game makes that person go first. Not detrimental really but worth noting.
On the plus side, the new Whammy animations are quite amusing and it's been something sorely missed from the otherwise brilliant homebrew versions fans have made and posted to the internet.
Overall, if you can get it for around $10, it's worth a look. The trivia is more than adequate and the threat of hitting a Whammy when you're in the lead and have just been passed a spin adds to the excitement and tension. Hard-core fans of the TV show, however, may be griping too much to enjoy it on the same level.
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Press Your Luck. The classic TV game show is now a fantastic home DVD game! Take a spin on the game board to win some big money and prizes, but watch out for the whammies or you'll be left with nothing. Based on the popular TV game show, this challenging DVD game is full of fun and surprises. It's a game for the whole family full of trivia, tactics, choices and chances. Hosted by veteran television personality, Todd Newton. For two to four players.
