It's Quiz Time

Now there’s a bit of a story behind this one. When the game was released, you couldn’t complete it because one of the achievements, the only one associated with solo play, would not unlock even if you met the requirements to unlock it. Normally I wouldn’t buy a game in this circumstance but I like quiz games and I looked into it and it appeared that the developer was looking into getting it fixed. However, this appeared to be a lot of hot air as nothing happened for two years.

Then, out of nowhere, they released a 2019 update which not only gave the game much needed new content but also fixed what was broken. While I already had half of the game finished, this game me the impetus to go back and finish it off.

It’s Quiz Time is a quiz game with a companion app – where you launch the game on the Xbox but play using your phone or other portable device. This is great because it allows everyone to play and no one to see your answers.

There is also a really annoying host AI called Sally who insults everyone for the entire game and speaks in a robot voice that becomes quite tiring after a while. However, she will attempt to read names you input into the game and she doesn’t have a censor… so there is an opportunity for lots of childish fun here.

The quiz itself is quite varied with lots of different rounds rather just a straight forward Q&A. One of these can lead to fights though. A round called Describe It tasks you to name things associated with a specific subject. Your opponents have to say whether or not you are getting things right and so, if at the end, you haven’t got a lot right, you can call shenanigans and check the answers yourself. Nothing like a game to test honesty.

Musically, I found it to be horrific after a while. It’s just dreary and depressing and when you are playing several quizzes in a row either by yourself or with friends, this really stands out.

Achievements – 1,000 Points – 38 Achievements

Most of the achievements are associated with playing the game and completing some of the rounds in various ways. The biggest issue with trying to get the achievements is having the right amount of devices to do it.

For example, I doubt anyone has eight devices just lying around but that’s how many you will need to complete an 8-player game.  The only real way to get this one is to invite friends over and play the game properly.

There are also two date sensitive achievements for playing on Christmas Day and for playing on Halloween. However, due to the nature of the game being online all the time, you cannot use clock manipulation to unlock them so you have to wait to the exact day in order to get them.

Most of the other achievements can be unlocked with two devices and in a two-player game. There are some exceptions to this, mostly involving the Showdown round. This is where the leader competes against the other players in a fastest-finger-first scenario. In order to get the achievements associated with this game mode, you need three players. You need to win as the team and win individually and also win individually five times against a team. There’s another 3 person achievement for having someone join mid game.

Now, the biggest pain in the ass is for playing a 4 player game where all four players score over 10,000 points. Thankfully, like many of the other achievements, you can use custom games to create a game of 2 rounds of The Big Finish and then pause the game when each question comes up, google the answers and enter them on the four devices. Again, having four available devices isn’t going to be the case for everyone so it could be a case of finding friends who are willing to help with this one.

The last achievement I unlocked was for playing 30 games. Custom games of one round of Showdown are the way to go if looking just to get this achievement. The clock counts down by itself so you can watch something else while you play… if you have another device to do that on too.

Downloadable Content – N/A

It’s Quiz Time is a great concept but unfortunately, it’s not very well executed. The way the game has been published doesn’t lend itself to frequent updates so most of the content is now two years out of date. I’ve also encountered issues with the question database where some answers are wrong leading me to become very annoyed at points.

Unfortunately, it needs a bit of love, a quicker interface and more people to play it otherwise it’s destined to join the heap of unsupported games which could have been great.