The Buzz! franchise has a long and storied history with the PlayStation brand, and there's a good chance that if you own a Sony console, you've likely brandished the odd controller with the oversized red button and done battle with your friends in the name of trivia supremacy. Now the series is making its debut on the PS3 in the form of Buzz! Quiz TV, and the classic multiplayer mayhem, coupled with some nifty online features, makes this a worthy addition to your gaming library.

One thing that's for certain about Buzz! Quiz TV is that Buzz and his crew have used the hardware-changing occasion to secure a swank new studio easily on par with anything you would find when flipping on the TV at prime time. The slick set pieces, coupled with the beautifully animated characters (15 in all, each of them just brimming with overwrought kookiness), make this one good-looking game. Further upping the ante is the return of Jason Donovan lending his voice to the game's host/title character. Unfortunately, Buzz doesn't have a lot of lines (he repeats himself far too often), but what he does say is delivered with the perfect mix of game show announcer cheese and deep self-loathing that you just know every game show host struggles with. The game is an audiovisual treat, showing that it's not just triple-A franchise titles that can deliver a deeply pleasing aesthetic experience.

If you happen to be new to the series, Buzz! is the sort of game that is incredibly easy to pick up and play. You play a series of themed rounds where you are prompted to either buzz in when you see the correct answer appear on-screen, or select a response to the question using one of the four colored buttons on your remote. Of course, straight-up trivia is boring, so things are spiced up with gimmicks such as a bomb that is passed between players (the only way to get rid of it is to answer a question correctly) and a round that allows you to steal points from the player of your choosing. Topping it all off is the Final Countdown, a lightning-round stage where all of the players' platforms are slowly lowered to the ground, and as soon as you touch the ground, it's game over. The action is frantic and funny, giving you a much-needed dose of mirth in your trivia experience.

Much like all the other games in the Buzz! franchise, this one is built for multiplayer. The title comes packaged with four remotes (good news, they're wireless; bad news, they require 2 AA batteries apiece, not included), and the game allows you to plug in up to four PS2 buzzers, meaning this can quickly turn into a true party game. Multiplayer is also where you see the most varied round types, with each competition running you through every gimmick in Buzz's bag of tricks.

Things aren't so rosy in single-player or the new online Couch vs. Couch mode. When playing alone, you are limited to only playing games of Stop the Clock, where the faster you answer, the more points you score. There's no option to bring in AI competitors whatsoever, and therefore the whole experience gets old in a hurry. If there's one major fault with the game, it doesn't have a lot to offer between big games with friends.

The new online Couch vs. Couch mode does a little to alleviate the single-player pain, but it suffers from drawbacks of its own. First off, the game doesn't support voice chat (yet), making the experience less fun than when in a roomful of friends. Sure, you can press the buttons on your buzzer to make characters pose between questions, but with a limited variety of expressions, it really doesn't do much to convey your gloating or disappointment. Also, much like single-player, you can only play specific game modes, robbing you of the full Buzz! experience when you go online. And finally, you're limited to only one player per system for online games, meaning that even if you and a friend want to take on a couple of strangers while you sit right next to each other, it's not allowed. Couch vs. Couch is a step in the right direction for the franchise, but hopefully, subsequent editions will present a more fully featured experience.

There is another aspect to Buzz's online capabilities, though, and this one is beautiful. In addition to the questions already contained within the game (over 5,000 on the disc alone), this edition marks the debut of MyBuzz TV, a new feature that allows users to create and submit their very own quizzes. All you have to do to create a quiz is head over to MyBuzzTV.com and start typing. Challenges can cover any topic, and there's even an option for you to mark whether or not your questions should fall into the "mature" category, thus at least partially alleviating censorship concerns. Even better, every time someone plays your quiz online, he or she is asked to rate it on a scale of one to four stars, with higher-rated quizzes being featured more often. As expected, quizzes submitted so far run the gamut in terms of categories, but there is an especially heavy emphasis on sports and video games. Overall, this new feature creates a way to provide nearly limitless content for as long as users want to keep writing questions. It's a great way to keep gamers interested in the title, and it will likely pay dividends for Sony down the road.

For those tired of the MyBuzz questions or just wanting some more "professional" trivia, Sony is promising to keep the game updated with new trivia packs, and so far, they've been true to their word. Gamers can already pick up trivia packs themed on sci-fi or horror, or even download a whole slew of questions from National Geographic. Unfortunately, the packs aren't free (prices range from $5.99 to $7.99), but with over 500 new questions coming in with every download, you're definitely getting a good bang for your buck.

While it may be true that Buzz! Quiz TV won't find a lot of favor among the hardcore crowd, that absolutely isn't the game's audience. This is a title that fits perfectly for those who are a little too sophisticated for the Wii, but yet wouldn't fancy themselves a game of Halo or Call of Duty. Still, this title can reach a broad scope and is equally suitable for families looking for a way to play together or groups of friends coming together to have a good time. Unfortunately, the game can be a bit boring for single players and online matches, and I would have liked to see the games mixed up a bit (how about only using some of the rounds instead of all of them in every multiplayer game?), but this is still a supremely enjoyable title. With top-notch production values, a ton of great questions, humor to spare and a good deal of built-in longevity, Buzz! Quiz TV will likely be the hit of your next party.

Score: 8.8/10