Who Wants to Be a Millionaire: 2nd Edition

We quite liked the first edition of Millionaire, simply because the progressive question formula works well, as is evident by the continuing success of the TV series. There were huge glaring faults though, not least of which was the piddly amount of questions (1000) and the fact that they were repeated more often than Jeremy Paxman on top form. Unbelievably, with its direct competitor Weakest Link offering 100,000 questions, the 2nd Edition comes with exactly the same number, and there's still no sign of Chris Tarrant (although he does voice the questions), despite the fact that he makes an appearance in the new PS2 version.

In fact, forgetting the derisory cosmetic enhancements (which amount to the same as me smearing a bit of moisturiser on the end of my nose and trying to make out I'm fit) and the insulting 1000 new questions, there are only two reasons for buying this. One, to keep your family quiet at Christmas and avoid having to play Go for Broke, Sorry, or any other of the myriad board games that you've kept in your cupboards over the past 20 years. Two, (and this is the deal clincher), the developer has perfected the art of writing your name on the cheque at the end of the game. Last time around the game tried to con you into accepting a slip with the name Player One scrawled on it. I don't know about you but my bank would point and laugh if I tried to pass this off as one of my own.

So, in conclusion, this is exactly what I thought it would be. Good fun, but in essence a Christmas cash cow for Eidos and Celador, with minimal effort on either side and guaranteed sales of several hundred million units. And you get to pretend to be a television contestant for a bit. That's it. My parents always said that life wasn't fair and now I'm convinced.