1 Vs. 100 Preview [360]

22 Jul 2009 at 10:24:21 by James Chalmers

James Chalmers come on down!!! We all dream of being on quiz shows, and this weekend I’ve been living the dream (well kind of) in Microsoft’s version of  1 vs. 100.
       
The game has been released as a free-to-play Beta on Xbox Live and with it comes the addition of the Xbox LIVE ‘Primetime Channel’ which offers a live game on Friday and Saturday evenings at 7:30pm. When I tried it out, I had mixed results; in both two hour shows I didn’t manage to get picked for the Mob (the titular 100) or get selected to be the One. This doesn’t mean that I couldn’t participate though, as everyone who doesn’t get picked for the Mob or the One, is added into the crowd. From there I could still watch the live game unfold, answering the questions as if I was a part of the live game.

The aim of the game is for the One to eliminate a mob of 100 real time players by answering questions correctly. The One also has three help tools at their disposal (don’t call them lifelines) : ‘Trust The Crowd’, ‘Trust The Mob’ and ‘Trust The Brain’. These can be used only once each. Trust the Crowd and Trust the Mob take the most popular answer from the crowd or Mob to provide the One’s answer (think Ask the Audience in Who Wants to be a Millionaire?). Trust the Brain is even sneakier, swiping an answer from the top scoring player in the round so far.

It’s a battle of wits as the One takes on the Mob in an elimination style game. So long as the One keeps answering the questions correctly they stay in the game. However, one wrong answer will spell disaster and the One will leave empty-handed. Each member of the Mob that answers a question wrong will be eliminated and for every 10 mob members eliminated the One will see the amount of “Prize Money (MS Points)” rise. At certain points the One will be given the choice of taking the prize or gambling for more. Inevitably, you’ll find yourself screaming “Gamble!” at the One. You always have to gamble! 

If the One eliminates all 100 mob members without getting a question wrong they will win an impressive 10,000 MS Points. Once the game goes gold the One will also gain the opportunity to win real prizes such as digital cameras and cars too. Not bad for a gaming session on the weekend!  Microsoft has also included some incentive to play as an audience member. In each game, the three top scoring audience members will receive prizes and playing well will also increase your chances of being picked for the Mob or the One. 

The most appealing aspect of 1 vs. 100 is that it’s tailor-made for family play on a Saturday Night. The whole Chalmers clan was huddled around the big screen, fingers on at the ready (well on the X, A and B buttons) and together we had a lot of fun helping each other to answer the questions. The addition of being able to join as a party also gives you the chance to earn some bragging rights as you take on your friends to find out who’s the smartest.

You don’t always have to play general knowledge rounds either - when the live show isn’t available you have access to ‘Extended Play.’ This plays out like the crowd version from the live shows but you have the option to choose more specific question topics. I found the Football Knowledge quiz to be particularly impressive. Don’t expect to simply be questioned about past European winners; the game boasts current and topical questions such as “Who did Michael Owen sign for in July?”

Although it is still in the beta phase, it’s hard not to be impressed by 1 vs. 100. The basic structure is certainly well done but some questions remain, most notably whether Microsoft intends to charge for it. With the prizes such as Microsoft Points, free XBLA games, and Digital Cameras you have to wonder how Microsoft will fund the game, although more in-game adverts is perhaps the likely option. There were also some issues with the net code. While we didn’t encounter any disconnections, there were a few glitches like the avatars for the One and the Mob loading very slowly. However, this is one of the few MS games to actually utilise the Avatar system in and hopefully the glitches will be ironed out before the final release. As it stands (well it’s free), there’s no reason not to try 1 vs. 100. The free Beta is available on the Xbox Live Marketplace now.

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