My heart was first broken, then warmed by two new PlayStation 2 games*: Buzz! The Hollywood Quiz *and *Buzz! Junior Robo Jam. *
Buzz! The Hollywood Quiz appealed to me not only because I am a trivia game addict, but because of the enormous flashing red button that sits atop the special Buzz controllers. Like a huge piece of glowing candy, it called to me from beneath my thumb, begging me to press it and ring in with lightning speed, thus preventing my competitors from answering and ensuring that only I would be allowed to bask in point-earning glory.
Unfortunately, that didn't happen. Hollywood rarely requires you to hit the shiny red button that's so like Rudolph's nose. In those rare instances you do finally get to use it, it's just to advance a screen or select a menu option. My heart broke just a little when I discovered that.
To answer questions in Hollywood, you press one of the four muticolored buttons on the Buzz controller. Sometimes it pays to be the fastest finger in the room, but it usually doesn't matter how speedy you are, only whether or not you got it right. Until you become very familiar with the controller, you'll probably have to look down from the TV screen to make sure you're hitting the right button, which can make it more difficult to be the first player to ring in.
It may have ignored my need to wail away on the big red button as though I was slinging a hammer at a Whack-a-Mole booth, but Buzz: The Hollywood Quiz certainly delivered when it came to the trivia. The questions definitely skew towards more recent films, but are plentiful and varied enough to keep the game fun through multiple playthroughs. Recognizing that if players wanted to read a bunch of text they'd be playing an RPG, Hollywood also makes good use of pictures and video clips in questions.
Above: Buzz! The Hollywood Quiz (left) is a standard trivia game, while Buzz! Junior Robo Jam (right) is more of a Mario Party-styled mini-game collection that uses the one-handed trivia controller.
There's no question that Hollywood is the most fun when played by four (or more, in teams) players, but it would have been nice for developer Relentless to include some computer-controlled opponents for those times when you come up a little short.
The single-player game has a completely different structure from the party game and works fairly well, but playing Hollywood with just two people can be somewhat unsatisfying. Game modes like Point Stealer, where being first with the correct answer lets you swipe 500 points from an opponent, don't really work when there's only one other person playing.
Buzz! Junior Robo Jam repaired my somewhat broken heart by addressing the few issues I had with Hollywood, and throwing in adorable robots to boot. A collection of mini-games aimed at the younger set, Robo Jam provides AI with variable skill levels for those days when you don't have the four players the games require and lets you smack that big red button with wild abandon.
There are only 24 mini-games included, but most of them are fun and with simple controls and goals, they're all well suited to a younger audience. You'll fire rockets at your fellow robots, whack them with pillows, and shoot aliens as they pop out of craters, earning points depending on how well you do. Robo Jam is a definite winner for kids, but I'm guessing it would be well received at your next adult gathering, too, especially if the booze is flowing fast.
--Susan Arendt
WIRED Great selection of questions in Hollywood Quiz, Robo Jam is adorable and kid-friendly
TIRED A woefully insufficient amount of red button smashing in Hollywood
$40 each, Sony
Rating: 
Read Game|Life's game ratings guide.
Images courtesy Sony Computer Entertainment America
