Review: Smart Trivia

Score:
51%

Author: Viisas

Version Reviewed: 7.16

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Smart Triva looks to be just up my street – it's a quiz game for useless bits of knowledge, and listeners to the AAS Insight Podcasts know that I've a few things locked away in the braincells that can be pulled out. So Steve left me in no doubt that this was the one for me.

Some fun with the Ovi Store login and payment server and Smart Trivia was running on my E75. And that's when it struck me. Smart Trivia is a great idea, but it feels like a cutting edge 2002 WAP site, not a multiplatform mobile application in 2009.

Where shall I start? How about that I have to use my cellular connection for data and don't get to use Wi-fi? That's just not nice. Yes I know that we've got affordable data plans now but it kinda negates the wifi option. And you do need that data connection because all of the questions and program data is downloaded as needed from the Smart Trivia servers.

 

I'm not blaming java for this, because java apps can see the wi-fi bits and pieces. I'm blaming the programmers for not considering it – although multiplatform apps that run on something other than the target platform tend to forget things like this.

So into the application, and Smart Trivia asks you for a name to use in your questioning time – this is used to identify you to the other users taking part on Smart Trivia. More on that after the single player game lets you see the mechanics.

The format is pretty simple. You get a question with multiple choice answers – choose correctly and you score compared to the difficulty of the question. Get the wrong answer and it's game over and your score is everything you've gathered up to that point. If a question is too difficult you do have a “Pass” but can only use this once.

But, err, where are the answers? They're hiding under the right soft key, which gives away the java nature of the code. It's a compromise solution at best – but if all you want are the questions then knock yourself out. Just one complaint and that's the flag questions – when you are asked “what country's flag is this?” it would be nice to see the graphic(!)

So now you have a score, what happens to it? Well it goes into the Daily High Score table, which is a nice experience, but feels slightly disconnected from reality – yes it's a list of names but they mean little to me. I suspect that for “the Facebook Generation” or a close circle of friends there's much more joy in this (and you get to set up a friends list, I suspect, for this very reason).

You also have multiplayer mode, which pairs you up with another contestant – you're both given the same ten questions to see who can get the highest score (you can get more than one wrong in this version and still keep playing). Again though, am I playing someone online? Who is it? Yes there is a 'who got it right and wrong' but I never felt the thrill of competition.

Smart Triva does not feel like a completed title. It's more like a test bed to prove that the data flow from a server to handset can work, that the user ID system will handle a lot of people, and that the basic mechanics of the game work. Which they do.

This game has two needs. The first is a decent lick of paint, some graphics and a bit of gee-whiz in the looks department. The second is it needs to use all the device's capabilites, from wifi to actually displaying pictures on the screen. Till then I'd be hard pushed to recommend it, even if it does, in principle, work.

-- Ewan Spence, Nov 2009.

Reviewed by Ewan Spence at 17:25 UTC, November 24th 2009