Unfortunately, the game itself will irritate you more than anything else. With the pickiest parser I've ever seen,
Jeopardy!: 2nd Edition takes all the fun out of one of my favourite gameshows. The little frills that are added on don't keep this game from gameplay hell.
For those of you who don't know just what Jeopardy! is, it's a classic quiz game show where the clues are in the form of answers, not questions. You have to answer in questions instead. It's hard to say, but in theory it's plenty simple enough.
After picking how many humans are playing, and computer opponents added to make the game three players, you start to play. The board fills up with all sorts of categories and values. The more expensive questions are ostensibly more difficult, but you'll find that it's often a matter of knowing a topic or not knowing it.
And herein lies the main problem with J!2: the parser is just too damned picky. Even on the 'loosest' spelling option, it rarely takes slightly typoed words, and it never takes synonyms. The game becomes more of a 'read the mind of the guy who wrote the questions' than any real form of fun. It's absolutely exasperating, really.
Add this to the fact that the timer goes a little too fast for its own good, making the slower typers at a major disadvantage, and what could have been an entertaining party game becomes an exercise in frustration. Throw in pickiness about plurals, and you've got one of the more frustrating game experiences on the PSX.
There are some mildly interesting options in the game. It can keep track of 'careers' for you, so you can see how well you do as you progress in playing the game. You can also play a Solo Game, with no opponents. And there's a sample contestant exam, where you can be humiliated all over again and see just how little trivia you really know.
It's a fun game concept, really, but the execution is strictly sub-par.
