Coinciding with the launch of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire for Nintendo Wii, publisher Ubisoft and developer Ludia have reached into the B-level tier of the game show realm to pull Hollywood Squares into the world of video games this year. Whether or not gamers are fans of the show will play a large part in their love or hate of Ludia's adaptation. It's a fair take on the series, but suffers, like many other titles from the developer, from sloppy presentation.

The biggest thing to note about Hollywood Squares is that it does tout some star power. Maybe not A-list star power (because when has the show?), but star power nonetheless. Kathy Griffin, Martin Mull, Jeffrey Tambor and Brad Garrett are all in the game, along with host Tom Bergeron. But the way in which they are included is strange.

For those unfamiliar with the game, Hollywood Squares follows a premise inspired by Tic-Tac-Toe. There is a three-by-three grid of nine squares. In those squares are, on the show, celebrities. Instead of the players answering trivia questions, they pick a square they want, and the celebrity is asked a question. After some sort of witty quip, he or she answers the question, and it is up to the player to simply decide whether the celebrity's answer is correct or not. Making the right guess earns the player that square. The wrong one gives it to the opponent.

Players win Hollywood Squares by getting three squares in the same column, three squares in the same row or any five squares on the board. The first player to win two rounds wins the game and plays the bonus round where, on a time limit, they go through every square, agreeing or disagreeing with the celebrities. All of the right responses eliminate keys from the board, and players choose from what is left in an attempt to open a mystery box. In the case of the game, that box contains more imaginary money winnings and some item unlockables.

Ludia uses its four celebrities to fill out the center square in different match-ups, while the other eight are comprised of generic avatars who answer in text only. The idea of the celebrity star power is a good one, but limited in scope. And it feels somehow strange that instead of animating characters based on the likenesses and having the actors voice them, Ludia has gone with simply pulling what look like clips directly from the show and offering live-action video. On top of that, the graphics and presentation are the usual grade of dull for which Ludia is becoming known, with super-generic avatars, boring prizes and last-gen graphics.

For Hollywood Squares, though, at least Ludia has put some effort into the single-player experience. The campaign unfolds over four weeks. Each week is a different celebrity in the center square, and five shows for each weekday offering the back stories of the characters playing. They aren't great stories and, again, the celebrity videos are strange, but at least there is a progression system with some effort put into it, giving players 20 shows with increasing difficulty.

And the multiplayer side is obvious, as Hollywood Squares is a game designed for two people to go head-to-head in from the start. Ludia simply takes the same game and allows for two players. No special twists, but the concept is engaging enough to hold its own for fans of the show. The problem is the questions seem rather easy, and with two people with even moderate intelligence, the rounds will end quickly.

Hollywood Squares has its glaring faults, but it plays well enough, and likely offers fans of the show what they'll be expecting. Though the celebrity appearances and story progression are not fantastically executed, Ludia shows more effort than with Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, and again fans of the show should feel mostly satisfied. It's just a shame that after all these years no variation on the gameplay is provided to keep things fresh, and the presentation is still incredibly dull.

Final Score: C-