Who Wants To Be A Millionaire is the latest in a line of collaborative efforts from publisher Ubisoft and developer Ludia to bring game shows into the video game realm, following the recent update of Family Feud. But while Who Wants To Be A Millionaire once shined on television, it is a property long past its prime. The video game, complete with horrible graphics and made on an engine that feels all too familiar, lacks a sense of tension and any progression system, which makes continuous play feel pointless.

For those unfamiliar, Who Wants To Be A Millionaire debuted in the United Kingdom in 1998 before coming to the United States a year later with host Regis Philbin. Who Wants To Be A Millionaire's twist on the trivia game show is that one contender plays at a time, with no time limit on questions, focusing on tension rather than speed. Instead, the player works up a tier of 15 questions, increasing in difficulty and monetary value. Answering a question right nets the contestant that money and moves him or her onto the next question.

When players reach certain milestone questions, they are guaranteed to leave with at least that much money. Answering any question wrong spells the end of the game for that contestant, dropping them back down to the last milestone value. Contestants have the option to walk away from any question, though, opting to take the money and run rather than risking it for more. Players also get three "Lifelines," to help get through some of the tougher questions.

These Lifelines have changed over the course of the show's broadcast history (and in different regions), but in this incarnation of the video game they are "Ask the Audience," "Double Dip" and "Phone-a-Friend." Asking the audience polls the entire, lifeless studio audience of the game and provides percentage results of the virtual consensus. "Double Dip" allows players to take a second guess if the first proves incorrect. Once this is activated, however, the player cannot walk away with the money, and the clock running out or another incorrect answer means the player is out. "Phone-a-Friend" brings up another character avatar, who recommends a choice and gives a percentage on his certainty.

So the basic mechanics of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire are all there. As with the game show, it lends itself to a single-player experience. The problem is that playing the game on Wii, ideally the virtual experience of being a contestant on the show, actually feels a lot less exciting than just watching and playing along on TV.

The presentation is painfully generic in the Ludia tradition. For starters there is no support for Miis. The provided characters are as dull and ambiguous as can be, and no amount of unlockable wardrobe extras can fix that. The game provides a generic host, who shows little enthusiasm for the success or failure of the character. The crowd silhouettes are motionless, and everything about the way the game looks screams "bargain bin" rather than an engaging and suspenseful experience like the show once provided.

But even in the bargain bin, it may not warrant a purchase. The single playthrough experience of the show means there is no progression system in place. Players can earn Ludia's equivalent of Achievements, but that's not enough to dispel the notion that players are simply playing the same game over and over again. Unlike the Price is Right (also Ludia), there is really no variation to gameplay, so it gets dull fast.

If there is any redeeming quality to the game, though, it is that it offers a multiplayer "Party" experience for up to four players. It doesn't feel much like Who Wants To Be A Millionaire without Lifelines and the same tension, but it does follow the tier system to $1,000,000. Players are asked 15 questions, and every correct answer moves them up the tier one space, while every wrong answer sends them in the opposite direction. Hitting the milestones, however, means players cannot fall below that space, and the questions asked are the difficulty of the top player. Smartly, Who Wants To Be A Millionaire uses the D-Pad in this mode so that players are not revealing their answers to other competitors.

The funny thing is, though, in its brightest moments as a video game, Who Wants To Be A Millionaire is succeeding most when it departs the most from the show's formula. And even then, it doesn't feel like a good or original gaming experience. The presentation is still terrible, the graphics are dull and the host is as bored calling it as we feel playing it. Ludia gives the title bargain bin treatment, and somehow manages to get out of it even less than bargain bin results.

Final Score: D