There have been some feature upgrades as well. For instance, formerly players could input a name, but Buzz would always address you as "Player 1" or "Player 2". Now players can choose from a huge list of names and Buzz will actually use that name in his announcements in game making the game seem suddenly more personal. However as cool as this feature is, it doesn't always work as hoped. My friend Johnny and I were playing and even though his name was available, Buzz addressed him as "John" which was a bit disappointing. My name, Flynn, wasn't even available although it never is so I wasn't terribly surprised.

Other changes include the ability to choose the type of round at the beginning of each round. There are also several new round types to choose from thrown into the mix as well as a variety of game modes including: Standard, Round Select (which I just explained), Crazy Rounds (made up of the goofiest of round types like "Pie Fight" and "Short Fuse"), Serious Rounds (just the trivia, ma'am), 15 minute game, 45 minute game, Quiz Pack Game (containing questions taken entirely from the PSN downloads), Custom (which allows you to choose the types of rounds ahead of time) and finally, Single Player Challenges for when you want to bone up on your skills so as to kick the crap out of your friends later.

The subject categories cover a wide range of topics such as: Music, The World, People, Movies, Arts and Literature, Science and Nature, Leisure, sports, TV and Events. These main subjects are divided further into sub categories allowing for a lot of choice when choosing types of questions. Additional question packs can be downloaded from PSN that cover a variety of subjects like video games, horror movies and National Geographic wildlife. One of the features from the original game that didn't make it into the mix was the ability to turn off subjects that you don't want to answer questions on. for example, my friends and I always turn off the Sports questions since none of us have a clue about the subject. While it's true there is enough variety in this new game that this feature isn't absolutely necessary, I find it odd that they would get rid of it as it seem like a good fit for the game and I spent quite a bit of time trying to find the feature only to discover it missing.

Buzz! Quiz World is compatible with online play offering the ability to pit your wits against other players not in the same room with "Sofa vs. Sofa". You can also join the "My Buzz" community online and create your own quizzes that you can then download to your PS3 and then play with friends at home. You can choose to make these personal quizzes private or public and similarly, you can download other people's public quizzes to play yourself.

Overall, Buzz! Quiz World is a great follow up to the original game. The customization additions are many and really make you feel as if you have major control over making the game your own. I do find the absence of the ability to block certain topics and the incomplete name choices and readings to be a bit odd, but these are minor quibbles that can hopefully be improved I future updates. The Buzz! series still holds the place of favorite party game in my home and is always requested by friends whenever they come over which is quite a feat considering most of my friends are avid board game and card players. Bravo, Buzz! You've still got it going on.

9 out of 10