Wheel of Fortune Platinum Review

Porting a game show into a video game has never worked out very well. Getting the feel of a game show, with the gleaming hosts and the nervous crowd excitement, just hasn't been done right in the past due to poor graphics, odd sound choices, and shoddy animations.

[caption id="attachment_42456" align="alignright" width="200" caption="This is getting really old."]

[/caption]Wheel of Fortune Platinum takes an interesting route into the game show genre by completely eliminating the hosts, and only adding clapping sounds for the audience. The choice wasn't a poor one as it moves the game along faster, but I do long for Vanna White to touch the letter squares.

The game is definitely not immune to shoddy graphics and animations though, even without the hosts moving around the screen like robots. Everything and everyone is a bit choppy and stiff, which isn't a huge deal given the game type, but doesn't really make you feel that you are on the show.

As the game itself goes, it is an accurate representation of the show. In the TV Show mode, you play two quick rounds and then three normal rounds, followed by the bonus round if you win. There is also a speed round, as well as a toss up game for your word guessing pleasure. And if the computer doesn't offer up enough of a challenge, there is a wifi, bluetooth, and network multiplayer mode will give you a bit more, assuming you have intelligent friends.

One snafu I had with the game was the inordinate amount of bankrupts that you land on. The computer players weren't entirely immune either, but if I hadn't watched the TV show, I would think that every third space on the wheel was bankrupt. Sometimes I would get into streaks where I would hit bankrupt, skip turn, bankrupt, $300 (yay?), and then bankrupt again.

Being a video game version of a game show on a tiny iPhone screen, Wheel of Fortune Platinum is definitely not a bad game. It's pretty obvious that Sony didn't spend a whole bunch of time on the graphics or animations, but they did somewhat faithfully recreate the game itself. With its various game modes, Wheel of Fortune Platinum will keep you entertained for a good amount of time, and once you are done with all the words provided, there are plenty more puzzle packages that you can purchase via in-app purchase.