S&S; Indie Review: Avatar Trivia Party

Title: Avatar Trivia Party 2
Format: XBLIG
Release Date: July 28, 2012
Publisher: XBLIG
Developer: Mike Ventron
Price: 80 MS Points
ESRB Rating:  Rated by Community - Violence=0/3, Sex=0/3, Mature Content=1/3
Do you like board games?  Do you like competition?  Do you like that competition to be your friends?   More importantly, do you like winning against your friends?  Of course you do.  We all do.  If you're smart enough (or just hold a strange amount of random information in your head) then you just might win in Avatar Trivia Party 2.
Avatar Trivia Party 2, developed by Mike Ventron, is a rather short and sweet game from a genre that is rather quiet these days.  This party game, though small, is a nice reminder that games come in all shapes and sizes.  When you start the game, you have the option of playing online or offline.  Unfortunately, I was unable to find an online sessions, so I was forced to play offline.  Unfortunately again, I have no friends, so I opted for computer competition.
The game starts by randomly selecting the order in which players will take their turn.  Don't worry about coming in last, the order of turns changes after every turn.  Once this is determined for the first time, the game is fairly straight forward from here.  You're set on a virtual, volcanic wasteland like game board (unfortunately the only one in the game).  Each player will get a trivia question.  These questions involve all sorts of subjects, from music to the Olympics, and few of them can be considered easy.  In fact, I found I got more answers correct based on educated guessing or total guesswork than I did based on actual knowledge of the answer.
After answering the question, you roll the dice.  If you answered correctly, you'll roll two dice.  Answer incorrectly, and you roll only one die.  Obviously, you can see why getting the answer right is beneficial to your performance in the game.  Basically, the objective is to make it to the finish spot first.
That's the general game right there.  Of course, there are interesting occurrences along the way.  Landing on spaces that push you back or forward, landing on zones that have you switch spaces with another player, areas that might make your path to victory longer or shorter.  It's not as simple as answering the questions and moving forward.
Final Thoughts:
While I wasn't able to play with any real person, I actually still enjoyed the game.  I like trivia, even if I don't know a lot of the answers.  I realize this might not be the same for everyone, but it's always fun to guess and hope you got it right, and if you're playing with real people, it's probably that much easier to get into.  That being said, Avatar Trivia Party 2 is a very simple game that you shouldn't expect to have a lot of fun with without a little help from your friends.  Still, it's an inexpensive title that's worth booting up for those small social gatherings.
S&S Rating: 7/10