Most people probably remember Family Feud from either its late ‘70s-early ‘80s incarnation with Richard Dawson or the nearly identical late ’80s-early ‘90s version with Ray Combs. Each played up the “country” motif to the hilt, right down to the prominent banjo in the theme song and the cross-stitch style family names.

If that’s the look and feel you are expecting from Hasbro Interactive’s Feud CD-ROM, you’re in for a surprise, though I would suggest it is a pleasant one: this game is based on the current syndicated version of Feud, currently in its third season in syndication. The country look has been traded in for a sleek, almost ultra-modern style, and comedian Louie Anderson, who figures prominently into the home game, handles hosting duties.

Cosmetics aside, the game is the classic Feud we all remember: try to figure out how a group of 100 people answered a question---no particular knowledge required, just your best intuition about how people think. It’s a format that has stood the test of time, and one that translates nicely to the PC. The same folks who produced the outstanding Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune computer games are behind this title as well, and even if you aren’t familiar with the TV show, it’s a game you’ll enjoy playing.

More on the game itself in a bit. Before you reach that point, you can have some fun creating your own virtual “family,” or you can select from one of a handful of “ready made” familial units. Creating your own characters is a bit like using a glorified Mr. Potato Head. Select from a range of facial types, hairstyles & colors, skin tones, glasses, noses, lips---even eyebrows---as well as clothes and body types. You have literally thousands of possibilities at your disposal. My attempts at creating “Mini-me”s of my wife and I actually turned out pretty well, for a computer game.

For the truly adventurous, you can even import a bitmap picture file of a face to create a very custom character. (Who said human cloning hadn’t happened yet?) I tried playing with a picture of Homer Simpson (who else?) as an experiment, but like Dr. Frankenstein, I ended up creating a horrible, mutated monster. A bit of advice: it looks like making the feature work requires a “head-on” facial shot, not one angled to the side.

OK, enough of the cyber-genetics lessons. As they say on the show: “Let’s play the Feud!”

Despite the name, you don’t need to have a whole family or team present to play Feud. One player can play alone against the computer, or you can play one on one, or groups of whatever size you wish. Just take turns, and have fun.

The main game consists of four rounds, each beginning with a face-off. (Note to those who remember the Ray Combs TV version: the “Bullseye” round is gone in this incarnation.) Once the question is revealed, the person to hit their designated “buzz in” key fastest gets first crack at giving an answer. Answers to the survey question are ranked by the number of people who gave them, and each person giving the response is worth one point. Most surveys consist of a general “100 people,” but some feature specific sub-groups (100 women or 100 college students, for example).

If the first person to buzz in doesn’t give the most popular response, the opponent (or the computer, if you’re playing a solo game) gets a shot. Whoever ended up giving the more popular response gets to decide whether to “pass” or “play” (a feature from the first TV version that was absent during the first revival, but has since been reinstated). If you don’t feel confident about being able to guess all—or most—of the answers, you might consider passing. Then, if your opponents fail to “clear the board,” you need only give one remaining answer to “steal” the points accumulated. Of course, there’s an obvious downside: your opponent(s) could give all of the answers, and you have no crack at the points.

If you play, the risk is reversed. You keep giving answers to the question, but each one that doesn’t appear on the board is a “strike.” Like baseball, three strikes and you’re out: your opponent(s) can steal the points you’ve accumulated with just one answer. But should you sweep the board, you get all of the points.

The fourth round is played for triple points (e.g., a response given by 20 people would be worth 60 points), so a “family” that’s trailing can really catch up. There’s a big catch: the team trying to clear the board can’t make a mistake. One strike, and the opponent(s) can go for the steal.

On the original versions of Feud, the first team to reach a specific point total won the game. In this version, it’s the team with the most points after the fourth round, no matter what that score is that goes on to play…

The “Fast Money” bonus round (cue applause here). In the TV version, two members of the winning family play the bonus round. One player is sent offstage and is forced to listen to Yanni music in headphones so they can’t hear what’s going on. (OK, only kidding about the Yanni part.) The first player is asked a series of five questions in rapid succession (20 seconds), giving one answer to each. The second player then answers the same five questions, with an extra 5 seconds (in case they give a repeat answer and need to try again). If the teammates rack up 200 points between them, they win the big prize. Computer play essentially mimics that format---unless, of course, you are playing the game alone. Then you have a heck of an advantage, since you get to take both passes at the questions. If you’re playing the game with someone else, they can just turn their back and cover their ears, and you have a nice simulation of the challenge of the TV show.

Except you don’t win $10,000 if you get the 200 points.

Oh well, life isn’t fair.

Technically speaking, the game is a feast for the eyes. The graphics are rendered very well, and the video segments of Louie Andersen fit in nicely. What’s missing is the show’s up-tempo theme song (and announcer Burton Richardson), replaced in most instances by a “smooth jazz” soundtrack (and a generic narrator). As questions load into the game, there can be an awkward pause, but it’s not particularly distracting or bothersome.

Technical note for Windows ME users: If you use (#^@&!^@%^*@!) Windows ME, as I now do, you may run in to some minor technical glitches with this and other Hasbro Interactive game show adaptations that work remarkably well with good old Windows 95/98---as in the game won’t play. The problem is with Direct-X, a program that these games use (don’t ask me what it actually does, I just know it’s a necessity). After a thoroughly wasted long-distance call to Hasbro Interactive’s “no-help line,” I finally stumbled upon the necessary patch to download which will install a version of Direct-X that the temperamental Windows ME will accept. Visit http://www.softwarepatch.com/windows/directx.html for the patch. After downloading it, I’m once again happily Feuding, spinning the Wheel and spending time in Jeopardy.


Recommended: Yes