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Smarty Pants

EMAIL PRINTwii

7.6 User Score:

Mixed or average reviews

Based on 26 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

Based on 9 votes
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Game Info

Publisher: Electronic Arts

Developer: EA Los Angeles - Planet Moon Studios

Genre(s): Trivia

Players: 4

ESRB Rating: E (Everyone)

Release Date: November 13, 2007

Summary

How smart are you? Do you know more than your Grandma about world history? Does your little sister know more than your Dad about sports? Smarty Pants levels the playing field for friends and family, combining age-targeted trivia with action-based gestures, making it a truly trans-generational game for the Wii. The game tailors questions to the contestant's age, allowing friends and family members ages eight to eighty to play simultaneously. The game tracks every player’s answers, and adjusts the difficulty level to provide continuous stimulation and challenge. Exciting Wii gestures make everything a game, from spinning the category wheel and tug-of-wars over correct answers, to "dance-offs" for additional points. The game also features a family mode, where everyone tries to beat the clock and a rapid-fire competitive mode for groups of friends. The game features both competitive and collaborative game modes and 20,000 questions in multiple categories. [Electronic Arts]

Cheat Codes & Hints: Cheat Code Central

Also On The Web: Official Website

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

PGNx Media

All in all, Smarty Pants is a very fun trivia game for the Wii. It has great topics, many questions and good (if light) use of the Wii Remote.

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Deeko

I like to think of the game this way: it's fun with no clean up required. You won't have to worry about losing tiny pie pieces or having the molding clay it comes with dry out. You just turn on your system, pick up that Wii remote and have serious fun.

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Official Nintendo Magazine UK

It has its annoyances, but this is a consummate party game package that everyone can enjoy. [Jan 2008, p.90]

GamePro

Smarty Pants definitely has a more youthful vibe than SceneIt! but it's designed in such a way that both adults and children can have fun with it. [Feb 2008, p.82]

Armchair Empire

Smarty Pants is a perfect Wii title for a family fun night that will tease the brain and tickle the funny bones.

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Game Informer

Smarty Pants is fun. It doesn’t pretend to be anything more, nor does it need to. I will say that it’s not quite at the addictive level as the much-missed You Don’t Know Jack series (it’s missing the catty humor), but it’s certainly successful in accomplishing its modest goals.

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GameZone

The game is a real doozy when you have friends over who are willing to play, otherwise the single player is a real letdown.

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VideoGamer

Smarty Pants is exactly what you'd expect it to be, but nothing more. It's basically an interactive quiz, with none of the frills seen in rival titles from Sony and Microsoft.

GameTap

Smarty Pants does a decent job of continuing EA's agenda to make games that the whole family can play.

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IGN

It's got a few issues with forced gimmicky controls, particularly the dance sequences, but for the most part the topics are well chosen, the questions varied, the Wii pointer functionality dead on and the tactile feel of buzzing in by snapping backward with the peripheral very rewarding.

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DarkStation

As much as Smarty Pants wants to be the next big thing on the Wii, it sure could have been, but I just didn't feel the originality nor the fresh face that could have taken this game to the next level.

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Console Monster

A solid fun title and you wont be disappointed, but just don’t expect to be wowed.

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n-Revolution Magazine UK

Critics have been a bit snooty about the game but with 20,000 questions on offer and graded skill levels, it works well despite the basic presentation. It's a good, unfussy family night. [Issue#19, p.89]

Games Master UK

Family fun for quiz nuts but it isn't the madness we hoped for. [Feb 2008, p.82]

Cheat Code Central

Smarty Pants is a decent activity to do with your loved ones once in a while, but it's not more than a simple pastime.

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Play.tm

Overall, this is certainly a game that will get the family playing together this yuletide, but it is unlikely to see very much action on into the New Year.

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DailyGame

The age-appropriate trivia is good, but the game itself gets old fast, and the motion-sensitive functions get in the way of the core gameplay: answering questions.

GameSpot

Smarty Pants is a fun, no-frills trivia game for all ages.

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Gamestyle

Smarty Pants will not appeal to everyone and for most of us it will languish under the bed or in the cupboard until guests drop by, or the kids want to play.

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Worth Playing

Smarty Pants has all the groundwork for a fun title that's good for gathering up your friends and enjoying a nice, simple Wii experience. Unfortunately, the developers refused to settle for a basic trivia game and instead opted to throw in every little idea they had for ways to make it more "interactive."

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The Wiire

A game like this makes leaps and bounds over the conventional trivia game, but not as a single-player experience. The lack of an online mode, WiiConnect24 support, impressive graphics and outstanding audio ensures that Smarty Pants remain little more than a fun multiplayer title. What the game does, though, it does well.

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Gamers' Temple

The inane mini games and forced motion-sensing features turn a bland trivia game into an annoying one instead.

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GameDaily

The graphics and sound are bland and lack party atmosphere; the shooting and dancing mini-games are lame; and even the spinner fails to function properly.

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Game Revolution

If you've got the right family structure, it would make a decent addition to your Wii collection. Otherwise, you'll need a caring and patient older sibling who is willing to dumb themselves down during gameplay for the greater good. How likely is that?

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GameSpy

It's exactly what diehard gamers feared that the casual gaming revolution was going to inflict on the industry: shallow, gimmicky software whose main selling point is that no one is too young, old or uncoordinated to be able to play it. Buy a real videogame or buy a board game, but don't be a dummy and let Smarty Pants walk away with your 50 bucks.

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NGamer UK

Dull, dull, dull. [Jan 2008, p.64]

What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this game is 7.6 (out of 10) based on 9 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Evan B. gave it a10:
This is the ONLY game my dad has ever played with me in my 20 years of gaming! This should say something about my score! Highly recommended for families!

Bob C. gave it a7:
Questions are good, movements need to be more full-body, instead of hand motions (you don't want to know what we do instead of "tug-of-war"). Overall, a fun game, but better use of the wii-motes would be appreciated. Also, Player A has too much control...should be equal among all players.

Bill M. gave it a7:
The trivia portion of the game is very good, however the "dance" and "tug of war" parts were too gimmicky. The range of topics of questions were good.

Al O. gave it an8:
We got it on the after thanksgiving sale for just over $20.00. Lots of fun especially with multiple people. Highly recommended for the holidays!

Sandy M. gave it a5:
My wife and I found the questions to be quite good and diverse. The presentation is clean but lackluster with Wii remote movement gestures tacked on with no way to disable them. Younger players may appreciate flailing your arms around while not answering questions for a slight edge but older players who prefer their questions straight up will be annoyed by this. This should have been a budget title.

Ben D. gave it a7:
Fun trivia game for all ages- literally. The questions are actually adjusted to meet the participant's age levels! Sweet. But, one major problem... this is a pretty basic game, and EA is charging $50 for it- the same price as Super Mario Galaxy! Games like this should be priced to compete, especially if they hope to win over the all-important casual sector. So, I've had to deduct one point from what would have been an 8 if it had been $20. Maybe it would have stopped people from buying all the Wii's budget crap... Oh well.

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Smarty Pants

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