Deal or No Deal DVD Game

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Deal or No Deal DVD Game
[[File:|300px|center]] No Deal!
Genre(s): Game Show (luck) Platform(s): DVD Player Release Date: November 2006 Developer(s): Music&Brands Publisher(s): Channel 4 DVD Country: United Kingdom Series: Deal or No Deal 4DVD Interactive Successor: Deal or No Deal: Family Challenge

Deal or No Deal DVD Game is a DVD game based on the UK version of the show of the same name. It was developed by Music&Brands, and published by Channel 4 DVD under their 4DVD Interactive lineup of DVD games. It was released in November 2006.

About

The game has three different gameplay modes:

• Single Player - A faithful recreation of the game show.
• Player vs. Player - A two-player game where the players play against each other to see who takes the most money.
• Player vs. Banker - A two-player game where one person plays the game and the other plays as the Banker.

Why it's not worth a Deal

1. The game is very unpolished and is plagued with slowdown, bugs, and glitches. This was because the game was rushed for release to coincide with the 2006 Christmas season much like with most DVD trivia games from the time in the UK, and it shows.
2. The game is prone to crashing or not working at all on most DVD players, no matter how high-end they are. While the packaging does mention this claim; it is listed in small print that a regular consumer might not notice.
   • Even then, footage can frequently lag and clips might end before they are meant to. There are chances the game might crash completely or go right back to the beginning before the game ends.
3. You are not allowed to choose what box you want; the game the game only lets you choose Box 5. This is due to the limitations of the game's FMV technology, hence why all the contestants have the same numbered boxes, too.
4. Long, excessive loading times which last fifteen seconds or longer. They are so long that you could be mistaken that the game has hung up and frozen. Not to mention they are represented as black or blue screens of nothing.
   • Audience reaction shots when boxes are opened also function as disguised load times, and get old fast.
5. You have to scroll through box by box to get to the one you want and as the game loads every time you move to another box it can be insanely boring to get to the box you want to open.
6. Cheap, low-budget production values. While most of the clips are recorded in the actual DOND studio in Bristol, the closeup of the contestants opening their boxes/asking advice to the player, etc. obviously look like they were recorded in another studio as the background looks nothing like the actual show. This makes the main FMV portions with Noel feel quite surreal, especially as there is no background music of any kind.
   • Never at once when you're playing you see the contestants in the west or east wings. You only see them at the beginning, in the closeup shots or when you win/lose at the end.
   • The contestants' acting is quite cheesy, with signs of under or overacting on their part. They will never say anything when opening the boxes unlike in the actual show, and only speak when you select the "Give Advice" option during one of the Banker's offers.
   • Noel has a very limited set of dialogue and doesn't help you that much, if at all. For example, he doesn't give you the Banker's offer, and it instead just pops up.
   • You also never see the audience at any point aside from when boxes are opened. No camera shots point to the back of the DOND set at any point in the FMV clips.
7. Winning the £250,000 is pretty underwhelming, all you get is an FMV of the contestants cheering followed by Noel congratulating the player with a long boring speech and that's it. There's not even a confetti drop or the contestants walking off the west/east wings to increase the excitement.

Redeeming Qualities

1. Noel Edmonds is still a good host like in the actual show.
2. The box openers in the game are actual contestants from the first season of the show who were chosen by Noel personally, so to hardcore fans; it is nice to see them again.
3. At least compared to most DVD games, the game is at least interactive, especially when playing with two players. It's just too bad that it goes on for so long due to how slow the game is.

Reception

While not reviewed by critics, reception on websites like Amazon upon release was mixed to negative.

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