Game Analysis: The Impossible Quiz

Overview

Title: The Impossible Quiz
Author: SPLAPP-ME-DO

The Impossible Quiz is an online 2D casual Flash game. It can be found at a number of websites, but this one has a version which does not have background music (I prefer this version, the original plays the 'Rocky' theme over and over again).

http://www.addictinggames.com/theimpossiblequiz.html

It is fun to play, and also extremely addicting.

Gameplay

The format of the game is a quiz, and the objective of the game is to beat the quiz (which is hard to do, hence its name). The quiz is also linear: the player must complete each question before receiving the next one, and the quiz always starts at question 1.

The player receives three lives, which are used up when answering a question incorrectly. Periodically throughout the game, there are also chances to receive 'bonus arrows' which allow the user to skip a question if they find it too difficult to answer, and do not want to lose a life.

The questions in the quiz are quite unconventional in nature, and usually require out-of-the-box thinking and backwards logic. A lot of the questions in the quiz are multiple-choice, although there are some which are more like micro-games, such as finding a hidden object.

The answer to this question is "no, but a tin can". There are often answers included as choices which may seem to be correct at first glance (i.e. "yes"). To complicate the quiz further, the correct answer is not even always one of those 4 choices:

The correct answer to this question is literally found in the question: "the answer". There are often very few instructions given for the questions, making finding the answer to many of them a trial-and-error affair. There are also many pop culture references in the game:

The answer is, of course, the hammer.

Sometimes, the player is not permitted to use one of their 'bonus arrows', in cases where the question is more difficult.

There is one last element to the game. There are some questions which are timed, and if you do not find the correct answer, the game will end. This timer is represented by a bomb:

Strengths

This game is wickedly addictive, since is it does not take long to remember the answers, (I haven't played this in probably a year, and I can still remember quite a few of them). In this way, even when a player loses all their lives, it is not difficult or time-consuming to return to where they were in the game.

There are also many humorous elements in the questions and micro-games which make playing the levels interesting.

Weaknesses

Although I have played this a countless number of times, I still have not beaten the quiz. This may be seen as a strength at first, because keeps people playing longer, but it can also be downright frustrating. Consider this: when I Googled "Impossible Quiz", the second-most-searched field was "impossible quiz answers", proving that I am not the only person to be annoyed at times.

Also, some of the answers actually make no sense to me, and I only know they are correct through trial-and-error.

Summary

Despite its frustrating nature at times, the Impossible Quiz keeps me coming back again and again, (even if I have to take a hiatus from it for a while). This probably has a lot to do with human nature and wanting to solve it, to complete it, especially knowing that others have already done so.

The Impossible Quiz may not be impossible, but it sure is close to it. I can complete up to question 85 or so, how far can you get?