The Weakest Link 2008

They say that Ms Thatcher, once elected, systematically removed the MPs who hadn't had a nanny as a child from her cabinet. She went on to rule without dissent, and now that state primary schools are staffed almost entirely by female teachers, all men can be reduced to the same shuffling state as the Tory cabinet of Thatcher's reign. Fear of tough women is impossible to shake off.

And no woman is tougher than Anne Robinson, sharp-tongued host of prime-time quiz show, The Weakest Link. Even from behind a TV screen she can chill the blood. The quiz may be good, but the 'Ginger Witch' hosting it is pure gold.

That being the case, how will I-play's mobile conversion fare, with Ms Robinson reduced to the size of an ant and stripped of her vicious delivery?

The answer is: pretty well. Bad manners aren't the only reason for The Weakest Link's success, after all. It's also a cleverly structured format, and this title does a great job of reproducing its slick mechanics.

For those with better things to do than watch TV, the game works like this: ten contestants line up behind podiums and answer questions in turn. Each correct answer increases the cash pool for the entire group, and every contestant has the choice whether to bank this cash before they're asked their own question or take the risk of getting the answer wrong and forfeiting whatever money the group has accumulated up to that point.

At the end of each round, the panel votes off the weakest link; in principle, this is the contestant who has answered the most questions incorrectly or failed to bank strategically, although cynical players have been known to vote strong competitors off to make things easier for themselves. After six rounds, the two surviving players go up against each other in a five-question, winner takes all, penalty-style face off.

I-play's mobile version enables you to choose a player from a range of ten socially diverse digitised people. Since you're answering your own questions, of course, you're really selecting your opponents, and the choice you make is entirely cosmetic because assuming intelligence on the basis of sex, race or age isn't cool.

Rather than go from player to player, the game makes you answer all of the multiple choice questions yourself. As in the show, every time you get an answer right, you can either bank or keep climbing the money escalator, but if you refuse to bank and get the next question wrong, you lose everything.

Once the round is up, each of the characters casts a vote for who they want to expel from the game. Here, a table appears giving you a full account of each player's performance at banking money and getting questions right, and with this information you can choose who you want to vote for. The others follow suit, Ms Robinson dismisses the ostracised contestant with a terse remark, and another round begins.

As a quiz game, The Weakest Link 2008 works well. The questions are difficult, varied, and copious enough for the rounds to retain their tension, while reaching the end requires at least some common sense and general knowledge. An additional Challenge mode enriches the game slightly by setting target scores and so on, and even without the show's ruthless gloss it would have been a perfectly serviceable game.

But gloss it has. Not only are the graphics and sound extremely polished, but the whole game is lavished with touches like the option to ask each contestant why they voted the way they did, and a catalogue of Ms Robinson's shrewish comments, which evoke the show so well that you find yourself mentally inserting the stops in her halting enunciation.

All of which may sound like gimmickry, but I-play has managed its source material admirably. The Weakest Link 2008 is an impeccable conversion, with no irrelevant ideas getting in the way and more than enough breadth and challenge to keep serious quiz gamers amused. If you want your phone to ask you questions, this is how it's done.