Buzz! Brain of the UK

Just as SingStar on the PlayStation has become synonymous with karaoke, Sony's Buzz series is fast becoming the big name in quiz games.

It's not like there's been a shortage of contenders over the years, but somehow Buzz's affable host (voiced in the console games by Jason Donovan) and its comedy quiz contestants have won gamers over. The cool quiz show buzzers that the console games use have no doubt helped, too.

Of course, you don't get the buzzers with the Java game, but you do get a lot of quiz show for your money. Especially when you compare it to other mobile quiz shows, most of which are based on TV quizzes and average about a third of the content Buzz manages.

Buzz's biggest coup is the introduction of a medal system, which instantly makes the game more relevant when playing in single player than the vast majority of quiz show games, which merely have you competing for points.

Admittedly, you're still competing for points in Buzz, but these points are then translated into gold, silver and bronze medals (the criteria required for each one are displayed before each round) so you instantly have a rock solid challenge to complete. Winning a bronze medal is achievable for most players, but getting a gold one requires a fast finger and some sound general knowledge.

It's also massively commendable that Buzz comes with a whopping nine different types of round, although they're all still based around answering questions. These questions cater to a UK audience - so lots of ones about UK bands, celebrities and geography - but each of the rounds is structured differently.

In the Speedy Hand round for instance, the quicker you answer a question the more points you score.

Hot Seat plays a little similarly to The Weakest Link, where you accumulate points by answering questions correctly and bank them when you feel the risk of getting a wrong answer (and being reset to zero) is getting too great.

Meanwhile, in Pie Shooter getting a correct answer lets you direct a pie at another virtual contestant - hitting some wins you points, while others lose you points.

There's also a box-opening one, ingeniously called The Box Game, which works similarly but with you opening random boxes and hoping for big cash prizes. And a point-gambling game called Point Risker, where you choose how much money to bet on each question.

Every round - except for the tricky Top Rank Challenge, which has some obscure questions that make it a touch too difficult - is a lot of fun. Especially since you can play them all with up to four players by passing around the phone (you all get the same questions).

The game's only downside will probably already have been detected by players of the previous Buzz mobile game - the game types here barely vary from its predecessor. That means that while it's a top buy for newcomers, it's not going to be quite as exciting for those who have played it before.

However, with loads of new questions and such a slick formula, there aren't many better quiz alternatives out there.