Who Wants to Be a Millionaire ? : 2nd Edition

Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?: 2nd Edition brings the British television quiz format back to PlayStation as a Hothouse Creations game published by Eidos Interactive. This is the European branch of the Millionaire game line, distinct from the separately produced North American Second Edition associated with Regis Philbin. Its presentation instead draws on the UK programme, using Chris Tarrant's voice to frame the trip up the prize ladder.

A game asks the player to survive fifteen multiple-choice general-knowledge questions. Four answers are offered each time, while the cash value rises as the questions become more demanding. The important decision is not simply finding an answer: it is deciding when enough confidence exists to lock it in. A wrong response can wipe away most of a virtual fortune, while choosing to leave preserves the amount already secured.

The three classic lifelines give uncertainty a few different shapes. 50:50 removes two incorrect choices, Ask the Audience supplies a poll, and Phone a Friend brings in a recorded helper. Each is limited to a single use during a run, so spending one early may make a later question considerably more uncomfortable. Guaranteed prize levels soften the consequences of a mistake, but only after the player reaches them.

The second edition updates the earlier UK game with a new question selection while retaining the show’s recognizable structure, music, pauses, and pressure. Tarrant's recorded questions and answer options make the PlayStation release more explicitly presenter-led than a bare trivia menu, although the audio can be moved past when players want a quicker session. The result favors repeated attempts, as unfamiliar categories and escalating stakes change the pace of every climb.

Local support extends to as many as four players, making it suitable for a small living-room quiz night as well as solo play. The central contest remains the hot-seat climb, but competing over answers and comparing nerve when the money grows is a natural part of the appeal. No reflex challenges or action sequences interrupt the format; success comes from recall, deduction, and knowing when to stop.

Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?: 2nd Edition is a straightforward early-2000s television-game adaptation for players who want the ritual of the UK show on a PlayStation. Its value lies in reproducing the familiar ladder, lifelines, and final-answer tension rather than radically reshaping them. For fans of Chris Tarrant-era Millionaire or multiplayer general-knowledge games, it turns a very recognizable quiz-show premise into an accessible disc-based party game.