Fans of 2000s game shows can finally put themselves in the hot seat in THQNordic's Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader, a party game based on the hit American game show of the same name from 2007. As the name implies, the game show Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader placed adults back in the classroom and tested their knowledge against that of the typical American fifth-grade student. Like the show and other traditional trivia games, Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader quizzes players on a variety of topics. Contestants are asked 11 questions, two from each grade level starting at first grade and advancing all the way to a single sixth-grade question to prove they are, in fact, smarter than a fifth grader. Like in the show, players have the opportunity to converse with their fifth-grade classmates and use the other students' knowledge in the form of cheats when they aren't sure of an answer.
Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader has two modes: Exam Mode, for single players, and Study Mode, which can be experienced solo or with a group of up to eight players. With multiple players, every member of the group will answer the same question and compete to earn the most points. Sometimes, rounds will include modifiers that will split players into teams or pit them against one another like other popular party games. In Exam Mode, players simply aim to earn the most points possible. At the end of the game, points are used to unlock rewards like new classmates that could appear in the rotation, new outfits for each classmate, new school subjects and questions, and new items to decorate the player's avatar and desk. These also tend to correspond to the game's achievements. With each individual game of Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader only offering 2,500 points as a perfect score, these unlockables add quite a bit of replay value and encourage players to keep testing their knowledge and learning new things.
For a fairly standard trivia party game, Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader is great fun for gamers of all ages. The game is simple enough for younger players to join in the fun and to learn from, with challenging questions and tons of guidance. While the questions are categorized to an elementary-aged demographic, older players can still find many of the questions challenging, especially if they have been outside a classroom for a long time. Several questions focus on more formal or obscure terms for concepts, like asking what a quotation at the start of a poem is called or what chiasmus is in rhetoric. Others, especially in Social Studies, have players identifying locations on an unmarked United States or World Map. This mix of difficulty adds quite a bit of balance and keeps the game interesting, especially with a group.
Where Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader tends to fall flat is in presentation. The entire game is structured like a typical broadcast game show, with hosts and check-ins to view the score or learn about the other students and their interests. This draws out each individual round and game far longer than it needs to be. As another example, players will listen to the question and answers read aloud, then must still wait for the host to prompt them by their title to choose an answer. Once an answer is locked in, the game attempts to build suspense by making players wait a few seconds for the host to say a random line, hold for a moment, and eventually reveal the correct answer. This may work for younger gamers, but older gamers are likely to find this system somewhat tedious. Thankfully, some segments offer the option to skip the dialogue, but there are a few places, including the aforementioned instances of being prompted by the host and waiting for the correct answer reveal, that cannot be skipped. After a while, the repetition becomes bothersome and can detract from the experience rather than add to the immersion.
It is also worth mentioning that the entire game feels dated. Despite running on Unreal Engine, the animation is stilted, with only a few stock movements and expressions across all characters. Loading screens are plentiful, lengthy, and poorly hidden by unnecessary elements, like changing hosts between rounds or stage changes between questions. The art style is fairly basic and reminiscent of older computer games. More glaring, however, is the fact that the Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader show premiered in 2007 and ended its fairly brief run in 2009, with a short-lived revival in 2014-2015. Had this Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader game launched a few years ago, it may have held greater relevance, especially for fans of the show. It is possible there will be some nostalgia that prompts former fans of the game show to pick the game up, but it very likely should have come out a few years sooner than this.
Overall, Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader is a fun little trivia romp that faithfully adapts the spirit of the original game show. There is a lot to really love about this game, especially the variety and difficulty of the questions, which can pose challenges for players of all ages. The collectibles add another layer to Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader and offer a tangible goal while adding significant replay value. With a few tweaks to the presentation, like tightening the long pauses between segments, the experience could feel far less stilted. If the somewhat dated concept and graphics aren't too off-putting, fans of the show should definitely pick up Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader for the nostalgia factor, and fans of the trivia genre in general should consider adding it to their collection for a new and exciting challenge to face alone or with friends.
Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader? releases August 23, 2022 for Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S. Screen Rant was provided with a PC code for the purpose of this review.