The Movies

Basics: Made by Lionhead studios published by Activision. It is rated teen for, Blood and Gore, Crude Humor, Mild Language, Sexual Themes, Use of Alcohol and Tobacco, Violence (most of these things depend on you, if you don’t want them in your movies, you don’t have to use them. The part of the game where you manage you studio is mostly clean (sometimes your stars get drunk :D). It is a strategy/sim. PC only.

The movies…where to begin…Well first of all as most people in the gaming community know, Lionhead studios is one of the most original game devs out there. They’ve brought us games like Black and White and Fable. I’m happy to say that The Movies is another excellent game from Lionhead.

At first the game might seem like another [Insert unmilked business here] Tycoon game, just without the word tycoon in it. However, it in fact delivers a very original play experience. Its concept is simple enough, you run a movie studio by hiring actors, building new sets, decorating your studio lot... etc etc. But instead of just managing via a bunch of sliders and numbers you have about as much control over the lot as you can get. These done in a way similar to black and white, but instead of the omnipotent hand you just have the cursor. If you want a star to stop getting drunk and go to film instead of waiting around for them to slowly get up and begin a leisurely walk all the way across the lot, you simply pick then up (by clicking on them) and carry them there.

This is nice because I found that the game already dragged, spending large periods of time dawdling around waiting for a movie to finish shooting or a set to finish being built. There is a fast forward button but coming into the later years (the game spans from the thirties to 2005 although you can continue playing after that) when your movies get longer, I still spent long minutes sitting around with nothing to do waiting for a movie to finish filming.

As a note about the span of the game that I mentioned just now, I have to give Lionhead a hats off about this. There is a radio that is always playing that provides the soundtrack for the game. Apart from the music being good and accurate to the era, there is also a hugely entertaining D.J. who changes from time to time. First its one that hardly knows what hes doing and is constantly reminding us that theater is better then movies, then a D.J. who considers it his sole responsibility to remind us how bad communism is, then a rude and inappropriate, insulting D.J. There is also a time specific events that govern what type of movies sell better, such as the depression making people want to watch comedy movies and so forth.

Now for the information on the movies you make themselves. You can just hire scriptwriters to give you generic movies drawn from a pile of premade ones. But I preferred to use the option that opened up a little later in the game, making my own movies. The basic system of doing this is to select from a massive bevy of customizable scenes and put them together. You can also choose sets, backdrops, weather conditions and numerous other things. The possibilities are endless.

All in all good game that is just a little slow.

7/10

In response to Toms question about the expasion for Battlefield 2, no I havn't played it yet I have a few other games on my list :D.