The Movies
Posted December 21, 2005
Peter Molyneux' The Movies is kind of like The Sims, any random PC game with "Tycoon"
somewhere in the title, and The Kid Stays in the Picture, all baked into a golden, delicious quiche. The game gives players the chance to play a movie mogul in the vein of Jack Warner, seizing the reins of a fledgling film studio in the roaring '20s that they can control all the way up to the present day. It's a resource management sim with a clever premise, but what really distinguishes The Movies from similar tycoon games is that gamers can have more to show for the hours they sink into it than just a high score -- they can produce their own mini-movies and share them online.
Gameplay:
The Movies starts players off in the 1920s with a decent bankroll and an empty lot. It takes an enormous amount of manpower and resources to churn out a steady stream of movies, including directors, actors, extras, crew members, and, depending on how players prefer to spend their time, screenwriters. Of course, your virtual crew has to eat and drink, so food carts and restaurants will have to be built, and well-placed restrooms and trash cans naturally follow. If the staff is going to navigate throughout the studio lot quickly, they'll need paths connecting the buildings. Since large patches of flat grass don't offer much in the way of production value, builders need to be hired to construct and maintain sets, and producers will need a variety of different types of sets to avoid churning out the same sorts of movies in the same genres over
and over again. Not just any actor or director can be dropped into any genre -- inexperience in front of and behind the camera can hurt your bottom line -- and when writing or casting one of your movies, the strengths of the talent have to be considered.
Likewise for their feelings, since the talent can get stressed-out or bored from too much or too little work. A bump in salary or a posh trailer can pump up morale, but that sort of preferential treatment can grate on the other actors or directors. Not all of the talent works well together, but they can get friendlier by chatting it up outside a set or hanging out in a bar. Too much booze can lead to a lousy performance, but you can always build a rehab facility where they can dry out. The same goes for actors who overindulge at craft services -- no one wants a 320 lb. action hero. To keep your stars a box-office draw, shove the paparazzi their way or maybe spruce up their dated look with a makeover. With The Movies tackling the better part of a century, actors age and new blood needs to be brought in, but turning out a popular product is necessary to attract fresh meat. A timeline is provided, and certain genres will rake in more cash if their releases are timed around certain key historic events or fads. To make the most efficient use of emerging technologies, players can also build
R&D labs to research the latest gear, gadgets, and techniques.
There are clearly a tremendous number of things to juggle in The Movies, and even with a couple of rambling paragraphs, I've barely scratched the surface. That brings to mind that dreaded word no one wants to hear: micromanagement. Thankfully, The Movies lets players indulge in as much or as little micromanagement as they want. Fretting over the most minute details is necessary to be the frontrunner in the Hollywood rat race, but you don't "lose" if you don't clock in at number one. I personally preferred to stick with a less successful studio with a slimmer release slate and fewer actors milling around the lot, and it's certainly possible to play through the game without clicking through a series of menus every couple of seconds. This could be a side-effect of the way I chose to play the game, but I found the toughest part to be managing the personnel; I'd have to turn janitors into extras or convert idle screenwriters into crew members just because there wasn't enough of an influx of warm bodies. Juggling personnel like that or having to make sure there are enough toilets or trash cans on the lot can be annoying, but at least the very intuitive click-and-drag system makes it a breeze to do.
One of the biggest selling points of The Movies is that if you don't want to click on a screenwriter, drag him over the name of a genre, and wait for him to hammer out his latest opus, players can take the reins themselves through the game's rather robust movie creation tools. Not too long before The Movies went gold, I was halfway-crushed to hear that the movie-making functionality wouldn't let me choose my own camera angles or move my characters around however I'd want. While it's true that the game does require players to string together a series of pre-determined actions, it's not nearly as limiting as I thought. There are so many possible combinations (everything from zapping someone with a joy buzzer to frantically firing a machine gun) that with
some creative editing, players can realize virtually anything they have in mind, although the tools are better suited to fairly simplistic 2-3 minute shorts than anything resembling a feature-length epic. Agonizing over your movies is more for the benefit of you and your friends than progressing in the game; the success of your creations is dependent on a few static factors, and something inventive, creative, and painstakingly crafted isn't necessarily any more likely be a breakout hit in the game-world than something random, slapdash, and incoherent. The amount of manipulation you can do is amazing, though -- grab a mic and sync up dialogue, toss in subtitles, add a score, drop in props, or even create your own actors through the game's StarMaker program. The Movies also makes it painless for users to share their mini-epics on Lionhead's website for the world to see.
The Movies is one of those games where I'd sit down just to fiddle around a bit while waiting for the oven to preheat, and then I'd look at the clock and realize three hours had just zipped by. I'd periodically feel a little dragged down by the amount of management, but when one of my movies would wind up being a hit and an actor would be overjoyed as a result, I'd feel kind of giddy too; there's a real sense of accomplishment. The way the game's version of Hollywood changes over the decades -- as motion pictures go from being a sort of curiosity in the '20s to extravagant $100 million spectacles -- also helps keep things from feeling stale.
Graphics:
The Movies' exaggerated graphics and its vivid, Technicolor hues complement the game's tone and sense of style. One of my favorite aspects of the interface is how smoothly I could zoom in and out with the scroll-wheel on my mouse, revealing textures that hold up to close scrutiny and a
remarkable amount of fine detail on sets and props. The movies your studio produces start off as jittery, grainy, and black and white, but as the years pass, the technical quality of the films improves accordingly. Even though I'm playing on a fairly modest rig, I didn't run into any problems with stuttering visuals or anything that'd require me to start fiddling with sliders or settings. A very slick looking game.
Audio:
The aural flourishes impress as well, particularly the music and radio banter that vary depending on the decade. The characters speak in random gibberish, but when producing your own movies, there are a slew of different audio options, including a very effective lip sync feature.
Conclusion:
I'm a little torn on how to sum up my thoughts about The Movies. I can see how many gamers might be turned off by the micromanagement or having to continually respond to recurring problems in nearly identical ways. On the other hand, I found The Movies to be a polished, surprisingly funny, and fairly addictive tycoon-sim, strong enough to keep this typically console-only gamer perched in front of a PC. The gameplay is an acquired taste and doesn't have the blanket appeal of something like The Sims or Ratchet and Clank, budding filmmakers should go in with realistic expectations for the movie-making tools, and there is a fair amount of repetition. I personally didn't find any of its shortcomings to be dealbreakers, and if you've waded through this much of the review, you're probably part of the demographic Lionhead Studios and Activision are hoping to hit. Recommended.
Detailed system requirements are available on Lionhead's website.
somewhere in the title, and The Kid Stays in the Picture, all baked into a golden, delicious quiche. The game gives players the chance to play a movie mogul in the vein of Jack Warner, seizing the reins of a fledgling film studio in the roaring '20s that they can control all the way up to the present day. It's a resource management sim with a clever premise, but what really distinguishes The Movies from similar tycoon games is that gamers can have more to show for the hours they sink into it than just a high score -- they can produce their own mini-movies and share them online.Gameplay:
The Movies starts players off in the 1920s with a decent bankroll and an empty lot. It takes an enormous amount of manpower and resources to churn out a steady stream of movies, including directors, actors, extras, crew members, and, depending on how players prefer to spend their time, screenwriters. Of course, your virtual crew has to eat and drink, so food carts and restaurants will have to be built, and well-placed restrooms and trash cans naturally follow. If the staff is going to navigate throughout the studio lot quickly, they'll need paths connecting the buildings. Since large patches of flat grass don't offer much in the way of production value, builders need to be hired to construct and maintain sets, and producers will need a variety of different types of sets to avoid churning out the same sorts of movies in the same genres over
and over again. Not just any actor or director can be dropped into any genre -- inexperience in front of and behind the camera can hurt your bottom line -- and when writing or casting one of your movies, the strengths of the talent have to be considered.
Likewise for their feelings, since the talent can get stressed-out or bored from too much or too little work. A bump in salary or a posh trailer can pump up morale, but that sort of preferential treatment can grate on the other actors or directors. Not all of the talent works well together, but they can get friendlier by chatting it up outside a set or hanging out in a bar. Too much booze can lead to a lousy performance, but you can always build a rehab facility where they can dry out. The same goes for actors who overindulge at craft services -- no one wants a 320 lb. action hero. To keep your stars a box-office draw, shove the paparazzi their way or maybe spruce up their dated look with a makeover. With The Movies tackling the better part of a century, actors age and new blood needs to be brought in, but turning out a popular product is necessary to attract fresh meat. A timeline is provided, and certain genres will rake in more cash if their releases are timed around certain key historic events or fads. To make the most efficient use of emerging technologies, players can also build
R&D labs to research the latest gear, gadgets, and techniques.
There are clearly a tremendous number of things to juggle in The Movies, and even with a couple of rambling paragraphs, I've barely scratched the surface. That brings to mind that dreaded word no one wants to hear: micromanagement. Thankfully, The Movies lets players indulge in as much or as little micromanagement as they want. Fretting over the most minute details is necessary to be the frontrunner in the Hollywood rat race, but you don't "lose" if you don't clock in at number one. I personally preferred to stick with a less successful studio with a slimmer release slate and fewer actors milling around the lot, and it's certainly possible to play through the game without clicking through a series of menus every couple of seconds. This could be a side-effect of the way I chose to play the game, but I found the toughest part to be managing the personnel; I'd have to turn janitors into extras or convert idle screenwriters into crew members just because there wasn't enough of an influx of warm bodies. Juggling personnel like that or having to make sure there are enough toilets or trash cans on the lot can be annoying, but at least the very intuitive click-and-drag system makes it a breeze to do.
One of the biggest selling points of The Movies is that if you don't want to click on a screenwriter, drag him over the name of a genre, and wait for him to hammer out his latest opus, players can take the reins themselves through the game's rather robust movie creation tools. Not too long before The Movies went gold, I was halfway-crushed to hear that the movie-making functionality wouldn't let me choose my own camera angles or move my characters around however I'd want. While it's true that the game does require players to string together a series of pre-determined actions, it's not nearly as limiting as I thought. There are so many possible combinations (everything from zapping someone with a joy buzzer to frantically firing a machine gun) that with
some creative editing, players can realize virtually anything they have in mind, although the tools are better suited to fairly simplistic 2-3 minute shorts than anything resembling a feature-length epic. Agonizing over your movies is more for the benefit of you and your friends than progressing in the game; the success of your creations is dependent on a few static factors, and something inventive, creative, and painstakingly crafted isn't necessarily any more likely be a breakout hit in the game-world than something random, slapdash, and incoherent. The amount of manipulation you can do is amazing, though -- grab a mic and sync up dialogue, toss in subtitles, add a score, drop in props, or even create your own actors through the game's StarMaker program. The Movies also makes it painless for users to share their mini-epics on Lionhead's website for the world to see.
The Movies is one of those games where I'd sit down just to fiddle around a bit while waiting for the oven to preheat, and then I'd look at the clock and realize three hours had just zipped by. I'd periodically feel a little dragged down by the amount of management, but when one of my movies would wind up being a hit and an actor would be overjoyed as a result, I'd feel kind of giddy too; there's a real sense of accomplishment. The way the game's version of Hollywood changes over the decades -- as motion pictures go from being a sort of curiosity in the '20s to extravagant $100 million spectacles -- also helps keep things from feeling stale.
Graphics:
The Movies' exaggerated graphics and its vivid, Technicolor hues complement the game's tone and sense of style. One of my favorite aspects of the interface is how smoothly I could zoom in and out with the scroll-wheel on my mouse, revealing textures that hold up to close scrutiny and a
remarkable amount of fine detail on sets and props. The movies your studio produces start off as jittery, grainy, and black and white, but as the years pass, the technical quality of the films improves accordingly. Even though I'm playing on a fairly modest rig, I didn't run into any problems with stuttering visuals or anything that'd require me to start fiddling with sliders or settings. A very slick looking game.Audio:
The aural flourishes impress as well, particularly the music and radio banter that vary depending on the decade. The characters speak in random gibberish, but when producing your own movies, there are a slew of different audio options, including a very effective lip sync feature.
Conclusion:
I'm a little torn on how to sum up my thoughts about The Movies. I can see how many gamers might be turned off by the micromanagement or having to continually respond to recurring problems in nearly identical ways. On the other hand, I found The Movies to be a polished, surprisingly funny, and fairly addictive tycoon-sim, strong enough to keep this typically console-only gamer perched in front of a PC. The gameplay is an acquired taste and doesn't have the blanket appeal of something like The Sims or Ratchet and Clank, budding filmmakers should go in with realistic expectations for the movie-making tools, and there is a fair amount of repetition. I personally didn't find any of its shortcomings to be dealbreakers, and if you've waded through this much of the review, you're probably part of the demographic Lionhead Studios and Activision are hoping to hit. Recommended.
Detailed system requirements are available on Lionhead's website.