The Movies

Written by Kyle Williams  on March 29, 2006

Review: ...life will play out on the silver screen.

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Peter Molyneux. A name that is synonymous with gaming innovation. People rightly respect his resume as it is a veritable top ten of gaming legend. Populous, Dungeon Keeper, Black & White, and Fable immediately come to mind. Add to that list The Movies, a PC title that lets Joe Gameplayer become both Steven Speilberg and Harvey Weinstein at once, throwing in a healthy dose of life simulation for good measure.

At its heart, The Movies is three games at once. At the surface, it is a movie studio development game that improves upon the "tycoon" formula that bombarded us a few years ago. Dig a little bit deeper and The Movies starts to take cues from The Sims as it asks you to manage the wants and desires of your stars. For those that want the deepest experience that The Movies has to offer, or those that are itching to become the next George Lucas, The Movies has an in-depth movie making mode. It is in finding the balance between all three of these parts that you can see the brilliance of The Movies come shining through.

Let us first take a look at developing your studio in The Movies. There are several things to keep in mind as you layout your studio lot. Sure, things need to be functional but layout and attractiveness are just as important as they both add to your studio's prestige. More than just making your studio look pretty, raising your studio's prestige actually impacts gameplay by drawing in more employee candidates and earning you top prize in certain award categories. Planning ahead with your layout is also important in maximizing the productivity of your stars. You don't really want to pay them thousands of dollars to walk across the lot over and over again, do you?

Running your studio in The Movies is all about balance. Much like in Tropico (a dandy little dictator sim that you may remember from a few years back), many of your resources are in limited supply. While careful planning in your movie-making (and releasing) endeavors will build your bankroll, you will find that you don't have the people to make it all happen. Balancing your staff between stars, extras, writers, builders, janitors, researchers and assistants is not easy. However, finding that balance improves the quality of the movies you release and makes your staff all the happier.

The lifestyle elements of The Movies add another layer of depth to the already fulfilling movie studio simulation. Playing with your stars can take on a life of its own given the game's super-simple interface that focuses on interaction. Building relationships between actors and directors and keeping stars fit, stress-free and happy with their job all helps with their performance in your next big release and requires a certain level of dedication to make the wheels of progress turn.

Playing with your stars also leads to some hilarious moments that are expressed through animations and thought bubbles. Drunk actresses (a favorite target of photo snapping paparazzi) stumble down the street, angry divas throw tantrums over the quality of their trailer and blossoming relationships can all coax a chuckle from even the most stern of movie makers. Much like in real life, moderation is the key for wheedling the best performances from your stars and, much like with running your studio, finding a happy balance is the key to movie making success.

Movie Making is the third arm of The Movies' triple gaming threat. Because of the volume of options available, custom movie making can be a daunting task for a fledgling writer and director. Everything is under your control, from pre-production to post. If you've got the time to invest in crafting your own film then The Movies is ready to help you out.

It all starts off with writing your own script, either taking one that your scriptwriters have turned out or drafting one from scratch. In the scriptwriting phase you can select your set from the potentially dozens that you have built on your lot, chose the scene that your actors will act out, cast the roles, hand out props and dress the set. All of this ties into your movies studio directly as you gradually unlock additional props, backdrops and costumes for your actors and you can only shoot your movie on sets that you have actually built.

Directing the action in your soon-to-be-blockbuster is a little bit trickier as you have to jump into the director's chair during the filming of each scene. However, once you've take the film's helm, The Movies lets you tweak with camera angles and actually direct your actors. Running through the full range of actor performances is hilarious as you watch their performance head right over the top.

As your movie gets ready for release you can also take it into post production where you can drop hours at a time, tweaking every little item that you could possibly think of. From major change (changing the order of scenes in your film) to minor (cutting a scene just a moment short to increase the dramatic effect), you can truly tailor the film to match your original vision. And if subtitles aren't enough to satiate your creative appetite, you can even hook up a microphone to your computer and add dialog to your film.

The key to all of the movie making elements is that while the options are bountiful and you could spend a lifetime on these elements alone, you do not have to ever indulge in crafting your own films. However, you will not be able to resist the lure of the director's chair and when you give in to your inner-Ron Howard the interface is instantly accessible with a tutorial that fills in the nuances very well.

The Movies' online community takes the whole experience another step further by offering aspiring filmmakers a venue to show their works. Much like Sundance for the indie film crowd, the online community has its own set of awards and ways to recognize the efforts of its members. This is also a great way to acquire new sets, costumes and props as posting your films online earns you virtual credits that you can take shopping for that perfect accouterment for your next blockbuster.

The one drawback to the whole The Movies package is that a casual player could become overwhelmed with all of the options available while they are trying to balance the three play styles. Call it a fault of being too complete if you want but you cannot deny that the game pulls off each and every element better than most games with half the depth.