The Movies

This game is brilliant. In addition to having incredibly deep movie and star-making engines, this game features a historically accurate (and quite funny) satire on American history in the form of radio announcers. I might only like this game because I'm a total film buff, but I've wanted this game since it was first released, and it has barely disappointed me (I wish you could put the camera ANYWHERE you wanted. That would be awesome). Now, it is common knowledge among gamers (especially subscribers of "Electronic Gaming Monthly") that film critic Roger Ebert doesn't see video games as a form of art. I like and respect Ebert, and I'm not so sure whether games are a form of art or not myself, but I'd like to see what he thinks about this game. It's probably as close to art as a game can get.

It is one of the very few attempts where a game is about the movies industry. The game is very detailed, and it represents the whole movie making process very well. It is very accurate concerning the movies history and the technology used in your movies fits in the era you are. I really enjoyed the idea of a radio station broadcasting the news and giving you information about the movies industry.

However, it is not so simple, and it might take you some time to play the game without difficulties. You will have to take care of many things at the same time, such as movie making, lot maintenance, taking care of your stars etc. The competition also, during the award ceremonies is tough, and you'll have to be tolerant in order to achieve your goals.

There is also the choice of making your very own movie. In fact, you must chose carefully scenes that are relevant. You can not chose a standard plot and work on it, however, you can work on ready movies and improve them. You can also add soundtrack and other sounds, as well as subtitles. It is a good attempts that gives the player the chance to make his own movie, but if you think you can create something like "Lord of the Rings" or "Godfather", you'll be a bit disappointed.

To conclude, it is a great game that everyone should play, especially Sim game and movies lovers.

the major problem with this game is that it's not the great movie making game that it claims to be. the main goal is to become the richest studio in the world.

if you are an artistic film maker with a vision, this game is not for you're movie creating abilities. rather, you financial abillities. sure you can edit movie that already have scripts, but you can never create your own story.

you can however make a short with some movement, and sounds and dialoge, but if your thinking that you can make really cool, profound pictures, this game can't do it.

and another very real fact of the main stream is carried over to the game. the writers. in the game your writers mean nothing. all they do is sit in a little room and give you gold, and yet like the stars, you can not look at a writers mood, change there salary, or really have any other concers than writing.

The Movies was the first game I had played in years that had me giggling at the computer monitor with ardent glee. I was fascinated by it, and could hardly get going as a player, because I was so perplexed by just how unique it is. In a time where Hollywood is struggling with ideas and music is manufacturing pop idols after pop idols for destitute cover versions, it's great to know the gaming industry comes up trumps with things like this, when it gets constantly criticised for ripping off the film industry.

There's so much to do. As the producer of your studio you must hire actors, extras, writers, crewmen and directors to film your movies. And builders, janitors and Scientists to help upkeep your studio. The music played throughout very nicely suits whichever decade you are playing in, be it the jazzy 30s or the rockin' 60s. The PA is wonderfully ironic. Early days you here a man frowning upon the movie industry, as he was once on the stage, don't you know. In the 50s it is at it's most hilarious with a Joe McCarthy style anti-communist paranoia. Little touches like this are what give "The Movies" it's genius. But the real genius lies in the film making. I was just sitting there wondering how on earth we had got to this. It's so much fun. And really funny. There are obvious problems, but I'm sure they'll be tended to in the inevitable sequels. The main problem with the game is it'll probably take over your life. I can't remember the last time I went to sleep.

I was talking with a friend about another game before when he said, "How can you like it? I'm addicted to it, but I don't like it!" I didn't understand what he was saying until I played "The Movies." Where to begin? This game is one of the most insanely frustrating games I have ever played. It's meant to work as both an RPG simulator game and a movie making tool. I haven't played many RPG sims, but this is a lot of aggravation to go through to make a movie. Let's start with the bugs. Sometimes the actors show up as black blobs instead of actors. Sometimes, when costuming the actors for a scene in the movie, the actors torso will appear as a formless white shape so that you can't see what their costume looks like. Actors will sometime play roles or wear costumes that you didn't assign to them. In the movies, the actors will make annoying mumbling noises unless you insert a microphone and dub over them. The microphone leads to a whole different set of bugs all together.

When the game starts, you have to build a studio from scratch. You also need to hire employees to write scripts, act in the movies, direct the movies, be extras for the movies, build and maintain buildings, clean the lot, and research movie technology. Directors and actors fall under the same category in the game, but you'll probably use them interchangeably. In fact, you'll probably use all of your employees interchangeably, because only a handful of applicants apply for the jobs on your lot. Making movies stars out as a lengthy process of putting screenwriters to work on a script, casting the script, making sure the script has enough employees attached to it, and then filming on the sets you pay the studios budget to put up. Once the movie is finished, it's reviewed. And then the reviews torment you for using a maintenance man as a star and a screenwriter as a director because you didn't have enough actors and directors to commit to making multiple movies at a time, something you'll need to do if you want to make any money at all in the game.

You also need to let your employees have fun without getting drunk, and letting them have fun will stretch out the amount of time it takes to make your movies. You also have to build trailers and nurse relationships between the actors to keep them from quitting. Plus, running the studio is often interrupted by an awards ceremony. It's fun at first, but after a while I ended up fast forwarding through the ceremonies to see if my studio won anything. The game starts in the 20's and continues to move through time until it goes into the future and doesn't stop. Also, movie-making processes evolve faster than they did in real life, and there's no way to choose which technology you want to incorporate into which movie, so don't count of producing a film noir in glorious black and white in the 1940's.

It's possible to attempt making movies without stressing over the strategy element in the game's "sandbox" mode. Unfortunately, options in the sandbox mode must be unlocked by earning certain amounts of money, winning certain awards, garnering good reviews, and babying movie stars in the main game mode. You even have to unlock the ability to write your own "scripts." This process consists of stringing together different animated sequences, ranging from a secretary seducing her boss to a zombie getting stabbed in the head. There are thousands of combinations of animations possible. Still, there aren't enough possibilities. While you get to control certain elements, such as violence level during fight scenes and the raciness of love scenes, it's impossible to control basic elements such as whether an actor is exiting stage left or stage right. Also, each script can be based only around three main actors, and each actor only gets one primary costume. If you want an actor to wear a different costume in certain sequences in the movie, you must change their clothes in each of those individual scenes. The same goes where choosing a custom backdrop for the scenes. And the options for dressing the sets with props are almost impossible to use.

I've restarted the game twice already. The first time I restarted it was because I did so miserably in the strategy portion of the game that my studio spent a century being multi-millions in debt and I only had three tiny sets to film on. The second time I restarted because my brother accidentally saved over my game in the confusing save screen. After that, I was forced to start earning items I had unlocked all over again.

There are several other frustrating elements of the game, such as being unable to change simple mistakes, like an actor being in the wrong costume, during filming or post production but only during the screen writing process. Also, in the main game, custom scripts will take more time and money to produce, meaning that making movies the way you want to make them will actually hurt you in the RPG strategy element.

The game certainly has its moments. And it definitely is addicting. The first week I owned it I lost sleep trying to come up with strategies to save my studio from financial ruin. But it really isn't worth losing sleep over. And while I'm addicted to it, I can't recommend it to others.