 | | The Movies lets you run a film studio, as well as craft the actual movies themselves |
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The Movies disappointed me. It's not terrible, it's just not the game I was expecting. For those who aren't in the know, this is the latest much-hyped god game from Peter Molyneux, he of Fable, Black & White and Populous fame. Love him or hate him, the guy certainly knows how to talk the talk. He'll promise the world of his games while in development - life-changing experiences that'll triple your cock size and make you live forever - yet they seldom live up to the hype (as proven by the poor excuse for a dangler nestling between my legs).
While normally not one to get caught up in all that hype, simply experiencing each game on the basis of its own merits alone, I must say this time around, he got me. The bastard.
We were told The Movies would be the ultimate Hollywood experience; your chance to not only run a film studio, but also to create your very own bloody movies from the ground up. We were told we'd be able to post and trade them online, entering charts, competitions, and even the odd film festival. That's a fascinating idea for a game, especially for an obsessed movie geek like me.
Were all these empty promises then? Well...yes and no.
Sim Movie Studio
The Movies has two distinct sides to it. First up, is the business and management portion of the game. You do indeed get to run a film studio, starting in 1920 in the early days of cinema, then progressing right up to 2005. Throughout this period you'll build sets, sign stars, release flicks and make that all important phat cash.
 | | All buildings on your lot, from offices to sets, are presented in stunning detail |
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This is all good in theory, and it's even fab fun for a while, but over time it becomes obvious that gameplay-wise this isn't all that different to any other tycoon game out there. You build structures (in this case, movie sets), look after people (movie stars) and manage a budget (their salaries), but pretty much all of these elements could essentially be swapped out with rollercoasters, hospitals, houses, or any of the other usual suspects to be found in a run of the mill god game.
I guess what I'm saying, is the movie making elements aren't fleshed out to the level I'd wanted. You hire a scriptwriter, and they essentially do all the work for you, ya see. You then drag and drop your cast onto these auto-generated scripts, click "shoot" and the game does the rest. Later on you actually get to craft your
own scripts from the ground up - and subsequently get a bit more hands-on with the process - but...well, I'll come back to that in a sec.
I do love how you actually get to see your features being made, mind you. The actors, director and crew will walk to the sets, setup their equipment, heck, even yell "action!". Once done, they'll move on to the next set in the lot, set up again, and so on, each time performing the exact same scenes you'll see in the finished flick. That's some wonderful attention to detail, and quite a site, it's just that any small impact you as a player get to make on these shoots is minor at best...and non-existent at worst.
 | | Genres include action, horror, comedy, romance, and sci-fi, each with a variety of different sets to build and shoot on |
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As time passes, new technologies are invented, award shows take place, and we gradually start to see cinema evolve. You unlock new costumes and toys to play around with as they're invented, such as special effects and cool new sets, but while that's a nice idea that's designed to add a bit of variety, the underlying mechanics never really change. It's superficial fluff, to be honest.
While all this is going on, there's a worryingly large amount of micro-management involved with your stars too. They get bored easily, their image starts to deteriorate and they'll eventually hit the bottle if you don't keep them happy. This sounds rather cool and darkly humorous, but in practice it's just annoying, and I for one had absolutely zero interest in this aspect of the game.
I wanted to concentrate solely on the business of running a Hollywood studio and the art of good old moving making, but ultimately felt like I was playing The Sims with a fresh lick of paint thanks to this. Sadly you kinda have to do it too, if you want your stars to be at the top of their game, and thus your movies to make money.
All in all, as far as the management side to the game goes, more emphasis on the film making instead of micromanaging the talent would have improved things hugely, and it's for this reason it somewhat bores in the long-run. For fuck's sake, as new fashions come around you even have to
dress the little shits, or they start throwing tantrums. I thought this was The Movies, not The Old People's Home.
And...Action!
This is of course, only half of the game. As your studio progresses, you eventually unlock the ability to create your very own movies, no longer having to rely on AI scriptwriters. In fact, you can even do away
completely with the main game, and dive straight into a "sandbox" mode if you wish.
 | | Creating your own movies is a big selling point for this game, but while it's silly, harmless fun, it lacks any kind of depth, and doesn't come close to fulfilling its potential |
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Unfortunately it's with the "hands on" movie making that some of my biggest gripes crop up. Let me be very clear; this is by no means a complete film making package. Dude, it's not even close.
The real reason for that is the fact developers Lionhead don't give us free reign of the camera. Nope, you are locked in to "pre-determined" camera angles on every single shot...you simply pick which one you want from a list. This defies belief; the sets are built with such immense detail and beauty, why oh why can't we grab a camera and move around them manually?
As a result, you're gonna see the same exact shots cropping up in movies again and again and again, whether it be the ones you make yourself, or those your fellow players post online. These pre-built shots do include a large(ish) amount to choose between, but many are so god damn specific that you'll be hard pressed to find uses for 'em. It's incredibly annoying to have an idea in your head for the perfect shot, only to find no template vaguely resembling it in the choices the game offers you. This worryingly cropped up more often than not for me, and it significantly holds back the entire movie making portion of the game.
 | | My first movie "Gil Gone Bad", available for download over in the forums right now. It's a blockbuster I tell ya |
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The same applies to the acting, unfortunately. Within each of these pre-ordained scenes, actors have specific movements that are locked in place. Examples include a character driving a car, two people walking in the desert, and so on. You have some minor influence on their performances - happy, sad, that sort of thing - not to mention what clothes they wear, but their underlying actions are still set in stone.
As a result, movie making becomes less about realising the crazy stories in your head, and more about playing mix and match between hundreds of pre-built animations. It's silly, it's limiting...it's pretty damn lame.
I guess I was just expecting something more complex. Something with depth. I wanted to be a virtual cameraman, coming up with crazy shots and ideas that would never be possible in the confines of a real-life set. Surely that's an amazing upside to working in a purely digital medium like this? I wanted to be able to hand animate my actors and choreograph super bad arse fight scenes. I wanted a hardcore machinima engine where the sky was the limit, and I could conjure up epic projects with custom made props, sets and super pretentious Lynch-esque visual sequences (for better or worse...).
Instead my movies look identical to yours, and more importantly, everyone else's. There's just no variety.
That's a Wrap
To be fair, there's other aspects of The Movies that I could natter on about with much more positivity. Providing you have a top of the line system, the graphics are simply
amazing, taking the character and wit of The Sims 2 then tripling the detail and amount of action on screen. With a super fast rig and tons of RAM, it's one of the most gorgeous games I've seen all year, and just panning around a bustling studio while watching the little mini-talent at work is a true site to behold.
 | | I'll admit, come award time, it's a nice buzz to walk home with a statue or five |
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The sound is also somewhat striking. With tons of voice work and some pretty damn fab music, it's got that old-time Hollywood vibe nailed perfectly, and is wonderfully atmospheric to boot. These aspects of the game are done way better than your average bland tycoon game, and flavour it with a ton of character that makes your first few hours a genuine treat.
The interface is also gloriously slick - much like Lionhead's recent Black & White 2 - with the StarMaker tool standing out in particular. This is another shamelessly ripped off Sims 2 element, one that lets you craft and mould your own actors from scratch. Wanna throw Arnold Schwarzenegger or Jennifer Aniston into your latest movie? Get to work creating their digital counterparts and now you can. Even better, craft yourself and your buddies. I've currently got a Carry On-style sex farce in production where I nail the Olsen Twins.
I had some fun with The Movies, don't think it's all doom and gloom, but like so many of these god games, it lacks any long-term lifespan. As with The Sims 2, I doubt I'll be playing this a month from now, but at the very least I would have hoped the ability to craft my own movies would have kept me coming back in the long-run. Not so. That too suffers limitations and a finite amount of possible creativity due to the all-too-shallow well of shots to pick from.
That is of course, until the inevitable expansion packs start popping up, packed to the gills with 200 new and improved camera moves. "Make your movies look better than all the other crap out there - TODAY!". Sigh.
As I say, The Movies ain't bad, it's just...not what I expected.
