The Movies : Games : Web Wombat

The Movies? Could this be a game about movies or films? Why yes, it is indeed. The Movies is what every kid (and I've asked them all, so it's undisputed fact) dreamed of when they was young - that is setting up a cool car chase scene, a bar fight or even or a heart-felt goodbye.

Dream no more kiddies, because the future is here, in the present, but it's not just for kids, it's for older beings too! Upon first playing The Movies, I thought it related to The Sims in some aspects, but is obviously totally different and redefined in others. The reason I say this is because fans of The Sims would probably enjoy the gameplay found here.

And I rekcon Activision and Lionhead studios have produced a great hit with their latest title: The Movies is really something new, it's different, it's cool, it's funny and it's (most of all) really entertaining!

Let me just say, I really didn't think that it was possible to make your own movie, in your own home, in a game, with no videocamera - but you can and it's great! I was hooked on the game so badly that I didn't realise that the whole house was asleep at one stage. Lucky for the slumbering soulds that I was wearing headphones.

The game appears to be similar to The Sims at first, but there's a lot more 'behind the scenes' stuff here. If you choose to start from scratch you must build a big studio where all of your movies will be shot for the next 40 or so years, and you can begin the game from the year 1940 with 100 Million dollars if you want.

Of course, I needed some training, so I went through all the basic steps and started from scratch in a new game. You have to employ the builders, the janitors, the crew, the actors, the cast and a whole lot more, to start making your movie. I needed some help, so I turned on the much-impressive interactive guide, which led me through some of the early stages of construction, helping sort you out, and getting you 'off your feet' for the first few years in the game.

Once my studio had been set up with nice buildings, stages, food stands and plants, trees and the like I started to produce my first movie. The first few productions are made for you, but you can soon employ script writers to do it for you. You can tune in to a radio station to listen to up-coming events via an annoyingly-amusing Englishman talking on wireless. Later on, as time passes and technology increases, you can build better studios, buildings etc.

Then as you near the mid 1930s you can start to edit your own movies, and make them for yourself. This is the main part of the game and you can create and edit your own scenes, using the advanced movie maker. You can exert a lot of control over your actors, ensuring the characters in your blockbuster movie about a blind Priest with magical powers do exactly whatever you want them to.

The movie studio will be a place where you
spend lots of time, and you can augment
the studio with heaps of cool props as well

You can even do voice overs, giving it your own personal touch, and there is scope to create animated features. And the best thing about making your own movie is that you can post it online for the entire world of film lovers to see.

There are online competitions too. The winner scooping cash and/or prizes, and getting the credit for making it. Naturally you can also watch other people's movies. But you don't even have to have the game to watch your mate's movie, as you can convert it into another media file (mpg4) and play it using Windows Media Player.

Another important aspect of the game are the relationships that your movie stars and the other crew (like the directors) have with each. If they're not gelling on the set, your movie is unlikely to reach its full potential.

Okay, so I've raved and ranted about some of the game's features, but there are just too many to mention - it's a big game - and I don't want to make it look boring, because it's not. It's quite full-on having to run a studio, keep stars happy, please reporters and win prizes, and that's just the single player game!

The graphics of the game (on high detail) are surprisingly good. You can't compare them to any other game really, because the models look half 2D, half 3D [2.5D? - Ed], but they really are good, considering that you can zoom up so close you can see the chef preparing a meal in a van, and still have great quality. The visual effects are really great in the finished films as well, and I was impressed with the level of detail which they've captured.

The sound effects in the game are well-suited to the game, providing all the neccesary audio cues, but they do tend to get annoying before too long. The only real let down would be the sound, even though it suits all the surroundings quite well.

At first, I was a little sceptical about just how much freedom a movie-making game would allow and whether it could be accessible to all types of gamers, but now that I've seen the standard set by this game, I'm quite amazed.

Game: The Movies
System: PC
Players: 1
Online: Yes
Developer: Lionhead Studios
Distributor: Activision

Rating: 85%

(Ratings Key/Explanation)

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