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Good but Flawed

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 205 / 226
Date: November 14, 2005
Author: Amazon User

So Activision decided to jump in on the Sim gaming community and create their own version of the Sims -- Hollywood style. Not bad, but heavily flawed.

The premise of the game is to run a movie studio. It acts quite a bit like the Sims but concentrating more on the community rather than the stars that you create; your goal is to make movies as best and with as much star power as possible.

The Pros:

This game can be fun. You place specific buildings such as scriptwriting, sets, entertainment areas, trailers for your stars and map out a studio lot. You have control over all the decor and can put down grass and flowers to make it look nicer. Apparently if you plant a lot of flowers next to your stars' trailers, it keeps them from throwing tantrums.

The game goes over a timeline. You can start right from the beginning if you want -- I created a "Clara Bow" in the 20s and had fun watching her progress. You pick from a line of hopefuls in order to create actors, extras and directors. All of them learn through being in specific movie genres and practicing on sets. Example: A director who has worked on a lot of Action movie sets is not necessarily good in the beginning but results in a great director in the end.

Stars are picked out of obscurity. (However, when you get popular you can find stars from "other" studios anxiously waiting at your casting door) and you try to mold them from the beginning. Concentrate on making them over during the correct time period (you don't want a star in 50s outfits by the 60s) and you can eventually give them plastic surgery. Nip and tuck is popular in the 50s, but implants and lipo isn't really available till later in your timeline -- but be careful! Give a starlette a big rack too early in the timeline and they might get negative reviews (remember -- buxom wasn't always popular.)

Recruit scriptwriters, janitors, crew and researchers in order to help your studio progress and keep up with the times. Also, they will make "suggestions" by leading a trail of stars. What I mean is, you pick up a screenwriter to drop them into the studio to write, a trail of stars will lead to the genre that is most popular at that time. At my last game, it was the late 50s and according to my news report "the communists" sent a ship into space -- which fuels the want of Action and Sci-Fi from audiences. Get it? If you're filming during the depression, no one wants to see a drama -- they'll want comedy.

But you have to make sure that your stars are trained for those genres. When you're placing people into their correct casting areas, the one thing you need to remember is that an actor good in comedy, might not be good in drama. It will tell you as well. Same with the director.

Sets become available over time. There's whole sections dedicated to say, Sci-Fi, Romance, Action, Westerns -- you name it, they've covered it.

Now the more detailed fun is that you can literally have a hand in the movies. You can custom-write a script (which takes longer to do, of course) and add scenes, backdrops, props and sets. Not only can you do this, but you can also finish them and email them to your friends, complete with your "studio's name" on them, which, quite frankly, I found to be fun.

Now the bad:

The tutorial is an absolute joke. I've literally had to figure out how to do a number of things including deleting old sets (can you believe there's no instructions whatsoever to tell you how to do this?) and I still don't know how to turn the buildings. Their tutortials are so basic that if you know how to run the Sims -- you don't need to run their tutorials.

Interaction between the characters is limited. You want chemistry between stars? Probably a good idea to simply put them in more movies together. Other than that, there isn't any real detail of emotions.

These Sims are just plain UGLY. They're not pretty and for some bizarre reason, they're kinda a-sexual. The women from the 20-s kinda look like guys in drag. Not only that, but if you custom make over any of them and change hairstyles, you're going to get ALL the hairstyles regardless of sex. Why would I pick a balding comb-over for my female lead? Kinda stupid that they didn't distinguish. You can spruce them up with a makeover but it seems that they don't actually look like men or women until you get to the lipo/implant option in the 60s. I mean, were all women built like hulking men in the 40s? Not really.

Movement is also awkward with these sims and there seems to be some crude humor. It'll say when a star is busy and what they're doing and for some reason, most of the time they're always "pinching one off" in the bathroom. Yeah, it's funny the first time, after reading it 40 times you wonder if the programmers are prepubescent kids with a bad sense of humor or if your sims just have serious bowel problems.

You really have to play with this to get the gist -- fortunately, there's a Sandbox option which allows you to really use some liberties -- I'd recommend trying that one first before challenging yourself.

The DVD version is only different from the CD version because it includes a "Load of Extras." What that means is, your female star gets a few more hairdo's... that's pretty much it.

This is an EXPENSIVE game, I will say that. I don't think it's really worth over $40 -- I'd say it should be marked at $29.99. It's just not that high tech nor is it that "fantastic" of a game. I'd recommend a price reduction before buying it.

Otherwise, okay. Interesting but complicated, Ugly yet entertaining. Three out of five stars.

Pretty good! Although it may not be what you expect.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 46 / 51
Date: November 13, 2005
Author: Amazon User

This game is actually pretty good. A lot of people seem to have been let down by Black and White 2, which I can understand. Black and White 2 becomes tedious.

The Movies is more about producing movies and making money. You can make movies, but you do not have complete freedom. Instead, you have a ton of sets, and like 100 different scenes for every set that you can put actors into. This actually works out pretty well as you can create a ton of different interesting scenes in interesting ways by using tiny pre-built scenes. If you don't want to create movies, you can have script writers do it. There are seemingly billions of movies they can write. I get eager to see what kind of movie they are making when I see interesting titles and such.

You create stars, cast the movie, then shoot it. During the shoot you can alter the screenwriter's movies slightly. Or, you can let the director shoot it himself and manage your huge studio lot. You unlock more stuff as you progress, and every 5 years there are awards. The awards are hard to get, and I get excited whenever I see my name nominated.

As you progress, your stars start to want things, and eventually they become big. It's really awesome to see one of my stars become such a huge success after doing so many crappy movies. You can give your star plastic surgery and treat him like royalty by giving him an entourage. It works out pretty well, but the only downside to this is that sometimes other stars might get jealous.

There is even an online feature where you can post movies and earn more game stuff.

I would reccomend this movie to anyone who likes The Sims.

Needed More Postproduction

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 46 / 55
Date: November 26, 2005
Author: Amazon User

When I bought this game the salesman raised his eyebrows and said, "I thought this came out three years ago."

Apparently it's been in development for a long time but, of course, it was just released. The concept is irresistable: A Sim game AND "tycoon" game where you operate a movie studio, make business decisions about movies, make money, but also produce "art."

It apparently is a lot to bite off and therefore a lot to chew. First, let me assure you that it is "playable." If you commit to learning the game (not as easy as it should be), you will enjoy the results. However, if your primary purpose in buying this fairly expensive game is to shoot your own movies, you'll find the producing architecture to be limiting, even constricting.

It can make for some unintentionally hilaious results, though.

What's tough is making "good" movies in the early stages of the game. You pretty well have to go through the entire time sequence, from 1920 to now, to get even close to anything looking like watchable moviemaking, and some of us might not have that kind of patience.

Overall, I'm glad I bought it, though, and you will be too. Merry Christmas!!

Completly Additctive!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 16 / 16
Date: November 28, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I am a big Sims 2 fan and fan of simulation games in general (I hate to destroy anything). I had been waiting a while for this game and was a bit dissapointed when I read the reviews. Playing the first 30 min, I am inclined to agree with a lot of what is said here.
The animation is pretty bad. All the characters are hideously ugly unlike those adotrable Sims and even when you dress them up, it's kinda like putting lipstick on a gorilla.
But then, watch out.
Like a junkie you will be glued to your computer screen.
It slowly and insidiously takes you over.
You begin to build sets only to get new sets. You make movies that after a while, you don't even watch because you are too busy trying to please all your actors as much as you can to reap the rewards you will get at the "award ceremony" every five year mark. I actually cheered when my studio was nominated. I was alone. In front of my laptop. Unshaven in sweats with a sink full of unwashed dishes. Yes, "The Movies" has turned me into a junkie loser.
Even though the graphics are terrible, the 3-D effects are top notch. You can actually go deep inside any sound stage or studio to watch your movie being filmed first hand. Amazing.
I got this version not knowing there was a "deluxe" version available. Damn.
There are still a few kinks, like basic studio dressing like trees, chairs and garbage cans not being redily available and not findind a quick stress-relever for your overworked stars (dropping them into rehab is just a waste of time) other than that and the hideous looks of your actors, this is an amazing game.

Take Control of Hollywood

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 14 / 14
Date: December 20, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Have you ever dreamed of making movies? If you're like me you've dreamed of making a horror film starring an axe-wielding gorilla. Well friends, last night I made my dream a reality thanks to The Movies.

This game has multiple components to it which must be addressed in order to have a complete review. First, the movie-making process. Yes this is fun. You have multiple sets, costumes, props and actions that your actors can utilize. It's fun putting these flicks together and then showing them to your friends. My brother was over for dinner a couple days ago and we made a silly film of robots invading the wild west and we laughed our butts off.

Unfortunately there is a limited number of scenes/actions that your actors can use. There is also a limit to camera angles you can use which is a bit of a downer. I would like complete control, and while I don't have it here, this games comes closer to anything I've seen in this price range.

Now there is the sim component. If you like micro-managing to the extreme you'll love this part. I think it's a pain in the neck. Here's what generally happens. You're having fun making an awesome movie when all of the sudden something interrupts the shooting. Your star has wandered off to the bar to get drunk and your director is so stressed out about that he refuses to work. So you put your star in rehab and drop your director someplace where he can have fun, but then they complain about their salary, or the quality of their trailer, or how many assistants they have. And as soon as you finally make one happy, the rest get upset because they aren't getting the same treatment. And all you want to do is make a gorilla flick!

But there is a sandbox mode where you can focuse more on the movies. However there is a catch. The sandbox only lets you use sets and costumers relative to what you've unlocked in the main game. So you still have to play that sucker and meet all these demands just to use the cool stuff.

If you get this game, I would recommend not having more than 6 stars/directors. It is too much of a headache even to deal with that many, but you can't get much done without that many.

So in the end, the game is so fun and creative, that i am willing to put myself through the stress of babysitting these whiners. And once you get far enough in the game, mosey on over to sandbox and have fun.

Great but not Fantastic

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 12 / 13
Date: December 02, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I've played for about 25 hrs so far and this game even with its flaws is still a blast. The concept was fantastic and although the game is great it could have used alot more work for it to become a 'classic'. Maybe when they make a 'sequel' they'll fine tune it so you have COMPLETE control over every aspect of writing,directing and producing the movie. This game is hard at first but once you get a hang of it , its totally addictive. No other game lets you make an outer space zombie movie. So 'props' to Lionhead for creating an original game.

Complete Movie Studio Sim...Nope! Make Your Own Movies...Not Exactly.

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 14 / 17
Date: November 22, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I was really excited when I heard this game would soon be available. I know that Peter Molyneux tends to over promise but I was hopeful that this time he would deliver. He did not.

I am not a big RTS or SIM fan but I do think that I know a good game when I play one. The SIM portion of the game is very engaging. I think that it suffers from being overly simplified and at times restrictive. For my money it is just not that fun to play. You have to play through it in order to open up all that the game has to offer. That means that in order to begin making movies with All the resources the game offers you have to play through the game and unlock everything. Tedious yes, fun no.

The movie making portion is where the real fun is found. You can easily make little movies but if you really want to tell stories then The Moives is not the way to do it. You choose from pre staged scenes and connect them together to make your movies. This can make for some funny little movies that can be created and shared rather easily, but nothing of any substance can be created. The potential is there but the developers just dont go far enough with the movie creation tools.

-no establishing shots
-no children manequins
-no control over camera position
-no actor direction

and a host of other ommissions.

If you dont expect much this game can be fun for about five minutes, otherwise this game needs to drop the SIM aspects and fortify the movie making tools because thats really where the fun is.

Hope this helps anyone thinking of purchasing. Finding this game used is you best bet.....CZ

fun in the beginning but boring later

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 11 / 12
Date: December 20, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Ive played the sims and love it. The sims is my favorite. Id been wanting the movies for a long time. Okay so I find out it's 34.99 at best buy. I head over to best buy and pick it up along while doing some last minute christmas shopping. I get home and pop the discs in and install the game. The game runs great and is very playable. I start playing with the game thinking it's really fun. Fun for a little while and than.....

Boring. It's very repitive and making movies becomes old after awhile. I tried making a movie that made sense but it didnt happen. I love the idea behind this game but it was not devolped far enough. Luckly I paid $35 instead of $50.

This game will be down to a budget game at $14.99 in no time. Ill stick with my sims.

Much Better Than I Hoped

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 8 / 8
Date: November 27, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I'm suprised to see some of the reviews that say this game is really hard. It's a little more difficult than your average game but not irritatingly so. And this is me, a pretty average gamer, saying this.

The game's point is to create movies and stars and create a very successful company. It's a slash between Roller Coaster Tycoon/The Sims. If you like either of those games, then you will like this. The game starts 1920s which I thought would suck but it turns out actually enjoyable. Slowly as you go, your movies get better and better, moving from 1 star to 5. Your stars get better with rehearsal and experience.

Pros:
The overall concept is pretty cool just thinking about it
Graphics are very fresh
Plenty of movies to create and keep yourself busy
Contrary to some reviews there is a pretty good variety of sets
Lots of clothes and customization of characters
Fun side things like rehab and boob emplants

Cons:
Can't hire a decent amount of builders and workers sometimes
Relationships take forever to build
Needs to focus less on actor's bitchy needs

Graphics: 5/5
Sounds: 3/5
Durability: 4/5
Fun: 5/5
Overall: 5/5

So I would suggest you buy this game. If you aren't sure about it, get someone else to buy it FOR you or just wait until the price lets down a little bit. But it is worth the 50 bucks I spent on it.

Multitasking, stress, creative, and patience required... Just like the real world.

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 9 / 10
Date: January 05, 2006
Author: Amazon User

As an actual filmmaker, I find this game thoroughly addicting but that's probably just because it's my newest. I'm not a fan of Sims because I find the mundane tasks rather boring and pointless, but I am a huge fan of Civilization and Final Fantasy. I received both this and Civ IV for Christmas and haven't even loaded Civ yet.

The game requires you to assemble stars and workers who like in FF become more powerful and successful with more experience. You don't have spend lots of time fighting monsters, just send your actors to rehearse and they take care of the rest. There are also remedies you can "cast" on each character when they are having issues. ie Send Alcoholics to Rehab, or put a stressed out person in the Bar.

Unlike the previous reviewer, I found the tutorial very helpful. You learn and pick up strategies as you go. If you need a book to tell you exactly what to do and when, you won't enjoy this. For instance, having bathrooms near each set as well as snack carts and trailers save time as you don't want your stars walking across the lot in between takes. This make sense in real life too as I'm learning to apply more logic to the game.

The Good:

It's an addictive, time consuming game that involves serious strategy and multitasking. For me that's a pro, for my husband, that's a con.

You can model your own stars with basic 3D model rendering software bundled with the game.

There are so many variables that no two games are ever the same.

The Sandbox: This option is fabulous as it allows you to practice certain skills for regular games, like studio design and star management. Or you can just play in the Sandbox which is what my husband does because he can set the controls so that the starts don't misbehave and the filmmaking process is abridged. He likes to design the studio lot. I like it because I can just make films without having to worry about how it effects my overall game strategy. Plus I can see my work pay off instantly with the abridged filming process.

The movies are assembled from pre-designed basic 3D animation templates. You can direct your actors. Certain shot patterns have emotion options and camera options like crane shots, dolls, intensity of tears or screams, and much more. If you're short on patience and creativity, you can also just you automatically generated scripts which require virtually no work from you.

The Bad:

Options: I wish the game had time line and difficulty settings for the actual game and not just the Sandbox. For instance, I played Civilization III in Chieftain ("Easy") mode for a month before I gradually learned the ins and outs of strategy for the game. I have found myself so frustrated already because everything is going wrong and I couldn't fix it to move forward. Eventually, if you just let stuff go for awhile, it will work itself out.

Post: The post interface is very similar to your basic nonlinear system like MS MovieMaker. Unfortunately, there are some glitches with the length of the music tracks that are annoying. It is also highly monotonous if you wish to make a movie with more than three characters as the extras costumes/hair/makeup reset in each shot.

More direction options. I wish each shot had toggle options. Also I wish every situation was available for most of the sets. For instance, why can I kill a zombie on a battlefield but not in a cemetery? Why can people run into a room, but not out of the same room?

Dialogue: Like with Sims, the dialogue is gibberish. As with the scenes construction... it would be nice if there were a library of one liners to insert as audio. You can record your own, but there is no way to shut off the gibberish preprogrammed into a scene.

Costumes: The costumes should be able to be split into Tops and Bottoms for more preference.

I'd like to have a turnaround option or development department added. Maybe it's available and I just haven't worked my way up to it, but it would be nice that when a movie is not going well that you can just put it on hold for later or scrap it all together and let your stars get on with other projects.

Overall...

The game is worth the price, but it has its drawbacks.

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