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| Game Details | Released
11 November 2005 | | Format
PC | | Developer
Activision |
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The Movies
 Review
There was a time when breaking into the film business required rich parents, stellar connections or morals loose enough to shag your way to the top. These days, all budding movie moguls need is a top-end PC.
A complex life simulator from Peter Molyneux’s Lionhead Studios — the brains behind sublime god game Black & White: The Movies casts the player as chief of an upstart film studio, challenging you to cultivate the biggest movie machine in Hollywood and even dabble in direction to create your own blockbusters.
The management side of the game will be familiar to fans of titles such as Rollercoaster Tycoon, with players hiring studio staff, casting big-name actors and building sets to create their own celluloid classics. Naturally, driving a film from concept to completion is a process fraught with problems — from diva actresses who’ll throw a strop if they’re not happy with their trailer, to developing new special-effect techniques to make sure there are plenty of bums of seats when it comes to distribution — making for a deep and rewarding experience that will keep you hanging on for just ten more minutes well into the small hours of the morning.
The game’s unique selling point is that it actually allows you to get creative and make your own movies; using a selection of pre-built shots based on popular themes such as horror, sci-fi and action, players can drag film segments onto a timeline and assemble their own narratives, also tinkering with the lighting, camera angles and dialogue to construct surreal sequences that can be posted and shared on the internet.
The action is flawed as the moviemaking and management elements feel like two separate games — rather than being integrated into a dynamic whole — but The Movies is still a charming and addictive sim, quite unlike anything else on the shelves today.
Reviewer: David McComb
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Average user rating for The Movies
| A real experience | | | as real as managing a lot is ever going to be. I love this game. ... Read More
| | | blaud About me | | 09:42, 10 March 2008 | Report This Post | |
| | | | RE: The Movies | | I'm going to get this game tomorrow and I'm so excited. ... Read More
| | | jamdodge1 About me | | 22:00, 11 November 2006 | Report This Post | |
| | | | | | For any would be movie makers you need this game and its expansion pack. I bought it and am still playing it. It's the best thing since the birth of cinema. ... Read More
| | | RobertStehens About me | | 10:52, 04 November 2006 | Report This Post | |
| | | | RE: The Movies | | If you guys play the game, you should join the community, it's fun, but addictive, i now host a fortnightly radio show on the internet for a server for the movies, and other hosts are from around the globe, it's aweseome, and some of the films out are amazing, breaking the boundariues of what really is a shi**y game. ... Read More
| | | Ethanial About me | | 16:14, 05 September 2006 | Report This Post | |
| | | | The Movies | | | As a film fan, it's interesting to see the behind the scenes workings of studios, what's more important, however, is the ability to make movies. Unfortunately the game is lacking in that respect. With modern game engines (such as Half Life 2: Garry's Mod) it's possible to choose positions for lighting and you can even decide where to put the camera. Unfortunately with 'The Movies', all this and much more is pre-decided for you (character actions, props etc.) leaving you with little or no freedom... Read More
| | | .:Seraphim:. About me | | 03:19, 03 August 2006 | Report This Post | |
| | | | RE: The Movies | | I've brought the game, but for some reason my computer won't play it. It loads then just cuts out. I've looked at all the troubleshooting things but I still can't play it... ... Read More
| | | Sally_Ragdoll About me | | 09:21, 06 July 2006 | Report This Post | |
| | | | RE: The Movies | | | If been playing this all day its great ... Read More
| | | zombiemaster About me | | 20:54, 02 July 2006 | Report This Post | |
| | | | The Movies | | | As McDonalds would say "I'm lovin' it!" ... Read More
| | | Pipkin3 About me | | 11:12, 19 June 2006 | Report This Post | |
| | | | The Movies | | | As McDonalds would say "I'm lovin' it!" ... Read More
| | | Pipkin3 About me | | 11:12, 19 June 2006 | Report This Post | |
| | | | RE: OH YES! | | Can't remember who it was, but somebody attempted to make Evil Dead 2 with this game. It was so cool.p;
I really want to get this eventually. It just seems like one of those games that you can never get bored of. ... Read More
| | | AgentGoth About me | | 08:20, 07 June 2006 | Report This Post | |
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