Following the meteoric success of the Rollercoaster and Zoo Tycoon series, it should probably have surprised nobody when a colossal, seemingly never-ending slew of copycat efforts sprouted up on store shelves.  From malls to trailer parks, it often seemed as though there would be no venue left untouched, which is perhaps why the announcement of Peter Molyneaux’s The Movies was initially met with no small amount of cynicism.  After all, what could possibly distinguish Molyneaux’s game from the many that came before it?

A few things, as it turns out, including the relatively fascinating concept.  Rather than taking a movie studio and ushering it to success in the modern age, you’re actually tasked with heading up a studio at the dawn of the twentieth century.  As expected, it’s your job to ensure the continued financial success of your studio and to compete effectively against the handful of other, equally hungry studios who are continuously nipping at your heels.  Of course, in order to accomplish any of this, you’ll have to ensure that your company is actually producing movies, which is the bulk of your job.  In essence, it’s up to you to make sure that you have sufficient staff, actors, sets, equipment, scripts and facilities to put out the best quality movies possible…or at least good enough to make a profit. 

At first blush, this may initially sound suspiciously similar to many of the other tycoon-style games in that you’re forced to hire janitors and handymen to make sure your studio is falling apart at the seams or buried in garbage, build recreational areas to help keep everybody happy, and various lot improvements to keep those high spirits up.  Where The Movies starts to become somewhat more interesting is in the area of actual movie-making.  For example, it’s up to you to choose your prospective stars and extras from a far-too-small queue of applicants, and gauge their suitability for the silver screen by checking their surprisingly comprehensive list of statistics which can range from how appealing their appearance may be, to how easily they’re driven to storm off a set, and even how suited they are for various genres of films.  Much the same goes for would-be directors, who also have various stats for skills and temperament. 

This statistical depth really is a great setup that really comes into play as the game unfolds across a decade or three, but it really is quite unfortunate that your queue of applicants is so small, and almost never grows to any truly handy size.  In fact, as the years go by, you’ll often find yourself so hard up for new staff members that it’s not uncommon to be forced to use janitors as extras or even full-fledged actors, and then turn around as ask those same extras to take a wrench to some of your crumbling sets just a year or two later.  The problem becomes almost unbearably pronounced once your stars begin to demand numerous assistants, forcing you to use up even more of your cleaning/repair staff.  It’s a crippling game mechanic that will surely be adjusted by modders, but in the default install version of the game, it’s a real and very pressing problem, especially when your studio has more than enough money to hire new blood, but lacks the applicants.  If this weren’t such a micromanagement-intensive game, this flaw could potentially be overlooked; however, as you’re frequently required to dote over ever single little detail, else your cinematic empire fall to pieces faster than you can say “Rosebud.”

This isn’t to say that the micromanagement is all bad, as there are some genuinely entertaining experiences to be found here.  Ordering your screenwriters to produce films in particular genres can be satisfying, especially when as you get the chance to witness those finished scripts being filmed and acted out on whatever sets you’ve researched and purchased.  If you’re a real stickler, you can even take a glimpse at the individual scenes as your actors interpret the lines you’ve had cooked up for them, and should you wish it, you can even influence the style and outcome of each scene to a degree.  While the films you produce are essentially spoken in The Sims-style Simlish if they have any speech at all, you’re able to tweak the emotional and often even physical direction of the scene.  If you want, you can even watch the finished film once it’s complete, though they’re often quite short, not to mention completely and hilariously nonsensical. It’s one of many small details that makes The Movies much more interesting than your average tycoon game, and fans of micromanagement will surely find a great deal of satisfaction in having this level of control over their material.

Players who prefer a more hands-off playing style will rapidly tire of The Movies, however, as this is not the type of game that rewards “big picture” thinkers so much as it rewards those who are capable of making rapid-fire, short-term decisions while minding nearly every aspect of their empire.  As you put your actors and directors through their movie-making paces, they eventually grow lazy and stressed, meaning they’ll be much more inclined to ignoring your orders in lieu of heading off for some R&R or, if you’ve built on-set bars (which is essentially mandatory in order to keep your staff happy), some booze. 

The latter gets to be particularly tricky as many of your star actors and directors will likely becoming raging alcoholics, due in no small part to the fact that they’re stressed from being forced to work non-stop in order to keep your empire afloat and competitive.  The fact that there is, as previously mentioned, such a painfully small pool of workers means that they’ll receive next to no rest, which means they’ll be highly likely to become alcoholics, which means that you’ll be forced to toss them into detox, thus robbing you of precious employees for extended periods of time.  Given, there are ways of working around such issues, but this “work around each individual’s quirks” factor becomes incredibly difficult to manage as time wears on and each star/director begins to demand better living quarters and more assistants.  Thankfully, the pace begins to slow down as you approach the latter part of the century and movies begin to become more complex and use a greater number of scenes as well as set and costume changes, thus giving you more time to figure out how to handle your growing number of problems. 

The effects of the passage of time on overall gameplay is another one of The Movies’ bigger strengths.  As the years roll on by, your scientists will allow you to build new types of sets, which in turn changes the types and styles of movies you’re capable of producing.  What’s more, these same scientists will research and develop new movie technologies, so that you’re somewhat realistically able to bring your studio from the silent, black-and-white era to various levels of colorization and sound to the more fully-realized experience that can be found today.  In turn, this will adjust the type and length of your films, not to mention the level of sophistication in your sets and props.  Additionally, improved technology will also give you other film-industry staples such as the ever-interesting plastic surgery facility, which allows you to milk your actors for another decade or so by slapping various chemicals into their face, thus shaving years off their appearance.  This kind of faithfulness to various eras of moviemaking, as tongue-in-Botox-enhanced-cheek as it may sometimes be, is part of what makes it rewarding to stick with your studio decade after decade, and helps to make The Movies one of the more interesting tycoon games out there.

Unfortunately, for all its charms, the simulation portion of The Movies will almost always play out the same, meaning that it’s likely going to be a one-shot deal for most players.  Simply put, the tycoon aspect of the game lacks any real replay value, as the early part of the process largely involves figuring out how to maximize your resources to crank out low-grade movies as quickly and efficiently as possible, while the latter portion of the game is mostly about dealing with the escalating nature of your stars’ needs and demands. 

Given, there is some leeway for player strategy to be found in the periodic Oscars-like ceremonies, which give studios rewards for prominent achievements.  These rewards are sometimes so helpful – such as being able to reduce your actors’ needs in certain areas – that you can focus all your studios’ efforts on achieving the necessary goals, at the expense of all else.  This risk can make or break your studio, which is an interesting and sometimes thrilling dynamic, and injects some strategy, but is not enough so as to be able to craft a unique experience with every playthrough.  In other words, your first run-through will likely be your last, and while it’s a decently entertaining ride, it’s not one that you’ll be eager to explore anytime soon.  Its staff-related flaws are too crippling, and its micromanagement too intensive to invite casual replay.

That being said, any discussion of The Movies must make mention of the fact that it is essentially made up of two separate components: the simulation portion, and the do-it-yourself movie-making portion.  Arguably, the latter portion is the real meat-and-potatoes of the game, is the truest and best reason to give serious consideration to this title.  This aspect of the product gives you all the tools that the game itself uses to create your studio movies, complete with all possible sets, costumes and technological enhancements.  There’s no trying to built facilities or keep stars happy here; just straight-up film-making. 

Pick actors, dress them however you like, inject extras where necessary, then it’s up to you to choose on-screen action by selecting from among an incredibly wide variety of scene “types”, wherein your actors are capable of different pre-set actions, viewable from different pre-set angles.  By mixing and matching scenes, pre-set actions and even certain props, you can create some pretty extensive mini-movies – and if you’re feeling particularly ambitious, you can even use a microphone to record your own dialogue.  For creative types, this toolset is quite the gift, allowing you to whip together a rather staggering amount of goofy and wild scenarios.  There are a few minor constraints, chief among them being the static camera angles, which can sometime hamper your storytelling efforts by including too little or too much of the surroundings and/or actors, and can make your movies feel too jumpy by cutting back and forth to occasionally awkward shots.  Of course, such issues are fairly minor when you consider how comprehensive and relatively easy-to-use the movie-making tools are, how much they allow you to do, and how little time is required to get a good handle on them.  This mode is so freewheeling, silly and fun that is should be the game’s primary selling point, with the simulation mode a distant second.

Overall: 8/10

Not since Microsoft’s 3D Movie Maker has there been a movie-making tool quite so user-friendly, capable, and gratuitously silly as that which can be found in The Movies.  Sure, the game also includes a fully functional film studio tycoon simulator, which is good for a semi-entertaining runthrough, but the real heart of this particular beast is the ability to easily create standalone movies and share them just as easily with friends online.  It’s a terrific creative tool, if a little restrictive, and should fit the bill rather perfectly for those who want to create their own ninja-vs.-cowboy or zombie romance cinematic masterpiece.