Alights, camera, action adventure
Back in 2005 Lionhead Studios released The Movies, a game about running a movie studio that was pretty good, and received 86% from PC Gamer US. I mention it only because Blockbuster Inc (no relation to the venerable VHS rental chain) triggers a serious rush of nostalgia for Molyneux’s game.
A ‘Prologue’ version of BlockbusterIncis available on Steam, and drops you into the comfortable shoes of a movie studio head, tasked with making films, nurturing talent, winning awards and making money. It’s such a good fit for the tycoon/ management game genre that it’s surprising that there have been so few imitators since 2005. The prologue starts in 1920 and ends in 1922, giving you remarkably little time to make movies, even by early 20th-century standards.
The interface is reminiscent of The Simsor TwoPointHospital, and you build up a studio lot by dipping in and out of a build mode that allows you to place different types of room, then connect them with doors and fill them with furniture. You can also choose pre-made rooms for specific functions, which come with all you need.
Apart, that is, for staff. You’ll need to hire actors, producers, directors, crew members, catering and maintenance staff plus, most importantly, writers. I hire eight, immediately hit the button to fast forward to the next day, and they all turn up for work at a minute past midnight because I hadn’t set a work schedule for them. Clearly, crunch is going to be a big part of the movie-making experience.
SADLY, THE CRITICS ARE NOT KIND TO MY FIRST MOVIE, WHICH SCORES 41
PLAYED IT
CRITICAL MESS
There’s a lot of admin and building to go through before you can start making your first movie, but once you get there you’ll choose a budget, genre and a few other parameters for your masterpiece, then plot it out using sliders for things like atmosphere, suspense and gore. So you can make a dialogue-heavy horror film that’s got a strong story, or an atmospheric romantic comedy aimed at older people, with bloo
