Reviews

• gamedeal user

  Dec 2, 2022

  Great Idea Cheap (In my area) Fun ----- Not great executed A lot of bugs A lot of missing features -----
• gamedeal user

  Sep 21, 2023

  Personally I like the game but I would only recommend this game to those who want a basic movie studio game experience, if you want something like The Movies you won't find it here. It seems that the developer got spooked after the Early Access launch, the game was too basic for what gamers were hoping for and that was a game that could match The Movies and the word is that this game is being redesigned. I think that some discussion topics got scrubbed because I would check every few months to see progress and people often wondered if there was any life in this game. The hiring section of the game is way too basic, it is not divided into male and female etc. and it was a little hard to figure out the researchers I needed for my lab but the tip is to look at the symbols in hiring and you'll find what you need. The graphics don't look that bad, you see your workers going around, sitting down etc. it is just you can't see them doing their jobs, you're just looking at a bunch of buildings and putting films together, there's no way to make a beautiful movie studio with paths and roads and everything else all nicely lined up. You can watch your movies but there is no exit option so you got to watch it all the way through. You don't see any actors on a stage etc. so it is not like the Movies but overall it isn't a terrible game (Dream Factory was way worse), the developer should have stuck with it instead of retreating and maybe starting again.
• gamedeal user

  Nov 14, 2020

  Updated Review as my last one felt vague.: Would i recommend this game: Absolutely not. First and foremost, the extremely limited and buggy game play does not warrant anything close to the price tag. In my opinion this seems to be a game no better the an 'Idle Clicker' that you can get on any mobile phone, Its equally as restrictive and the only progression as such is to simply upgrade camera's and lenses. The concept of the game is great! and likely to be a popular one with players who are familiar with "The Movies" by Lionhead Studios. Sadly this is not even remotely close to that. Everything feels really restricted. If you do manage to tediously wait to research Vegetation to plant a tree next to your terribly connected path! Good luck trying to place it! In most cases - it wont let you. Even if your well outside the restricted boundry of other items/buildings! Plus make sure you place your items in the right place cause OBVIOUSLY there's no delete/bulldoze function! In all honesty, If you've ever played RCT World - Expect something 100x worse! Everything feels so restricted. Laying paths is the single most frustrating things i've ever encountered in a game. EVER. Unlucky for you if you accidentally click the Play Movie button - you'll be forced to watch the movie feature stiff characters with no slight resemblece to humans with no Skip/Escape button. Lets hope its a short movie!! I don't want to sound too harsh as the game is in EA - but for the £/$ 24.99 price tag you should expect some level of playability and enjoyment The game play has already got boring after 20-30 minutes. it just doesn't feel "exciting" and engaging enough at the moment to have even warranted releasing it. Areas to praise: The intro has no music which is a great relief as the actual game play music makes me as frustrated as when i'm playing. Areas for improvement: Introduce Free Build without the border restrictions around the buildings. Introduce a Building Window with ALL features such as Plants, Trees, Different Pathways and Decor Maybe make the game playable on a grid - that way paths wont look as terrible as they do. If you're going to have a "Research Tab" - Actually make it have purpose - from what i can see the game starts out in a modern area. So why am i having to research things like a Bench? or a bush? It doesnt seem realistic - Maybe research things like advance technology to gain access to better Lenses/Cameras etc In the real world - what research would you need to buy a bench? It seems like a feature that's been added to simply extend gameplay rather than to add to the playability.
• gamedeal user

  Nov 14, 2020

  very rough, the movies are just absolutely cursed, the tycoon elements have no substance on the surface level, it doesn't bring anything new to the table that wasn't already in the movies (2004) which came out ages ago and did everything much, much better. game does have promise, and obviously not a high budget, but would not recommend especially at the extortionate price point for what it is.
• gamedeal user

  Nov 14, 2020

  1. You can't pause the game. 2. Tabs are often unresponsive for a few seconds before working. 3. UI is clunky, slow, and frustrating. 4. AI needs pathway improvements. 5. AI will spend irl minutes walking around instead of doing their jobs. 6. No staff training or customization. 7. Only 1 set to start with. 8. Location scouting doesn't allow for you to travel to other locations to shoot, just opens up sets. 9. Time keeps rolling even when you're painstakingly selecting gear for actors in casting. 10. Music is awful. Main Menu has no music at all that I could hear..which is good considering. 11. Reviews don't tell you what you did wrong. Seem completely random in judgement. 12. Can't destroy or move decorations. OMG the tile placement tool is Atari E.T. bad. 13. Load times are ridiculous. 14. Can't escape out of or skip when you choose to preview movies. 15. Scene choices are bland and have little depth. 16. No props. 17. Can't make more than 1 movie at a time. 18. Sequels? Prequels? Cinematic Universes? 19. Can't purchase IPs or make deals to use already established stories for movies. 20. Actors/Actresses are a flat fee plus regular pay? Why not 1-5 movie deals per actor like irl? I could keep going, but I think 20 is enough. EA is one thing, but this is early alpha at best. I had to refund. Maybe they will get it right later and I can re-purchase then. As of now....just awful.
• gamedeal user

  Nov 14, 2020

  Not worth $25. Very very VERY early access. Like, alpha early access. Should not have been released in this state. Where to begin? Let's start with the most game-breaking and go from there. First, tons of tooltips are missing. This leads you to not having any clue what's going on in like half the game. The UI in general is just messed up. I can't tell what genre a script/scene is when I'm looking at it, so I have to guess? How did that make it past testing? Did you do any? Second, the review system is outright broken. I release my first movie. Everyone gives it 35/100 saying the lighting sucks. Fine, I spend $135,000 buying two lighting upgrades in the movie set. I release my next movie. They now give it 30/100 saying the lighting sucks. WTF? I just fixed that and spent my entire budget doing it! Third, finances are very unclear. It's super easy to run up insane monthly costs and accidentally break your game. Whoops, my movie made $200,000 but I have $300,000 in costs. Wish the game had told me. Oh well. Guess I'm broke now. There needs to be a monthly upkeep tally somewhere in the UI on the main game interface. Fourth, everything feels empty and pointless. I don't get to actually see the movies. When I watch the filming of a movie, the actors kinda stroll halfway to the couch then stop. Not exactly compelling. I then get to do this again, and watch the actors make the same movement. And again. And again. And again. Yay, fun game? Fifth, there's no strategy or point to building placement. You have this massive green square that you just plunk buildings onto. At least give us a Hollywood-looking area. Or even better, start us in some crap area with upgrades to new areas. FFS look at YouTubers Life or something. You have to actually make the filming process compelling or cool. If it feels empty or pointless at all your entire game is dead. Right now, it is. Have mini actions you can take during filming that change the way the film turns out. Let us watch the film!! If the lighting sucks, show it as being dim and funny. If our initial film is as bad as The Room, show that. Make me laugh at how crappy my film is and make me want to do better. This game desperately needs more personality. Part of film is seeing your creation grow and be made. Seeing it improve. Right now that doesn't really exist in this game. I'll check back in 6 months. I recommend you do the same. At that point this will either be a game or non-existent as it currently is.
• gamedeal user

  Nov 14, 2020

  I'll update this as it progresses, it has potential but needs a lot of work. Currently the spacing on structures is bad. You cant make any clean designs with layout or pathing like other tycoon games. (its these large radius circles that block you from placing too close to other buildings or objects. Game does not pause, even if you push esc. You'll come back and you are now in debt destroying any progress you've made. You can upgrade items such as camera, post production settings....but its not like the Movie where you really set up scenes. You can select a few scenes from each writer hired, but no flow between scenes if you get lucky that a few kinda matchup with theme. It has potential still...hopefully devs keep working on stuff
• gamedeal user

  Nov 14, 2020

  Okay, this is an early access so i will go a easy on it, First the Ui looks like Sims 1 but without all the fun stuff. it feels dead, It's headly any fun. Tho i hope that it will be Fixed soon, and that this might one day be an amazing game. but as of now, it's not. and you should not buy it for this Price. it's just not worth it
• gamedeal user

  Nov 14, 2020

  Sorry to say that this falls way short of the asking price for early access. There is so much potential and some great elements but the game does not run smoothly enough to command such an early access price. I think the game has room to grow so I have not requested a refund in the hope the developer spends the money wisely on the updates. The games progress runs too slowly and the inability to pause or speed up should be in it from the beginning, I worry that this is a smash and grab from the developer. The landscaping is poor but yet some of the graphic detail is great, all the actors look like they should be in a horror so typecasting isnt a problem here. Overall I feel a little ripped off at the moment.
• gamedeal user

  Nov 14, 2020

  If you were turned on to this game because you played and enjoyed Lionhead's 'The Movies', read on. If not, read a review about this game specifically instead. This is not what we wanted, not what we thought we'd get. We thought we were getting a spiritual successor to Lionhead Studios' 'The Movies'. That why I bought it sight unseen. This is also why I'm getting my £25 back. This is not The Movies, not even slightly. This game has none of the charm or humour of what you're probably looking for. None of the customisation, none of the frustration of an alcohol addicted actor acting up, dallying by the diner with a drug distracted director - Whilst in the background a janitor calmly sweeps the path around a massed entourage on their phones and preening the disgruntled stars. And you still need your scriptwriters to finish up 'Amazing Flying Warzone 3' as reviews tank your latest comedy.. Speaking of which: This is a clinical and scripted experience that doesn't even feel like a sandbox beyond the random name generator for hiring actors/staff. I had to stop, I can't play this any longer, I have to go and play The Movies instead. Luck to you, Aternis Level 0, or possibly 1. Make a great tycoon game. The Movies - this ain't. Again if you read this NOT looking for something like The Movies, ignore it (But you should probably play that!).