Managing a movie studio isn’t easy, and for Blockbuster Inc. to emulate this in a sim city style video game, the production team at Super Sly Fox dived deep! In addition to getting an education about how movies are made, what’s offered in this product has a nostalgic charm. In fact, in my playtest, I started during the Golden Age of Hollywood. It’s a shame that due to copyright, that municipality’s name can’t be used.
Back then, everything followed a systematic approach to film production. In this virtual world, players have the power to manipulate everything. Here, I have an empty film lot to build onto. Although I find it odd that the movie sets are open air rather than warehouse, but to say all the world’s a stage is an understatement here. On the harder side of this game is all that micromanagement. That’s the role of a producer–to acquire the funds to expand the studio, hire additional staff and find the right actor for that movie.
To begin, I must say that I was puzzled that the early stages of the game simply involves a single actor to make a movie. Typically, at least three performers are required. One person is the hero, the other the villain, and the third is for some kind of supporting role. When you’re making a film, it’s possible to have one performer, but usually those works are very rare. I’m fairly sure five are required to make the work interesting.
I recommend playing through the tutorial at least three times in order to comprehend all that’s required to manage the studio. Players can start in any decade, starting from the 1920s to the 2010s. Depending on when you start, certain odds are stacked against you. Whether that’s with technology, financing or combating the weather (for those outdoor shots), a lot of variables must be considered. And to imitate how Walt Disney Studios has grown, there’s a type of currency known as Reputation Points to unlock research–whether that’s with special effects, animatronics, or something else, I rather like this touch.
As for all the micromanagement aspects to fiddle with within this game, it can be time consuming! Not only are most of the genres (westerns, sci-fi and vampire) well represented but also there the story writing process is just as detailed. Certain aspects can be tweaked through eight content sliders like lore, dialogue, story, atmosphere, conflict, suspense, gore, and intimacy, but also there’s also the ability to direct a scene. You can position the actor(s) on the stage, tell them what you want to express in a scene and also tell the cameraman what shot you want! There are a lot of aspects of film production that the gamer can get involved in, or they can let the game’s AI decide.
This game presents to players a great sense of what goes on in a studio made product. As for whether all of it applies in today’s age of movie making, I’d say a significant part of what you experience in the game is true. That includes the choice to do reshoots or not! It’ll leave many gamers to appreciate a film more. While critics can poke holes at certain aspects because of their own experiences in the industry, others just want to be entertained.
I got my experience taking part in a few local indie productions, getting newsroom production experience, and live theatre (I was a sound engineer), what’s emulated in Blockbuster Inc., comes very close to what I know. While this game doesn’t cover aspects of a sim regarding why these characters are sleeping on the job or something else, I wished there was an option to click the mouse pointer on these folks to read that thought balloon. I want to know why they’re behaving that way, and if there’s a way to change that.
If you’re the type of fan who loves micromanaging and manipulating a lot of details in making a movie, then Blockbuster Inc. is for you! For those wishing there were associate producers or an ‘assist’ tool, this game doesn’t have it. It’d be great to have it, otherwise I’d be swamped. I’m fairly sure I haven’t scratched the surface as I played through a few years rather than decades in maintaining this sim. When time permits to let it run on auto, it’ll be interesting to see if even that’s possible. In the real world, no, Artificial Intelligence is not the future to how movies can be made. It’s this industry’s bane!
3½ Stars out of 5
Pros
- Lots of tools to fine tune movie production
- Easy to learn interface
- You see the movie as it’s finalised, ready for distribution
- Uses the standard WADS interface (Q & R to rotate)
Cons
- No thought balloons (there’s only emoticons) to express what each character is feeling
- Perhaps too many options for micromanagement
- Some player may feel they’re playing the role of Studio Manager than Movie Producer
Blockbuster Inc Video Game Trailer
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