Scene
It?,
the pioneer of DVD trivia games, is now available in a fully
interactive video game form, and it is bringing all the fun of its
board game versions to the Xbox 360 in
Scene
It? Lights, Camera, Action.
Packed with over 1,800 questions on various movie moments, actors,
props and more,
Scene It? Lights, Camera, Action
is
overflowing with enough trivia to keep players shouting answers and
having fun all night long. Better still, people who have played the
Scene
It?
board
games will find themselves facing brand new challenges and questions,
as none of the questions in the game have ever appeared in any other
Scene
It?
retail product.
If
this is starting to sound like a pitch for the game, it's probably
because I enjoyed it so much. The second you pop in the game and
start playing, you get sucked into a movie trivia universe all its
own, and I mean that in a good way. Built around a family
friendly/party game model,
Scene
It? Lights, Camera, Action
is presented in a bare bones, simple style that makes it easy for
anyone to pick up and play. And it's that bare bones, simple style
that, similar to some of the Wii mini-game titles we've seen, makes
it so much fun.
Gameplay
Scene
It? Lights, Camera, Action
comes bundled with four wireless Big Button Pads, a new controller
specially designed for the game, so four people are able to play
right from the start. The layout for the Big Button Pads is quite
simple, and somewhat

The Big Button Pad
|
reminiscent of game show buzzers, which are
actually two aspects the developers were
going for when making them,
so clearly they did a good job. The Pads feature an easy to hold
design, a line of letter buttons (A, B, Y, X), a large buzzer button
(which also
doubles as a multi-directional button), as well as a
back, start and Xbox Guide button. The letter buttons are essentially
the most important feature of the Pads, as you use them to answer all
of the questions in the game. The buzzer button comes in handy when
puzzles come up that require players to buzz in to answer, like in
Puzzle Picture. As I mentioned before though, it also doubles as a
multi-directional button, which lets you make selections in the
menus, and can even be used to control the Xbox 360 Dashboard.
One
other feature they wanted to make sure the Big Button Pads had was
extremely low latency between a player's answer and the system's
response. Well, there will be no more “broken buzzer” excuses
with this game (possibly excluding low batteries), as the response
time is phenomenally fast.
The
game can be played in two different modes – the regular Play Now
mode, which can be played as a short game or long game for one to
four players, and Party Play mode, which is an endless play mode that
requires four players at all times. Play Now mode sends players
whizzing around a Hollywood film studio to answer various movie
trivia questions ranging from black & white classics to very
recent films, which gets them points for each correct answer. The
faster players answer, the more points they get. Gameplay is split up
into rounds, at the end of which each player has the opportunity to
collect performance based bonus points. Each round begins with a
movie clip, and each game ends with a movie clip in The Final Cut
round, where there are no performance based bonus points at the end,
but players get an upgraded multiplier for each correct answer in the
series of questions. Play Now mode also lets players sign their
gamertag in so the game can keep track of which questions they have
already answered, and allow them to unlock achievements.
Party
Play mode plays similarly to Play Now mode, except that it requires
four players to be playing at once, there are no bonus points at the
end of each round (because each round is considered a game), there
are no introductions to the film studio lot and it doesn't keep track
of which questions it has asked or unlock achievements. Players can
play in Party Play mode endlessly, as the game starts again once a
round is finished.

|
There
are a number of different puzzle categories to play, including the
clips in the Screening Room, which asks questions based on movie
clips, missing piece or prop puzzles, which ask you to identify
what's missing from a scene or pick a movie based on the prop you
see, and general pop culture questions. There are also some other fun
puzzles that have you pick quotes out of a movie or identify a movie
poster as it slowly gets assembled. There are so many fun puzzle
categories that it's actually tough to pick a favourite. Of course,
that doesn't mean that all of the puzzle categories were amazing
though. There are two specific categories that I felt were quite out
of place in the game. The first of these two categories was the
anagrams game, which takes movie titles and turns them into different
words. The unfortunate thing is that the words have nothing to do
with the film whatsoever. If they did, that category would be greatly
improved. The second of the two is the backdrop game, which has words
relating to specific movies shifting on backdrop boards. For some
reason, either myself and our crack team of players really didn't
understand how that category worked, or it truly was just a bad one.
Multiplayer
There
isn't much more to discuss concerning the multiplayer aspects of
Lights,
Camera, Action
as the game is really meant to be played with more than one player,
and has no real single player mode. I will note this, however. The
developers added a nice feature, which lets any person with a
gamertag on the Xbox 360 sign in and unlock achievements. So if you
have a friend over and they load their gamertag onto your system,
they can use it in the game. The game does not have online play
though.
Environment
and Graphics
It
appears that there is a running theme for the graphics in
Lights,
Camera, Action
.
Whatever comes directly from the films themselves is very high
quality and realistic. Whatever was made as part of the game, well,
not so much. The only question is, does that really matter in a game
like this? The answer, probably not, because as long as the clips,
images, etc. from the films are good, the rest of the graphics won't
really be that important.
You're going to see this image a lot
Running
around a film studio lot can be a little exhausting. Thankfully,
playing this game means you don't have to walk. Instead, you get
flown to each location on the lot. Of course, as I noted already, the
environments, as well as the other non-film graphics in the game, are
not that impressive. That doesn't mean that they are bad. They just
aren't stunning. The actual look of the studio spaces and characters
in and around them do have a very film studio air. It's just that the
quality of the graphics for those particular things appears to be
driven by a graphic engine similar to that used for the
Theme
Hospital
trailer.
The
graphic quality for the film reproductions, de-compositing and
practically everything else to do with the movies themselves, on the
other hand, was quite spectacular. The film clips and images from the
movies look like they have been transferred over to the video game
format with the type of sensitivity and care film restorers put into
their work. Some of the clips in the game are even presented in
high-definition. There is no quality lost in this area of the game.
Sound
As
in the films
Lights,
Camera, Action
shows off, pure, polished sound is of the utmost importance for
bringing the entire production together. Every aspect of the sound
production for the game comes out in crisp, clear detail, just as it
should. The sound effects are subtle and unobtrusive when they should
be, like the click/slide whenever an answer choice is made, and fully
exposed, out in the open just at the right time, like the fireworks
sound effect for bonus points. Much of the same can be said of the
other sound types in the game.
The
in-game music is upbeat and has a good feel to it. As well, there are
a number of times where you'll hear that kind of “hustle bustle”,
“busy” music reminiscent of factory scenes in classic cartoons,
which is kind of cool. Of course, most importantly, the music
reproduction from the movies is just as good as the image
reproduction, so yet again, there is no quality lost.

You
won't find a lot of in-game voice work, excluding that from the
movies of course, other than that of the announcer. Sometimes funny,
often times annoying, sometimes motivating and other times quite
brash, the announcer is a well recorded, but slightly detested
character you never actually see. Hidden somewhere in the game,
appearing only as a disembodied voice, the announcer leads your trip
through the studio, explains the puzzle categories and keeps you up
to date on your progress, good or bad, during each round of the game.
The recording quality is clear, but does that make up for his
countless lame jokes? Maybe not, but his insults sure sting.
Conclusion
Scene
It? Lights, Camera, Action
is an absolute must for movie lovers with an Xbox 360. With a DVD
fully loaded with hours and hours of movie trivia, a great
multiplayer experience and plenty of movie clips, images and sounds
to go around, this game is clear to be a poster child for Microsoft's
push to include family friendly entertainment to Xbox 360's lineup. I
can't wait to see some kind of downloadable add-on pack for the game,
and if that's not available for some reason, I certainly hope to see
other expansion packs on store shelves in the future.
Gameplay:
8
Environment
and Graphics: 7
Sound:
9
Story:
N/A
Fun:
9.5
Verdict:
Buy It