Games / Game Reviews

Review: Scene It? Lights, Camera, Action

By Eli Green
December 18, 2007 - 13:00

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.

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

Last Updated: August 31, 2023 - 08:12