Stunts & Effects plugs straight into the basic Movies package, and adds a variety of new buildings and sets which cater towards action and special effects-intensive movies. These range from standard blue/green screens for special effects shots to miniature cities for some Godzilla-like destruction. The major change to the movie making process is the addition of a free camera, which was sorely lacking from the original package – this should really help budding directors when it comes to making their own little film. A number of effects can be added to the camera to give the impression of say, looking through a pair of binoculars or muddy glass – not a major addition, but still adds a bit of extra creative freedom to the package.
New miniature city sets allow you to unleash the men in rubber monster suits
Stuntmen present a major change in the world of The Movies, allowing players to ramp up the intensity of the action shots in their movies. Of course, the stuntmen are treated just like normal actors – they have to be recruited and trained up; a process which has not been improved upon since the main game, as unemployment lines are still anaemic. The game also fails to recognise the skill of your stuntmen – even a stuntman who is fully maxed out in every stunt discipline will have trouble pulling off basic stunts at times which is a real pain in the butt. If the stuntman fails to make the stunt convincing, the movie will lose star points, and in turn fare worse at the box office.
While stuntmen and the extra special effects and sets give greater depth and variety to what you can put into a movie, there is still a notable separation between the management and film-making components of The Movies. You can spend a year in game time creating an intricate, action packed, stunt filled blockbuster, but the game will not reward you accordingly – in fact, you’ll have to have a second team pumping out Corman-like B movies in order to keep the studio afloat. For players who just want to make movies and share them online with their friends, Stunts & Effects is a great addition, but if you’re just looking for a good game to play, then the impact of the extras the add-on pack brings to the experience is lessened quite severely.
Ninjas add much needed Ninjary goodness to the package
Stunts & Effects fails to address many of the easily fixable problems that The Movies had when it was released last October. The process of building star relationships is still painfully lengthy, and the problem with the employment lines still hasn’t been fixed. The degree of micromanagement required in the original package was quite heavy, but when you introduce stuntmen into the mix, keeping your staff happy while making movies can become too much. The dedicated community for The Movies has released some user-made fixes which address these problems, but it is very disappointing to see that the developer has taken no interest in fixing them at the default level.
If you’re into the whole machinima thing, and The Movies is one of the tools you use, then Stunts & Effects is an essential purchase given the amount of extra material it provides to the movie-making side of the game. However, if you’re just looking for an expansion to the game side of The Movies, then you might be a little disappointed by the extra complexity that Stunts & Effects adds, not to mention the failure of Lionhead to address the major problems that affected the initial release. Nevertheless, Stunts & Effects is a competent add-on to an enjoyable game.
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