Studio Builder

Like Starmaker, the studio-building aspect of the game is also very deep and highly configurable. But unlike the character creator, there is a level of complexity here that can be overwhelming. To address this, the developers take you through what is sure to be one of the longest tutorials in the history of gaming. It introduces you to many of the game’s mechanics as well as an interface that is very similar to the one used in the Black & White series of games. It is possible to use the keyboard to control some aspects of the game, but it is designed to be manipulated entirely through your mouse. Contextual clicking and dragging is used for everything from laying sidewalks and rotating soda machines, to casting stars and hiring scriptwriters. It’s very clever, but the sheer size and density of some of the studio lots can easily lead to confusion as you slowly move around the map with an extra or janitor, trying to find a specific building. This gets old quickly and leaves you wishing you could just right click somewhere and get a list of the buildings you want the person sent to, instead of always having to drag people to their destinations.

The game engine's incredible zoom and scaling capability does help a little bit as it allows you to pull way back and look at much of the studio from a considerable distance. Push the scroll wheel forward and you come to stop at about eye level with your employees who looked the size of ants moments before. Visually, the game is impressive even though it clearly isn't going for photo realism or effects like high dynamic range. If you can let go of a need to find things like vertex shaders and self-shadowing, there is still a level of detail found among the sets and buildings that warrants appreciation.

And though the visual detail of the environment and buildings of The Movies is impressive, there is some inconsistency in respect to the people you employ. While there is a dizzying diversity of shrubs and fountains to decorate your studio's lot with, a look at your employees will have you wondering if someone is shooting a remake of Attack of the Clones. With all the power and variations made possible through Starmaker, it is a real shame that most of the people walking around your lot look so similar.


But that doesn't detract too much from the endearing satirical creativity the game is loaded with. Newspapers and radio broadcasters chime in from time to time with humorous headlines or news bulletins that do a good job of capturing the flavor of the era you are currently working through and many of the structures you unlock come straight from the covers of the magazines we pretend to ignore in the grocery store checkout lines.