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Ever since I was a kid, I’ve loved the movies. My first memory was that of watching the Transformers movie and not the crappy ones of today, but the ’80s animated movie. Watching as Optimus Prime was killed was the most traumatic thing I ever witnessed as a kid. Ever since then, my love affair with movies has grown. I mean, I worked at a movie theater for something like 10 years. But, oddly enough, I never played the popular movie board game, Scene It? So, when Scene It? Box Office Smash (BOS) came to the 360, I jumped all over it and absolutely loved it, even though some of the questions were from movies that were made 20 years or so before I was born.
Since then, a lot has changed. I am no longer as enthusiastic about movies as I used to be, and I played BOS so much that the questions have repeated. So, I put the game down and haven’t touched it in a long time, disappointed that I would probably never play another movie trivia game as good as BOS. So, imagine the smile on my face when Scene It? Movie Night: Mega Movies was released on XBox Live.
Mega Movies is pretty much exactly the same as BOS, which isn’t a bad thing. It throws in questions from some of today’s biggest movies as well as classic ones. The questions are presented in the form of different puzzles, and Mega Movies has 14 different types. If you have played BOS, you will recognize every single one of them. Everything from sequentials to movie posters has made it to Mega Movies, which was only disappointing to me because I was expecting new puzzle types along with the new questions.
Presentation also let me down. In BOS, every puzzle had a related background. For instance, in puzzles where you have to guess the movie from looking at pictures from scenes in the movie, the pictures were hung up on a picture line with clothespins. Stuff like that made the presentation pretty cool. In Mega Movies, however, you are treated to 7 different backgrounds that don’t relate to the puzzle you are playing. While this is a minor thing, it took away from the experience for me. The biggest change in the presentation, though, was that the annoying announcer guy from BOS did not return for Mega Movies. Instead, he was replaced with another annoying announcer guy. This one, thankfully, doesn’t say a whole lot.
The gameplay of Mega Movies is the same as the other Scene It? Games: you and up to three other players watch or read clues and answer the questions that follow. There are 7 rounds in Mega Movies, which is significantly less than BOS, and you cant change that. One game will only last you around 15-20 minutes, which is good if you are looking for a quick time waster. If you are looking for a game to last longer or to play online with your friends, you are out of luck. The 20-minute gameplay made sense, but the lack of online play boggled my mind. I know this game is made to be played with people gathered in the same room, but what if my family and friends don’t watch a lot of movies or don’t want to play? I’d like to be able to find people online that love movies as much as I do and can give me a good challenge.
The one feature in Mega Movies I thought was nice was the option to turn off the buzz in feature. This comes in handy when you are playing with a movie buff who knows all the answers. Instead of that guy beating everyone to the punch and buzzing in, you can turn that off so everyone can answer the questions, which makes the game a little more interesting as anyone has a shot at winning.
Speaking of winning, if you played BOS, you know that the last puzzle of the game was always movie clips. In Mega Movies it’s now Quick Pitch, which gives you a one-word clue from which you have to guess the movie. Think of it as a lighting round. You will also notice that, after each round, there are no longer point bonuses for doing certain things like answering three questions in a row or being in last place.
Scene It? Movie Night: Mega Movies is a nice addition to the Scene It? fFamily of games that adds questions from 20 of today’s biggest movies. With the presentation changes and lack of new puzzle types, there’s no reason that Mega Movies couldn’t have just been DLC for the other Scene It? Games, instead of being a new game all together. For $10, Mega Movies is a fun game that gives movie lovers a reason to play trivia games again- especially if this means there’s more DLC for Movie Night on the horizon.
Review copy of the game provided by publisher. Primary play on Xbox 360.
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