Movie trivia is something that only a very specific group of people understand. You would think that anyone who loves to watch movies would be into movie trivia; this is not the case. Movie trivia is only fun for those with a competitive nature; to the point where they take pride in knowing even the most benign detail about any given movie at any given time. The “Scene It?” series has always been made specifically to suit this core group of people, but does “Scene It? Movie Night” live up to the high standards that movie buffs everywhere have come to expect? We find out when we discuss what is HOT and what is NOT in our review.
HOT
Extensive Content
Trivia games have always had one fatal flaw: extreme levels of repetition. After about an hour or so, this genre seems to start repeating itself and so, it was never fun because after about five or six times playing, one would already know all the answers. This is not the case in this game, as it took at least five or six hours of playtime before the game even started to repeat content, and even when it did, it very seldom happened. Movies range from the early 80s all the way up to recent movies such as Captain America.
Great Mixed Bag
Scene It? Movie night has fourteen different movie categories in which to players are present with questions. Classic categories such as Movie Reel, which plays short clips of movies and then players must answer a series of questions about the clip or the movie itself, are still here as well as a plethora of new categories. These new categories present a new and entertaining twist such as the Pixel Flix category, where a movie clip is remade as an old school 8-bit scene and players have to guess what movie it is referring to.
Subtle Question Similarities
One thing that really stands out once noticed, is the way the questions during each game relate to one another in some form or fashion. When gamers first start playing Scene It? Movie Night they may not even notice this recurring theme until their third or fourth game. Unlike previous entries into this franchise, questions are not just chosen at random but instead have some common theme, whether it be genre of movies, or a circle of actors/actresses.
NOT
No Online Multiplayer
Even though this game is obviously intended to be played as a party game, it would have been nice to have the ability to hop on and go head to head with friends that also have the game. Scene It? Movie Night would have been the perfect game to create an online community and bring movie buffs together. Not being able to play multiplayer unless you have a friend right next to you restricts the games potential and prevents it from reaching the next level.
Leaderboards
At the time of this writing, navigation of the leader boards is difficult. Gamers have the ability to see their own ranking, as well as the rankings of their friends, but there is no way to filter or sort the leader boards to show where a gamers own score falls. The only way to find out is to take note of your own score, scroll through the list until you find where your score would fall, and figure it out since your score is not even displayed in this list.
Nerve Grating Announcer
Let us just say this, if anyone ever meets someone as annoying as the announcer in this game, they will be forced to kick him square in the teeth. This person is so incredibly annoying; gamers will stop playing because they need a break from his banter. Repetition knows no bounds with him, as he will use the same lines more than once even in a single game. Luckily, the volume of the announcer’s voice is adjustable to a level of non-existence in the game’s options menu. This does lead to uncomfortable silences between rounds, but gamers will easily be able to fill this air chatting with one another about the previous round.
VERDICT
Scene It? Movie Night is not for everyone. When Sarbakan developed this game, they had a very specific core audience in mind: Highly Competitive Movie Buffs. People who know movies inside and out, who love to compete, and who love to show that they know more about movies than their friends do. This specific group of gamers will absolutely love this video game. Everyone else might want to pass, because even though the game has much to offer in the way of content, there simply is not enough to keep the average movie watcher to keep coming back for more.
[Editor’s Note: Scene It? Movie Night Review was reviewed on the PlayStation 3. The game was provided to us by the publisher for review purposes.]
