I Ruin Movies

Posted by Anton Gordon at 10:54 AM Feb 19, 2009

A while back, I ran a review of Microsoft's Lips based on how it fared as a party game. It was a fun experiment and a refreshing way to evaluate a game targeting casual gamers. I decided that from then on, I'd review all such games in the same way. Of course, I don't play a ton of casual games, so these reviews are going to be few and far between. But recently, I decided to check out the second game in the Microsoft movie trivia series Scene It? To give Scene It? Box Office Smash the evaluation it deserved, I gathered up my wife and friends and got their take on the game.

As it turns out, Scene It" Box Office Smash is fun. However, apparently I am not.


If you've played the first Scene It? game or any of the board games on which the series is based, you're probably familiar with the set up of Box Office Smash. It's a movie trivia game for up to four players which is divided into several different game types. For example, the screen above is from a game where you try to guess the movie name from a simple drawing. Most of the game types are easily understandable, and the movies they cover are mostly popular, mainstream films, making Box Office Smash a game that even casual movie fans can play and enjoy.

Unless you're playing against me.

"The game is fun," my wife told me after we played our first game together. "But you're not fun to play it with."

"I'm sorry," I said. "Why's that?"

"You get the answers too fast!" Yuki answered. "You haven't even seen You, Me and Dupree! How could you get the questions right?"

"I saw the preview," I shrugged.

"And how long has it been since you've seen Big?"

"I dunno," I said. "Fifteen years?"

"So how can you remember who played Tom Hanks' secretary?"

"She was on That 70s Show!"

In truth, I waited a bit longer than I needed to before answering most questions in order to give Yuki a chance. In general, I found the questions to be pretty easy. But perhaps part of the problem for Yuki was the controller. Both Scene It? games are available in a bundle with the "Big Button" pads shown below, which are designed to be simple and accessible for non-gamers.


However, I didn't see the need for the Big Button Pads, as I already have far too many game controllers lying around, and the Scene It? games are also playable with standard Xbox 360 controllers. Unlike me, Yuki doesn't have the button layout on a  360 controller memorized, so even when she knew the answer right away, she still had to hunt for the proper button on the control pad. Strike one for me for knowing too much about movies. Strike two for not picking up the controllers that would level the playing field for my wife. Maybe I'd have better luck playing with some friends.

I called up some guys I know who are all big movie buffs. Tom, Jim and Pat were all excited to come over and check out the game. As it turns out, they too liked the game. They just didn't like playing it with me.


 
After the first few minigames, it became clear that while my friends were all movie buffs, they weren't the trivia machines I thought they might be. Perhaps if there had been more questions about Die Hard and fewer about Alvin and the Chipmunks, Swimfan, or Blades of Glory. I, however have seen Swimfan (don't ask why), and I pulled ahead early, despite trying to be gentle.

"Really?" Pat asked after I correctly identified the poster for Johnny English. I got a lot of reactions like that throughout the game, and it reached the point where I deliberately started throwing questions. Jim started catching up, thanks largely to his encyclopedic knowledge of the Jurassic Park movies. But I still ended up in the first place slot, and won again in the second round. After the second round, I left to go pick up the pizza I promised as a thank you gift for their participation in my little experiment. When I returned, the three of them were having a great time. So was Yuki, who took over my slot while I was gone.

"This game's great when you're not playing!" She told me when I came back into the room. My friends all nodded in agreement. I checked out their scores - it was a close four-way match, with Jim only slightly in the lead.

"When it's all, like, normal people it's a lot more fun," Tom told me. "Trivia freaks like you kinda ruin it."

"So I've been told," I said.

I sat back, had some pizza, and watched my friends enjoy my game without me. Clearly, Box Office Smash is designed for more casual trivia fans, not folks like me who go out and compete in bar trivia contests. But as my friends seemed to like it as long as I wasn't playing, I'd have to rate Scene It? Box Office Smash as a pretty sucessful game.

Note: No Blue Pig Ganon Score is being awarded to Box Office Smash, as my friends were having too much fun playing it to answer my questions.