Scene-It: Box Office Smash – Reviewed – Xbox 360

Games like Scene-It: Box Office Smash are basically the board-games of our generation. They offer a type of an experience that can only be enjoyed when playing with a couple of friends or family members and definitely have their place in the world.

Casual gamers have been heavily targeted for this title because, well, who doesn’t watch movies? That doesn’t mean that hardcore gamers should just ignore it though because sometimes, everyone needs a game that anyone can play.

The idea behind Scene-It is incredibly simple. You get four “gameshow” controllers that come with the game that have a big button that acts as your buzzer and then four small buttons that are used for answering the multiple choice questions.

As you can tell from the title, Scene-It: Box Office smash deals with movie trivia. Players are required to answer a whole bunch of film-related questions by playing different trivia games.

Some will require you to figure out what is missing from a famous scene, listen to famous sound clips or recognise movies from 8-bit graphic versions of a famous scene while others will have you guessing movie names from still photographs. There are even times when you will watch a scene from a movie and then have to answer questions about the scene, movie or actors.

There is quite a large variety of different trivia games that come with the title and the best part is that anyone can play because everyone watches movies. I had the chance to play the game with casual gamers, hardcore gamers, movie fanatics and even those who would considerer themselves none of the above. The games were always fun and always had us all smiling at the end of the rounds.

Something that will also appeal to almost everyone is that the game includes movies from the old days when color was still an idea and then ranges right through to some of the very latest movies that have only just hit the big screen. This way, no one is left out and everyone has their moments of glory.

The narrators of the game are quite funny although some of the jokes can be painfully lame. You will however be able to pull your avatars into the game, so making some avatars of your visitors ahead of time will impress to no end. The game can be played over Xbox Live as well but the truth is that the real fun is had when you have a bunch of people sitting together in the living room.

Some might wonder how much content is packed into the game. While there is no doubt that the game will reach a point where anyone who has played the game enough will start seeing questions that they have already seen before, the same is completely so for any standard board game.

That being said, this really isn’t the type of game that you will be playing a lot.

Don’t think that it’s a bad thing. It really is just like a boardgame. It’s going to sit on your shelf and do nothing for a lot of the time. When the time comes that people come over and you all want to do something together, you are going to whip it out just like any other board game, just better.

It’s fun, it’s easy to pick up and pretty much appeals to anyone and I can highly recommend it to anyone who wants something simple and fun that they can whip out when their parents or boring accountant friends come over for dinner. If you are the type of person that like to host “movie night” at your place, the this game is the perfect way to kick off the evening.

Scoring:

Gameplay: 9/10 [ Simple and easy to pick up and play ] Presentation: 8/10 [ Nifty cutscenes and mini game intro’s keep the game fun and visual ] Sound: 7/10 [ Doesn’t really apply although the narrators will kick up some laughs ] Value: 8/10 [ A great game to have on the shelf when you need it, although content it limited]

Overall: 8.5/10 [ A simple, fun and accessible title that anyone can enjoy ]

Last Updated: November 24, 2008