SParkfan77's Full Review: Scene It? Lights, Camera, Action for Xbox 360
For the last few years whenever I had friends over my house, there was something that was always the life of the party. No, it wasn’t my impeccable talent to sing all the hits karaoke-style; it was a DVD board game called: Scene It?. This is a board game that many of you are no doubt familiar with and was one of the first of its kind to utilize a DVD in order to ask questions. It’s always been a favorite of mine to play with friends and subsequent editions have been released based on popular TV shows, movies, and music. It was at E3 2007 where Jeff Bell from Microsoft announced that Scene It? would be making it’s home console debut exclusively on the Xbox 360. The game easily landed a spot on my Christmas wish list (yes, I had one) and the rest is history….well, not really.
For those of you unacquainted, Scene It? Lights, Camera, Action comes complete with four multi-color buzzers with full Xbox 360 functionality and will play with some basic XBL Arcade titles. When playing with multiple people, buzzing in allows you to take control of the question and a chance to answer it. Even still, Scene It? LCA plays a lot like the original board game; you’ll still see the featured movie clips that will precede questions about what they just saw and many of the other questions you would’ve been asked from an opponent reading off a card are also featured on screen. Buzzing in while playing with friends is some of the most fun you’ll have in small groups with your Xbox 360. Some categories allow you to see the multiple-choice answers while the question or clue is on the screen while others appear only after buzzing in. Also, depending on how long the clue or question is on the screen, more hints may be dropped about what the answer is and thus, the amount of points you will be awarded (or deducted) will decrease as time goes on.
This is the basic explanation of how the game plays out, and some of the most excitement you will get is not the run-of-the-mill text based questions. Anyone that has played Scene It? in the past knows this. The real fun happens when you have to visual cues to work with in order to answer questions.
I touched upon earlier that you and your opponents compete by buzzing in with the new "Big Button Pad" included with the game. Though you have to plug in a USB IR attachment to receive the signal of the controllers, you and 3 other friends can sit comfortably in the same room and have little trouble buzzing in. The “buzzing in” factor certainly enhances the game in my opinion. When playing on DVD, there would be times when it was a judgment call of who screamed out the answer first during a question where anyone could respond; now with buzzing in, the results are indisputable. Also, buzzing in faster during questions will grant you maximum points (usually always 2,000).
As for the meat and potatoes of gameplay, you will start up either the “Short Play or “Long Play” options. Each game consists of three rounds plus the “Final Cut” bonus round; but the difference between “short” and “long” is either 3 or 5 categories of questions per round, respectively. Other than this, there is no real difference between these two main game modes and is appropriate since a Long Play game could last about 45 minutes (which depending on the type of party you’re having can be a good thing or a bad thing) while Short Play is closer to 25 minutes.
A big draw for me was the advertised 1,800 questions included in the game. What’s great about Scene It? LCA is that the game will keep track of what questions you have seen to make them come up less frequently throughout your time spent with the game. Sometimes it may repeat movie clips since they are featured most prominently whenever you play, but outside of this category I believe I have only had about two repeated questions and this is after about 15 Long Plays with friends.
While 1,800 questions is certainly an impressive total, I found myself disappointed at where LCA could have taken us but failed to. For starters, the market for downloadable content has been enormous and shown to be profitable with games like Guitar Hero III or Rock Band; so why not leave the door open for themed movie question packs or even just a few thousand more questions? Now granted the DVD versions don’t have this capability so the casual Scene It? fan would not be missing out, but as an Xbox 360 gamer, DLC has become a great opportunity to increase revenue for the developers and give avid fans of games something new to look forward to. I know that in a couple of months after I have grown tired of a lot more questions, this is what I would be looking for but sadly, this game does not have the capability to receive new content.
Another opportunity lost is in regards to the lack of Xbox Live play. When this game was first announced, it seemed like a no-brainer to a lot of people that you would be able to go onto Live and connect with some of your friends rather than begging your spouse to play with you when you don’t have company. Sadly, this was not the case and my wife has certainly grown tired of me begging for her to play when we don’t have people over. I see this to be a huge letdown as it certainly would have given this game the legs it needed to see its way through 2008.
Now I am not saying that this was a skimp holiday title that came out to maximize on the casual audience no doubt won over by Nintendo….Okay, maybe that is what I’m saying, but the fact remains is that I could have been giving this game a stellar review but instead I am forced to look at the daunting omissions that this game could have had. While I thoroughly enjoyed this game, playing by yourself (because there is also no AI) is as pathetic as it sounds.
There are plenty of reviews online for this title that will bash the cheesy announcer that talks between rounds and sets up categories, but I’m actually going to give developer Screenlife some points on this one. He’s not out loud funny, but it gives you and your friends something to laugh about because it does get a bit lame but to me only adds to the entertainment. Other sounds used in the game are what you would expect, only to get the job done and nothing more.
On the graphics side of things, this game is very utilitarian. What does it need to do? It needs to present to you movie trivia questions and transitions to get to them. I don’t think anyone can reasonably complain about the graphics of this title given what kind of game they’re playing. My only legitimate gripe is that the movie clips can look awful at times. Some of the older films they play clips of look horrendous and the lack of HD clips from newer releases is sorely disappointing given Microsoft’s push to HD movies to its users. This is the biggest graphical disappointment if you ask me.
The controls are very self-explanatory as I have stated above. The big button on your answer pad will buzz you in while the A, B, X, and Y buttons are for you to select your choices. The controls for this game are fun, natural to the type of game you are playing and integrate seamlessly for those that are not accustomed to playing videogames. It’s not a "Wii-killer" by any means, but at least you won’t be accidentally breaking your HDTV’s with this one.
In a decent little package, Microsoft has managed to gather a nice little bundle that will no doubt be the beginning of a series of “Scene It’s.” Now, you won’t hear about this game breaking any sales records, but it still provides movie buffs and party-goers a fun little diversion after the small talk ends and things start to get awkward. It’s worth the $60 full price if you intend to have groups of people over that are willing to play. If you are hard up for company or friends, proceed with caution; the lack of AI and Xbox Live play is a HUGE let down and certainly a missed opportunity. In the words of Terrell Owens, "Get your popcorn ready."
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