Scene It? Bright Lights! Big Screen! Review

The recently released Scene It? Bright Lights! Big Screen! represents the third iteration of the game for Xbox 360 owners, and a new addition to PS3 and Wii libraries. Like the renowned board game it’s based on, Scene It’s focus is solely on movie trivia. As such, appreciation for the game is correlated on how savvy participants are with film facts.

Players start each session by selecting one of the game’s dozen movie-themed avatars, which range from samurai warriors, starlets, to pirates. Inexplicably, the option to use your own Xbox avatar is missing. Next, players may choose from three game types: Classic Scene It, a revolving Party Play mode where players can drop in and out, and the five minute Fast Fire variation. Additionally, players may alter the length of the classic game, or even opt to deduct points for incorrect responses.

Although players have the ability to turn off the title’s star-based bonus system, its implementation is slightly puzzling. At the commencement of each round, players may use their stars to enact a 50% bonus for each question answered correctly. In order to keep things competitive, the system reward failure- giving stars to the lowest scoring player. While this balancing technique was kept things interesting is the Mario Party series, it seems out of place in the more straight-forward Scene It.

Each of Bright Lights Big Screen’s 22 puzzle types offer a range of diversity. Invisibles removes an item from a movie still, requiring players to identify the missing prop. Sequentials tasks participants with sorting four films in chronological order. Although the disk includes over 2800 different questions, the game doesn’t seem to recall which puzzles have been previously displayed.  By the fifth game, the sporadic instance of repetition was evident. At least the game’s questions feel unusually fresh- some of the queries revolve around films is current circulation.

The title’s other quibbles emanate from the game’s presentation. Winning a half hour long game should be an exuberant affair, allowing the victor to bask if their display of celluloid expertise. In the Buzz titles, players are rewarded with ersatz prizes, concluding each game in a gratifying and memorable manner. Scene It’s finales feeling woefully abbreviated. Additionally, the game’s host is regretfully bland; his most conspicuous attribute is his inability to keep his mouth synchronized to his dialog.