"Action!"

The Movies is a fantastic, original game, yet it just seemed to be missing a few things. The expansion pack, Stunts & Effects fills the holes quite nicely with a handful of new features.

Gameplay-9/10:
Since this is an expansion pack, the gameplay is basically the same as The Movies, but a few features and other goodies have been added. The main part is the new Stunt School. This is where you hire stunt people to perform the stunts in your movies. You can also build up their stunt power by having them work out at training facilities. This feature is nice, but the problem is that it can become a bit of a hassle when a stunt person gets injured and has to go to the hospital. Besides stunt people, Stunts & Effects has also added a bunch of new scenes to use, mostly with using stunts and effects(hence the title). There is also about a dozen new sets that have been added, including blue and green screens for special effects. The other major improvement is free-cam mode. This allows you to pick the exact location of the camera when making a movie. It's a much needed feature, but it's a bit confusing at first on how exactly to use it. Some other improvements include new costumes, age range for your stars, and choosing their weight for roles.

Graphics/Audio-8/10:
The graphics are exactly the quality they should be for a game like this. The one thing that bothers me is that after I installed this expansion pack I started to notice a few more slight graphical glitches, like if you zoom in too far you go through a stage person. All the special effects also look great, and some of the new sets look realistic at times. The audio has not really changed much. You have your basic gun shot sound, explosion sound, the usual. Nothing too special in the audio department.

Value-8/10:
Any fan of The Movies should pick this expansion pack up if they want a bunch of new features to add to the fun. My only problem is that they did not improve enough for me to give it a perfect score.

Overall:
Pros:
-Hiring and training stunt people is fun
-Great new costumes, sets, and scenes
-Free-cam mode
-Weight/age option for your stars
-Great addition for anyone who has The Movies

Cons:
*Not enough new features
*A few graphical glitches
*Keeping your stunt people from being injured is frustrating

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 07/25/06