So last weekend I had some friends over for a few drinks before we headed out to a party. Unbeknownst to them I had planned this as the perfect time to expose them to social gaming on the XBox... or at least the beginnings of it and like a drunken Hollywood mogul chatting up the waitresses at the Brown Derby, I was going to put them IN THE MOVIES!
First however I needed to get into the mood. Judging by the box cover art the mood of YITM is one of extreme excitement and jubilation.
Yeah! Look at all the pointing and stuff!
With this in mind I decided to do my best emulate those on the box and get in the mood. That guy on the left looks like he's having fun, I thought, I'll try him.
Are we having fun yet or what?!
Now that I was suitably in the mood it was time to set up the camera.
You'll notice that the camera is precariously placed, especially on a thin telly like mine. After all this is the place usually reserved for the Wii infrared unit, which came with sticky tabs to hold it in place. No sticky stuff on the XBox camera, so it rested on the Wii bar. The camera is so light, it doesn't have to be that secure, just something to be aware of as you're going to be jumping around.
YITM loads up with a short movie explaining the best way to play the game. This includes the four things you're going to need to make the game work.
1. Correct lighting.
2. Lots of space.
3. The ability for people to get in and out of shot.
4. Alcohol.*
Cheekily shot in home-movie style with toys, the introductory movie is genuinely funny, well-acted and will give the most technophobic player a good grounding to what's going to happen next.
You're then invited to stand in front of the camera and let it take your pic to give you a) a player avatar and b) differentiate you from the background. This where the problems set in.
The process that YITM uses to magically transport you to the cinema is one very similar to chroma key, an idea that's been in use in tv since the 70s and in movies long before that. In short, the person in shot must wear a different colour to one that is used in the background behind them, as the background is then 'filled in' with a static image. Therefore if you have a black jumper on and let's say a black coat is in the background, bits of you will disappear when encountering the space occupied by the black coat. Here's Dan playing one of the minigames:
If you look carefully you can see that not all of Dan has been picked up and that he's not all there...
In fact that's a sizeable chunk out! Which is a shame as it detracts from the enjoyment of the minigames, but more importantly from the eventual trailer you're going to star in.
Used successfully the effect can be quite dramatic such as during the death of Monitor here in the Doctor Who story 'Logopolis'.
So, there's already a problem with the camera, which is an annoyance more than anything else. However, the minigames are actually quite good fun. Being made to run on the spot, pretend to hit targets, dodge flying film cans or enter into a tug of war are a laugh, especially if you're one of the players watching from the sidelines. Even better is when you're asked to go 'In the Spotlight' and the director tells you how to pose, act and be a star. The best thing to do here is let go of your inhibitions and play-up to the camera as much as possible, it will all help the finished trailer.
So once you've finished the minigames, the game then invites you to your premier. All of your antics in the minigames have been recorded and are now dropped magically in to the trailer of your choice. We started off by trying thriller 'Scared Witness', but then quickly progressed to Superhero movie 'Everyone's Super' as evidenced by Kyla here doing her best Clark Kent.
So overall it would be wrong to say we didn't have fun with YITM cos we did, we laughed, jumped around and had a good time. The longevity of the game is going to be limited though, with only a finite number of trailers to be played through and the minigames not providing that much of a challenge (certainly not enough to sustain the game's half-hearted attempt at competition via a points system and awards ceremony at the end). It's life will therefore probably not exist much beyond this Xmas, but could perhaps be viewed as a stepping stone to better things.
I would say a Moviewatch five out of ten for this one. Moderate fun, but no real need to go back for more. Maaaaaaaaarvellous. I'll also do a follow-up post when I've looked at the editing mode bundled with it.
*They don't recommend you need this in the movie, but trust me it helps.
Thanks to Steve Hill's Image Archive for the Logopolis pic.
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