The Scene It? Lights, Camera, Action party game is another version of the popular Scene It? party game franchise by Screenlife. The game advertises a family friendly experience, and tries to target a more casual lifestyle genre then the 360 usually finds. And while the game boasts over 1,800 different questions about your favourite movies, you'll likely feel the repetition pretty early on.
There are two different play modes: Party Play and Play Now. In Party Play mode, you answer questions, but there is no set number of questions, nor are there points allotted for correctly answering a question. Play Now mode gives you two options: Short Play, which consists of three question rounds, and Long Play, which contains five question rounds. The Short Play is probably long enough for most sessions. In both the Long and Short Play options, points are given for each correct answer, with bonus points being awarded for the fastest correct answer, three correct answers in a row, or a clean sweep of one puzzle or round. As you progress through the question rounds, points are deducted for incorrect answers. You also have a set amount of time to answer each question.
Each question round contains five puzzles, each puzzle consisting of five questions. Puzzles vary from watching a movie clip and answering questions based on the clip to unscrambling the movie title to guessing which images are missing from the scene. All puzzles require you to buzz in on your Big Button Pad, which is a variation on the Xbox 360 controller. The game ships with four of these remotes, all with a different colour big button, which corresponds with your player's colour on the screen.
Scene It? ends after the third round in Short Play, and after the fifth round in Long Play. However, after the rounds are over there is a final round in addition to the three or five rounds you've just played - The Final Cut. The Final Cut consists of four questions, each worth at least 2,000 points. If you answer the first question correctly, your minimum point value increases by 2,000, making your next question worth 4,000 points, and so on. Your point value increases as soon as you answer a question correctly. If you incorrectly answer a question, or you do not answer, then your point multiplier is dropped back down to one again. As to be expected, the player with the most points wins.
Overall, the game stays true to its original board game format, minus having to deal with Buzz Cards, which usually set you back a few spaces. The Big Button Pad eliminates the need for tiebreakers and for arguments over who had the correct answer first. However, the receiver that plugs into the console for the remotes sometimes has difficulty picking up the signal from the controllers depending on the angle in which you point at the receiver, which can delay or exclude your answer. It can become a bit frustrating, and a more efficient design likely could have been considered and implemented.
The audio and visual quality is what you would expect from a puzzle game, and the production values are through the roof. The cut scenes in between puzzles are cute at first, but after seeing the same one two or three times in one game, they quickly become old. That, and the announcer's false enthusiasm and pathetic attempts at being funny may result in the mute button being activated between puzzles.
This game is for anyone who enjoys movies, and for everyone who enjoys an opportunity to show off their useless trivia knowledge. Even if you don't know a whole lot about some of the movies in the game, it's still entertaining to try and guess the answer. Movies vary from classics such as Grease to the comedy Animal House to more recent films such as You, Me, and Dupree, and pretty much everything in between.
The puzzles offer different challenges, so there really is something for everyone. With several hundred different question sets, it is possible to play this game several times without repeating questions. The next logical step for this game is to continue in the steps of its board game counterpart: create a version of the game based on genres or TV shows or other cult classics, create a second version of the original, or come out with generational versions like movies from the 90's. Overall, the game is very enjoyable and a good attempt at bringing a new crowd onboard to the Xbox scene.